'Bold Ventures resembles a pop version of Iain Sinclair's psychogeography or Out of Sheer Rage, Geoff Dyer's anti-biography of DH Lawrence' Olivia Laing, GUARDIAN
'A marvel: a monument to human beings continuing to reach for the skies, even after their plans dissolve in dust' NEW YORK TIMES
In thirteen chapters, Belgian poet Charlotte Van den Broeck goes in search of buildings that were fatal for their architects - architects who either killed themselves or are rumoured to have done so. They range across time and space from a church with a twisted spire built in seventeenth-century France to a theatre that collapsed mid-performance in 1920s Washington, DC., and an eerily sinking swimming pool in her hometown of Turnhout.
Drawing on a vast range of material, from Hegel and Charles Darwin to art history, stories from her own life and popular culture, patterns gradually come into focus, as Van den Broeck asks: what is that strange life-or-death connection between a creation and its creator?
Threaded through each story, and in prose of great essayistic subtlety, Van den Broeck meditates on the question of suicide - what Albert Camus called the 'one truly serious philosophical problem' - in relation to creativity and public disgrace. The result is a profoundly idiosyncratic book, breaking new ground in literary non-fiction, as well as providing solace and consolation - and a note of caution - to anyone who has ever risked their hand at a creative act.
'What a sensible, intelligent and beautiful book' Stefan Hertmans, author of War and Turpentine
Beguiling . . . In our moment of "quiet quitting," resistance to corporate domination and a conviction that capitalism is in decay, Bold Ventures does arrive as a timely interrogation of what, exactly, constitutes success - of how to liveEveryone fails every day, but an architect's failure is inescapably visible, a public humiliation, even when it doesn't occasion loss of life . . . That the relationship between creator and creation can become so deleterious is a source of obsession for Charlotte Van den Broeck . . . Bold Ventures resembles a pop version of Iain Sinclair's psychogeography or Out of Sheer Rage, Geoff Dyer's anti-biography of DH LawrenceBold Ventures is a unique survey of artistic creation, and is full of memorable scenes and insightsWhat a sensible, intelligent and beautiful bookA darkly comic meditation on the nature of creativity and the narrow margins between triumph and despair. Part memoir, part travelogue and part reflection, this unique and hugely engaging book takes a fresh look at the tragicomic condition of being humanA gorgeous and roving debut . . . Van den Broeck's exploration extends beyond the lives and works of her subjects, turning into both a philosophical meditation on creativity and a brilliant character study of misunderstood artists. The result is a genre-bending work that's sure to fascinate those interested in art and architecture, as well as anyone curious about the dangerous mechanisms of the creative mindWhile going on essayistic quests that take her around the globe, Van den Broeck traces stories of self-complacency, fear of failure and destiny. Indirectly, she researches the link between building and writing. Isn't every author bold by default, after all? In Bold Ventures she lives up to her ambition Van den Broeck has a very keen eye. But she also has a great mind, making transitions between philosophical contemplations and journalistic passages seem effortless
