Visit with Barbara Bestor
Bec and Ruben were a little nervous to meet Barbara in person, since they were already such big fans of her work. We all fell into a really comfortable exchange, a nice dialogue which would not have lasted so long had we not been having such a great time. This was a good sign!
I had approached Barbara about the project, with the architectural aspects of it in mind, after re-reading Thomas Bernhard's ‘Correction’. Its not a 'date book,' like Fatal Attraction is not a ‘date movie.' I wasn't interested in re-capuring its tone. Rather, I was interested in approaching the idea of a house psychologically, the way the protagonist approached building a house for his sister. The main character, Roithamer, was obsessed with his sister, and set out on a project to capture her essence as a building, to depict her soul as architecture.
The main character, Roithamer, was a touch obsessed with his sister, and set out on a project to capture her essence as a building, to get her soul down as architecture. It didn't bode well for the character of the sister in the book since the mere sight of the building was too much for her brain to cope with - too much sight into self, but again, this is not the point. Barbara and I talked about capturing the essence of a couple as architecture - a psychological portrait of Bec and Ruben as a house...however loosely or directly she would want to deal with that idea.
Barbara and I talked about capturing the essence of a couple through architecture - a psychological portrait of Bec and Ruben as a house, however loosely or directly she would want to manifest that idea. An amazing writer, though not jolly - Bernhard’s mastery of rhythm and subtle shift in topic is like a wave hitting the sand over and over again that you don’t even realize the topic is changing.
Barbara interviewed Bec and Ruben about their relationship and history in a pleasant but thorough way. A couple of days ago, Barbara sent us images as an entryway into her thoughts about her approach to the project. These are a few of what she shared.
