Of course, most people will not be seeking experiences in any of those places, let alone having them all in one volume. When this bear first encountered the book around the time of its publication, he was still too respectful and observant of proprieties to fully engage with its brashness. However, after some marinating that included spending time in some of the locations Kalder describes, the book's apparent irreverence is revealed as a manifestation of the author's own unique and sincere quest for a personal truth. And if there is anything NJ Kpopper is crazy about, it is a unique and sincere quest for a personal truth. Just love that.
One quote, about one of the cultures under the lens:
"Certainly they'd cooked up a religion and some folktales, and they had a separate language, but that doesn't take much effort. Every culture that has ever existed has done it. Humans do it by default. You can hardly praise them for it."
A bit pointed, but it does contain truth. Kalder is powerful when conjuring up the landscapes of dreamy unreality that are conjured by our imaginations and the uncomfortable disjunctions that result when these landscapes are overfit onto a crumbling reality.
But that process can run in reverse, where a crumbling reality is restored by the imagination into an ideal dream. It is the merger of the two that lends credence to our longing.
At least that is what this bear is aiming to create from his personal landscapes.
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