Rikki Ducornet : Trafik

Writer, poet, and painter Rikki Ducornet returns to Between the Covers to discuss her latest novel Trafik which is her first foray into science fiction. Ducornet’s body of work—surrealist, alchemical, gnostic, metamorphic—is sparked by the wonder and mystery of dreams, as well as by the shared company of the non-human other, the eels and butterflies and orcas and jaguars we share the earth with. What does it mean for such a writer to leave earth behind?  To imagine herself into a post-earth (post-home), post-human (post-body) world where everything we know is of our own creation? We talk about the real and the virtual, language as generative magic and language as weapon. We discuss surrealism (where if you open the International Encyclopedia of Surrealism you’ll find Rikki between Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst) and the little acknowledged but vital ecological strain within it, one that challenges the anthropocentric view of the world, transgresses species classifications, and troubles notions of individual identity as well. For the bonus audio archive Rikki reads some of her poems for us. To find out how to subscribe to the bonus audio archive, or how to get a signed giclée reproduction of one of Rikki’s illustrations from the 1983 edition of Jorge Luis Borges’ Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, or to check out the many other potential benefits of becoming a listener-supporter head over to the Between the Covers Patreon Page.