A Prior #19, 2009

issue of A Prior magazine edited by Olivia Plender, with Anna Colin and Kim Einarsson

In this issue of A Prior magazine, I playfully adopt the structure of Flaubert’s satirical novel Bouvard et Pécuchet (1881) – a travel narrative of sorts, about two middle-aged copy clerks (the eponymous heroes) who retire to the countryside in order to pursue their intellectual interests. Buoyed by an encyclopaedic range of reading matter, in each chapter the autodidacts immerse themselves in a different branch of knowledge. As Bouvard and Pécuchet try and fail to learn from experience, they adopt an apparently never-ending string of roles – from farmers to archaeologists, geologists, museum curators, revolutionaries, economists, utopian socialists, gymnasts, mystics and educationalists (adopting two orphaned children), until finally they argue with everyone around them and contemplate suicide.

By organising A Prior into chapters themed around the subjects through which Bouvard and Pécuchet traverse, I introduce the reader to my own cosmology, alongside artworks and texts by many friends and collaborators. Contributors include Pablo Bronstein, Angus Cameron, Neil Cummings, Vanessa Desclaux, Melanie Gilligan, Runo Lagomarsino, Goldin + Senneby, Marina Vishmidt and Unnar Örn.