The Image Interpreter

by Zoran Živković, Randall A. Major (Translator)

In a carriage of the Paris metro, nine people cross paths one ordinary Friday morning: a retired office worker who comes there purely to read; a tourist revisiting the memories of sixty years ago; a funeral mourner who has discovered the beauty of cemeteries; an author in search of her characters; a young man with a reality problem; an elderly woman with memory issues; a military administrator with a secret hobby; a jilted woman who has the key to the perfect match; and a secret agent high on adrenaline. Each in turn encounters that ubiquitous and unavoidable gadget: the cell phone camera. Each comes to a realization that changes their life forever. But who is the tenth person in the carriage, and what do her photographs tell her about the other nine that they could not possibly know themselves?

Genres: Fiction

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Zoran Živković was born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia, in 1948. In 1973 he graduated from the Department of General Literature with the theory of literature, Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade; he received his master's degree in 1979 and his doctorate in 1982 from the same school. He lives in Belgrade, Serbia, with his wife Mia, who is French, and their twin sons Uroš and Andreja. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology. He's received plenty of awards, one of them being the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (The Library, 2003).

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

“And photographic reproduction, with the aid of certain processes, such as enlargement or slow motion, can capture images which escape natural vision."

The above Walter Benjamin quote could be an epigraph for Zoran Živković's The Image Interpreter, a novel of ten interconnecting stories revolving around the Paris Métro. However, since the Serbian author is writing in the Middle-European literary tradition of Nikolai Gogol, Franz Kafka and Mikhail Bulgakov, photographic images not only enlarge and slow down but twist, bend, morph and explode out to realms of the fantastic.

We are introduced to five men and five women one at a time (one in each chapter), among them a young man who discovers beauty in a cemetery, a seasoned author searching for inspiration for her next novel, a meticulous, unattractive middle age military clerk who categorically refuses to take a seat while riding the Métro. All travel solo and enter and exist the same car according to their own schedule. At no point do any of the ten exchange words; rather, they all observe one another in silence and take photos of each other or themselves surreptitiously with cameras, usually a cell phone camera.

Sound intriguing? Let me assure you, The Image Interpreter is a tantalizing, fun read from beginning to end, storytelling at its finest.

In the first chapter, Mr. Mirouille is doing what he has always done for these past months since his retirement - riding the Métro since he enjoys all the sights and sounds and can read his book in peace. Mr. Mirouille must scold himself today. If only he was more attentive and not so completely absorbed in his book, he would have seen the person who left a camera on the seat across from him. No sooner does he pick up the camera to ask if it belongs to anybody then the train reaches the next stop and the passengers bustle off.

He lets out a sigh. He has no choice - he knows he's obliged to turn the camera in at the Métro lost-and-found. But then it occurs to him: he could perhaps identify the owner of the camera by the photos taken. Accordingly, Mr. Mirouille sneaks a peak at the first photo. When the little screen sharpens into focus, there he is in his red Friday sweater reading his book. What?! Who took this picture? And, why?

After considering his next move, he surmises the easiest thing to do is simply erase the photo. Click. The photo disappears into a black dot and the next photo comes up: again, he's on the Métro reading a book, only this time he's wearing his green Thursday sweater. Has someone taken a series of photos of him? Then, without touching the camera, more photos appear one after another. Is he to believe his eyes? The camera reveals shots beyond the mysterious - Mr. Mirouille is confronted by the impossibly surreal.

Speaking of his own writing and the tradition of Middle-European fantastika, Zoran Živković notes protagonists are not heroes but men and women on the margins attempting to make their way in a world of accelerating change. Also, how the tradition features only slight deviations from reality rather than large scale dramatic events.

Certainly an apt description of The Image Interpreter with people like retiree Mr. Mirouille reading his book as he rides the Paris Métro. And these are most definitely the reasons a reader will find the novel's men and women charming and the unfolding events surprising: the characters and setting are rendered so real, so natural. And then when those fantastical elements pop up: WOW! We want to keep turning the pages to see what happens next.

