No one spoke or made eye contact

gnomes2

“No one spoke or made eye contact” – Under the Sign of the Moon by Tessa Hadley

7 thoughts on “No one spoke or made eye contact

  1. I like this image.

    A dutch friend of mine told me a few years ago that in dutch, gnomes are called ‘kabouter’. Over here in the United States, one sees them most frequently sitting not on balconies but in gardens – hence the name ‘garden gnomes’. There was even an animated movie for children about the problematic romance between two young Gnomes from warring/neighboring gnome families, ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ (no, I’m not making that up!).

    I’m fasincated by them….another reason I like this image.

    In one of my favorite movies (Le Destin fabuleux d’Amélie Poulain) the heroine, Amélie says: Il vaut mieux aider les gens que de s’occuper d’un nain de jardin – It’s better to help people than garden gnomes.

    But some think it’s the other way around: those little gnomes, garden or otherwise, are our helpers – to help our garden veggies grow larger – or, here on this balcony, maybe to protect the house and ward off invisible evil spirits that are visible only to a gnome’s eyes. I rather like that idea –

    It also might explain why “no one spoke or made eye contact” – because possibly their little gnome eyes are (were) too busy scanning other realms….to meet our human gaze…. :-)

    1. Yes, I thought they might be guards, too. Only – one of them is sleeping in the sun it seems.
      The German term is “Gartenzwerg”, i.e. garden gnome, too. A gnome without a garden is more someone like Gimli.

      I don’t like Le Destin fabuleux d’Amélie Poulain that much – might be because I don’t like this type of big eyed, child like presentation of women. Everything a little bit too kitschy for my taste. The idea of the travelling garden gnome is brilliant, though. The city of Paris they show, not so.

      1. If Le Destin fabuleux d’Amelie Poulain is too kitschy for you….I recommend that you check out another (and much much more twisted) film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, which he directed several years earlier – “Delicatessen” – a dark post-apocalyptic and slightly surreal/Kafkaesque black comedy/horror film about, among other things, the value of vegetables and the lengths to which carnivores will go to get a meal. It’s quite twisted, actually. Although, truth be told, his characterizations (not just of women, but of men) aren’t very realistic.

        1. LOL when Delicatessen came to the cinemas in Germany I instantly knew that movie was not for me after watching the teasers.
          I could to with the Kafka and the horror but not with the gory details. In fact I like surrealism and Kafka and dark post-apocalyptic stories.

          Seems I am simply not a Jeunet type of movie watcher … not to talk about me being a vegetarian.

  2. Den Überblick behalten in dem man ungewöhnliche Standpunkte einnimmt. Der Rock’n’Roll beginnt mit einem Gartenzwerg, der nicht im Garten steht. Und das ist großartig!

    Viele Grüße & weiterhin sichere Straßen, Fritsch.

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