La Bible de Gustave Doré by Torgny Lindgren

I read La Bible de Gustave Doré some years ago (it was published in 2005). A Swedish book, now translated into many languages, it is breathtaking. It is actually the third book in a trilogy where “Sweetness” and “Hash” are the first two, and, although several of the characters are common to all three books, the books can be read and enjoyed separately. Themes such as the limitations of written language and the importance of art are woven into this particular story where the main character can neither read nor write but has a very good memory; he is also a competent story-teller. Years after the bible was lost in tragic circumstances, he records the stories from the bible, using a SONY MZN 710, inspired only by his memory of Gustave Dorés beautiful illustrations. At its centre, the book is about the human situation as illustrated by these amazing drawings – the point where the written and the visual merge into one.