Zoran Živković also characterizes his fiction as metaphysical fantasies, that is, writing that addresses the ultimate questions we face as humans. Case in point in The Image Interpreter, Mr. Alain Rigoud, the man who loves beauty in cemeteries, peers at a photo on his cellphone: "He brought the phone closer to see it better, but that was not enough, so he magnified the picture by spreading two fingers. The enlarged central part of the photo filled the screen . . . . He was surprised at what he read there, but was even more astounded that he had not seen it when he took the picture."

A photo enlarged causing astonishment. Does this sound familiar? It should for those familiar with Argentine author Julio Cortázar's short story Blow-Up (Spanish: Las Babas del Diablo) or the film based on the story made famous by director Michelangelo Antonioni. Recall photographer Roberto Michel's astonishment when enlarging the photo he took of the woman and young man in the park. This to say, the camera reveals a reality and truth that can range from the sublime to the disturbing not readily available to the naked eye. And since nowadays everyone carries a cellphone camera, all sorts of realities and truths can open up when you least expect it - especially if you find yourself in a Zoran Živković story!

Similar to the author's shorter mosaic novels wherein elements from the previous chapters are gathered together in the final chapter as a way to bring greater cohesion to all the parts, so to in Chapter 10 of The Image Interpreter. Does the surreal and fantastical a reader encountered in the first nine chapters have the last word? Or, are there other aspects of human experience that can be seen as even more remarkable and truth disclosing than those produced by a digital device? You will have to read this remarkable novel to find out.


Serbian author Zoran Živković, born 1948

"She came to when the magic dispersed upon entering the next-to-last-stop. Whilst there was actually no reason to hurry, her movements were feverish as she moved her hand away from herself, preparing to do something she had never done before and which she found deeply repulsive: to take a selfie." - Zoran Živković, The Image Interpreter

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical carriage ride on the Paris Metro is anything but typical. It is a Friday morning in November. A nondescript person, using a cell phone, snaps pictures of nine "carefully selected" riders. What special qualities might they have? In nine interlocking stories, we may board the Paris Metro, travel with them, and observe the five men and four women whose images have been chosen.

Anatole Mirouille is a retired office worker."He had worked his whole life in the midst of clamor." He could not concentrate in the "silence" of living alone. Five days a week, he boarded the metro to read books, six hours a day, avoiding the morning and evening rush hours. To his surprise, he noticed a camera left on the seat. It was apparently forgotten by a passenger. Before bringing it to the lost and found, he thought a "glance" at the pictures might help identify the owner. "Mr. Mirouille was unpleasantly surprised to see himself reading".

Marie-Louise Ponthieux, revisiting Paris, wants an updated snapshot of "Le Boulevard Cafe", to be taken in the same spot as the prior photo from fifty-eight years ago. Problem...her camera was missing! The old man wearing a loud, red sweater and reading a book on the metro might be the culprit!

Muriel Juillard, an authoress, rides the metro twice monthly in search of characters for her next novel. She chooses three people to watch at the opposite end of the carriage. "She must change the basic geometric figure of her books, abandon the triangle...For now she needed nothing more than a rectangle. One more central character...She takes a selfie, seeing herself as "a truly literary [face]...".

Madeleine Prevost is a jilted woman. "...people usually make the wrong choice and fall in love with those who will not return their affection." She likes to snap pictures of the back of passengers to see if their heads are surrounded by a "love halo". What sort of life would one have if untouched by love?

In "The Image Interpreter" by Zorac Zivkovic, a self-proclaimed interpreter, the tenth character in this entertaining novel, has a gift for seeing beyond the digital images. Each metro traveler has an engaging tale to tell. A highly recommended read.

