God doesn’t “kind of” exist - he either does or doesn’t. There’s a quality of the writing that makes an all-or-nothing wager. I don’t know of a book that has a following that’s as passionate as this book. He was killed by a Nazi officer during the war. If it were a hardback it would collapse in on itself.īruno Schulz is regarded as one of the greatest artistic minds of the 20th century. How many printers did you go through until you found someone willing to do this?

It gives the pages depth, and the books take on a sculptural quality. That’s like saying to somebody, “What about the way that you just kissed me was good?” If you have to explain, it wasn’t good. What is it about the die-cutting method that appealed to you? VF Daily spoke with Safran Foer about his delightfully tactile new book.Heather Wagner: Tell me about Tree of Codes: how did the idea of cutting out words from an existing novel come to you? The result is a spare, haunting story that appears to hang in negative space on the page. The first major title by new London-based publisher Visual Editions, Tree of Codes was created by slicing out chunks of text from Foer’s favorite novel, The Street of Crocodiles by Polish author Bruno Schulz. However, those hoping for a colossal career misstep might want to pour another highball, because his latest book, Tree of Codes, is a quietly stunning work of art.

There’s even a catchphrase for it-Schadenfoer! They chafe at the six-figure advances, the visiting professor gigs at Yale and NYU, the majestic Park Slope brownstone. There’s something about Jonathan Safran Foer that drives a certain breed of dyspeptic New York writer/blogger to drink-more so than usual, anyway.

Jonathan safran tree of codes