CLIVE BARKER´S

BOOKS OF ART

When you say Clive Barker, the first thing that would propably come in mind is his novel Hellraiser ( known also as The Hellbound Heart). To tell the truth, Hellraiser is not his best piece, but its the most famous. I´ve read some of his books and I found them all better than Hellraiser. That is Damnation Game, Books of blood and finally his Books of Art series - The Great and secret show and Everville.

In the books of Art Barker tells a story about a mystical place called

The Sea of Quiddity

, where everyone gets for three times in a lifetime. First on the day he´s born, second time the night he is sleeping next to the one he really loves and finally he gets there the day before he dies. You dont get there physically - only your mind is allowed in The Sea of Quiddity. You get there only when you sleep, in your dreams. Just a few people know about it and those who do, spend their entire life trying to get there. It´s said that whoever is able to shift between the two worlds (Metacosmos - thats our world and Ephemeris - thats The Sea) by himself has mastered the mysterious

ART

And thats what those books are really about. It´s about lust for power, thats represented by Art. The irony is that the people, who want to master the Art at any cost, are "the bad guys" (you know why that is - as usually, they want it at any cost, so they dont stop at nothing). But those people never get to accomplish their mission. Instead, the "good guys", who dont care about the Art, they just want to live their life happily, get the closest to the Art. Come to think of it, only one person really does master it.

However, Books of Art are not about the story itself. Its not about the towns of Palomo grove or Everville, its not about the people - confused and evil RandolphJaffe, confused and good :-) Fletcher, their offspring Tommy-Ray, Jo-Beth and Howie, curious reporter Nathan Grillo, his brave friend, writer Tesla Bombeck and others. These things are good, yes, but the heart of the books, is the philosophy of the Art, Sea of Quiddity, Ephermis, Metacosmos, Iad Uruboros and those things. I have no idea how Barker got such an idea, but it is in many parts genuine. I am not a religious person. I have many questions which none of the religions can answer. None of them is.....i would say...ultimate. I dont know...i dont want to talk about god, now. But the point is that what Barker wrote in these books, even if its really absurd, IS ultimate in the way i would like a good religion to be. What Im trying to say, is, that if i had to believe in one religion, it would be that from the Books of Art. Not only does it explain the meaning of all the other religions, it has so many mystical parts (something like the red room in Twin Peaks...it also gives me the chills), it makes you think what if....

Well...both books are very good (evetho, The Great and Secret Show is better then Everville) and if you like Twin Peaks-like stories, you should propably read them. One more thing...Barker is currently writing the third and last part of the books of Art. Im looking forward to it.