Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer's Reviews > New Mindmapping Forms

Longlisted for the 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize

IS IT A NORM THAT WE HAVE TO WRITE EVERYTHING DIGITALLY ANOTHER PROBLEM I HAVE, I DON’T WANT THAT THIS MASTERARBEIT WILL COME OUT FROM THIS COMPUTER. WRITING SOMETHING INTO THE COMPUTER IS SOMETHING ELSE THAN WRITING IT ON PAPER. IT COULD BE TWO DIFFERENT WORKS. I THINK DIFFERENTLY WHEN WRITING WITH PEN, WHEN I NEED TO FORM IDEA, WHOLE PAGE FIRST. POSSIBILITY TO DELETE SOMETHING WILL LEAVE TRACES. I CANNOT MOVE WHOLE PARAGRAPHS HERE AND THERE. MY EYES SEES PAPER, TABLE, PENCILS, CORRECTOR, BOOKS, WALL, VIEW FROM WINDOW, MAREK. I AM USING FIBER MARKER PEN FROM LIDL, THEY ARE FOR 1.49 EUR FOR SET WITH 10 COLORS.

This book is journalling as a novel, which is interesting for me as I use journalling to record my novel reading.

Journalling is of course very much an in-thing currently – mainly for the ability it gives to move away from typing on phones and screens to a more old fashioned recording of information which can be simultaneously more thoughtful (due to the time it takes to write) and more immediate (due to the inability to cut/paste/edit).

The journal itself is often a lined (or my preference - dotted) A5 pad, with a soft black leather type cover (or my preference - hard and coloured cover), a marker ribbon (and also my preference an elastic band fastener) – I would particularly recommend the Leuchtturm1917, but it seems the author went with the opposite choices.

The writing implements are normally some form of multi-coloured felt tips. I prefer the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner range – the author’s rather lower budget option does not assist in the ease of reading of the journal despite the author’s sensible use of BLOCK CAPITALS for her handwriting.

The different colours are used for different aspects.

For me (for example)

Black – Net Galley ARCs
Navy Blue – Republic of Consciousness Prize
Dark Green – Women’s Prize
Magenta – Desmond Elliott Prize
Cyan – Orwell Prize
Brown – Booker Prize
Lime Green – Goldsmith’s Prize

For the author (for example)

Red: Quotes
Purple: Dreams
Light blue: Expenses
Dark blue: Income
Green: Projects
Brown: Poems, songs, conversations
Black: Reality – What I see and want to talk about

In terms of content I have to say that the opening part of the Blurb of this book undervalues its seriousness: the references to meatballs, stuck mice and cheesy snacks, basmati rice and organic underwear imply this is to journalling as Patricia Lockwood is to Twitter. All those ephemeral and entertaining references do occur, but they are scattered instances among text which is actually far more concerned with much more complex/weighty topics.

These include for example “infamous transformation of the school system under the Bologna Process”; the author's own artistic studies and work; Marxist like sociological reflections on late-capitalism and particularly the way in which society is structured around work and about preserving power structures (this is the main part of the book and a little too involved for me but it does cover the role of the kefala system for migrant workers in the Middle East and has a pretty accurate prediction – 5 years before now as the journal covers October 2017-February 2018 – of some of the performative hypocrisy that would accompany Western liberal reaction to the 2022 World Cup); the German and Czech rental and housing systems; and (perhaps the most interesting part for me) her struggles with what she has called “the deafening ringing of the myth of biological clock “ (and the various fertility treatments and appointments she and her boyfriend Marek attend).

All of this though most noticeably is produced by a literal rendering of the pages of her journal – as is best seen on the author’s own website (https://www.evadurovec.info/2017/12/2...) – in what is a fascinating piece of publishing experimentation but it has to be said unfortunately difficult to read. There is perhaps it may be worth reflecting a reason why for several centuries while manuscripts were written by hand, books have been published typeset. The author herself has said the journal was not originally designed for mass publishing.

I would also say that my own lack of engagement with the rather heavy content meant that the considerable efforts needed to engage with the form in which they were rendered felt not always rewarded.

Adding to this my final comment on journalling is that like dreams, other people’s journals are in my view really not that interesting – having recently joined Instagram I do not intend to start posting my colourful Books Read pages there as like dreams they are for personal reflection. Other people’s journals which describe their dreams run the risk of being doubly uninteresting.

But this is a bold and literally vibrant publication and I would say check out the link above and see if it is one that may appeal to you.