TJ/Double Negative

I purchased the expensive collaborative set of photobook and novel which was put out by David Goldblatt and Ivan Vladislavic last year.

In order to charge R1000 for a box set I think that there should be an explicit limitation on the first edition. There are some other gripes which I have with the set, but these are eclipsed by the content which would sell for way more than R1000 if artistic production was valued properly.

The novel, Double Negative, tells the story of a young man who flunks out of 'varsity and meets Saul Auerbach, a photographer, on the recommendation of his, the narrator's, dad. The meeting doesn't seem to have a great impact on the difficult young man, but when, in a later chapter, he returns from a stint in London we realise that he is a photographer.

Neville, the narrator, works for magazines and then is gradually taken up by the artworld.

The novel unwittingly describes parts of my life with unnerving accuracy. Granted I am probably superimposing the negative of my life onto the novel's framework, but it's still true that there is an uncanny congruence.