Book: Bozo and the Storyteller

From: Moko Darjatmoko
To: IA-ITB@yahoogroups.com ; kuyasipil@yahoogroups.com ; alsi70@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 2:28 PM
Subject: [IA-ITB] Book: Bozo and the Storyteller




Hi there,


Sebelum berangkat ke tanahair tahun lalu [hmmm... tanpa terasa setahun telah berlalu] ada teman yang "nyangoni" sebuah buku -- karena dia tahu aku sedang riset tentang "storytelling." Aku sendiri baru sempat membacanya minggu lalu, "Bozo and the Storyteller," karya Tom Glaister. http://www.amazon.com/Bozo-Storyteller-Tom-Glaister/dp/095601920X


Komentarku ... [setelah semalam suntuk tidak bisa meletakkan buku ini sebelum selesai membaca] ...Wow! this is one heck of a storytelling. Aku kutipkan disini komentar seorang pembaca: "Imagine our world was nothing more than a Story - you, the room you're in and everyone on the entire planet are just figments in the imagination of a Storyteller. But he's dying. And then what would become of our world? Would it just fade away? A creature called Bozo volunteers to enter the Story and look for a Cure... "


Ini sebuah contoh bagaimana imaginasi (dan kreativitas) manusia itu tidak ada batasnya -- yang malangnya, hampir semuanya mati diawal kita memasuki dunia sekolah. Bukan saja si pengarang punya imaginasi yang hebat, tetapi juga rasa humor dan kritik yang cerdas. Berikut adalah bagaimana dia, melalui mulut sang Storyteller, secara kocak menggambarkan mobile-phone ciptaan Hooman (manusia)


"The Storyteller was telling the Bloons about the invention of mobile Fones and already he had his audience crying with laughter on the floor. As Theo listened, he began to see the words and the picture they conjured until the scene entirely absorbed him.


The Hoomans took to stroking their Fones in their pockets as though they were pets. While they waited for calls, they played with the buttons and tried to count how many friends they had. But as much as they dressed up their Fones in suits of bright colours and ever-smaller, cuter shells, they always failed to see the teeth. For although the Fones were much loved and adored ­ especially when they rang ­ they had an insatiable hunger and ate up the lives of the own- ers little by little. When lovers were kissing, the Fones rang and took a bite out of their romance. When the sun was going down and the sky melted into a fluid blend of glowing colours, the Fones rang and nibbled away at the most beautiful moments of the day. Everyone began to feel thinner. The more they talked into their Fones, the less they had to say of any value. They began to feel awkward talking to their friends in person and had the rising urge to hold their Fones in front of them like a shield. They converted their Fones into Flash-boxes and used them as a third eye through which they could see the world in only two dimensions. Bit by bit they invented new ways to feel more lonely, becoming more isolated from another by the day."


[Tom Glaister, Bozo and the Storyteller, 2008, pp 30-31]


Kulihat sudah banyak yang "menawarkan" versi elektroniknya, dan si penagrang sendiri memang sudah merelakan versi audionya [excellent quality, methink!], gratis-tis [kalau punya sambungan ke Internet yang cepat -- silahkan google sendiri, aku sudah lupa alamatnya].


Selamat menikmati,


Moko/