[Marko Vasić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meni je ovaj minjon-roman čista fenomenalština: originalna ideja, neobične (mada ne i nekorišćene) kulise, interesantna razrada teme i upotreba glagolskog priloga prošlog, te zbirnih imenica. U prvi mah sam mislio da se radi o zbirci nezavisnih priča, međutim, nakon drugog poglavlja postalo je jasno da je reč o romanu. Radnja se odigrava u jednom danu, u istom kupeu pariskog metroa. Živković je za svoje delo odabrao devetoro putnika - petoricu muškaraca i četiri žene, različite starosti i zanimanja, specifične psihološke strukture, gde svako ima svojevrsnu "zvrčku" ili stereotipiju. Ukrstio je njihove kontakte u tom istom kupeu metroa, ali na način da se o svakom prethodnom odabranom saznaje mnogo više tek u sledećem poglavlju u kome je fokus na narednom subjektu od pomenutih devet. Dakle, princip ruske lutke Babuška gde u šupljini najveće lutke čuči manja, u manjoj još manja i tako redom, a sve su povezane ljušturom najveće lutke. Tako je i Živković povezao sve putnike jednim predmetom - fotoaparatom. Prvopomenuti putnik - Anatolij Miruj je u supkliničkoj depresiji nakon odlaska u penziju i sad kada konačno može da pročita sve nepročitane knjige, shvata da mu nedostaje žamor u kome je, pod pritiskom, svakodnevno funkcionisao, postižući koncentraciju jedino tada. Čitajući, ne primećuje ljude oko sebe, pa ni stariju gospođu na sedištu prekoputa. No, postaje svestan da do njeg u sledećem trenutku stoji predmet - fotoaparat. U kome pronalazi par fotografija na kojima je on, uslikan u različlitim danima na različitim mestima. Minut pre njegovog susreta sa fotoaparatom, gospođa Mari-Luiz Pontje, koja ga je držala u ruci, izašla je u panici iz kupea usled telefonskog poziva. Njen dolazak u Pariz posle 58 godina bio je usled želje da ponovo uslika hotel "Bulevar" ispred kojeg se uslikala sa svojom prvom ljubavi. Međutim, i ona doživljava čudan obrt, pokušavajući da kupi drugi fotoaparat, jer je prethodni ostao u metrou. Alan Rigu, sledeći od "izabranih" otkriva svoju, do tad nepoznatu, fascinaciju nadgrobnim spomenicima. Sve dok na uslikanim fotografijama ne primeti da je na nekoliko grobova ispisano njegovo ime. U kupeu na izlazu naleće na Milijer Žulijar, anksioznu spisateljicu ljubavnih treš romana, koja u metro zalazi da bi pronalazila inspiracije za naredne romane, tako što među putnicima odabere neka lica koja joj deluju specifično i fotografiše ih. Na ovom putu doživljava susret sa nekolicinom svojih izmišljenih likova i pred izlazak iz kupea, osvetljava je blic fotoaparata koji drži mladić Aleksandar Lekler - pomalo introvertan momak sa poprilično ekstrovertnom, logoreičnom devojkom, kojoj je na poklon doneo fotoaparat za koji se ispostavilo da na svakom narednom snimku "briše" jedan od predmeta. Sve dok Lekler ne uradi "selfi" i time obriše i sebe. Naredni likovi su gospođa Mariz Buve, koja prolazi kroz amnestičnu fazu u kupeu, a zatim i hipergnostičnu, zatim Arno Moran, nekadašnji vojnik, a sada, zbog povrede, službenik u vojnoj administraciji, izratito opsesivno-kompulsivan i neprilagođen svetu. Gospođa Madlen Prevo, koja se opirala modernim tehnologijama i telefonima, da bi, ovladavši istim, spoznala da jedino ona na svojim fotografijama vidi oko glava ljudi raznobojne oreole, po kojima spoznaje ko je kome idealan par. Poslednji lik je histerični agent Alfred Leru-Vidal, sa manijom gonjenja, kome na svih sedam telefona pristižu mahnito apsurdne fotografije. Svih devetoro subjekata posmatra, i na neki način upravlja njima Margo Verdje, koja putuje sa njima sve vreme, ali je oni ne primećuju. Iako nije nevidljiva. Ja sam je pojmio kao neku "intervenciju" spolja,. kao otelotvorenje nekog višeg bića, jer u završnom poglavlju, ona umom dopire u snove ovih devetoro, i ponovo ih sabira u istom kupeu, čime se roman i završava. Potpuno nešto drugačije od romana savremenih pisaca i zbog toga, kao i zbog pitkog stila, ovaj roman ima veliki plus od mene.