It’s probably not particularly groundbreaking to be fascinated by the epigraphs, as they’re the only written part of the entire book. Still, there’s an element of collage there as well–Max Ernst is still cutting out parts of other source materials and repurposing them for his own use. There’s the same sense of cutting and pasting and rearranging.
In particular I liked the epigraph for the second book, Monday, the Element of Water, which is from Benjamin Peret’s endormi:
“D. — What do you see?
R. — Water.
D. — What color is this water?
R. — The color of water.
The enigmatic answer is both explored and emulated throughout the following section of the collage novel as the water takes on different characteristics–calm, cleansing, turbulent, relentless, unstoppable. The novel, of course, is in black and white, and the water is colored only by perception. The epigraph draws the reader deeper into the images and sets the tone for the section.
