Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

DEPARTMENT OF PROJECTIONS (EXCERPTS) BY MATTEO TERZAGHI TRANSLATED BY ALTA PRICE

TWO CHICKS

Anyone who frequents flea markets and used bookstores will have noticed that, for some time now, the books nobody cares about anymore have grown to include photobooks published in the latter half of the twentieth century: tomes about animals and the marvels of nature; monographs on primitive humans, ancient Egyptians, Eskimos; cookbooks that start with a chapter titled “Sandwiches” and end with a chapter titled “Christmas Banquets”; historic fashions; the creation and evolution of the automobile; the lunar landing; encyclopedias of manual labor; the world of puppets; life in the desert; and family doctors’ remedies. You should’ve seen the expression on my trusted used- bookseller’s face (although “untrusted” might be more apt) when I lightened his load by a dozen or so such books without even haggling. He kept singing their praises, but then his performance started to waver, his mask began to fall: those books weren’t worth a dime, they’re just dead weight. Why was I suddenly interested in them? As he climbed a ladder to retrieve a book on Greek

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