Dinner and a Rose

Bodman, Sarah; Campbell, Nancy

Abstract

Dinner and a Rose
Sarah Bodman & Nancy Campbell

Artist Sarah Bodman and poet Nancy Campbell have created a new edition of Dinner and a Rose, an artist’s book in homage to the novel The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Originally produced in 2010 in an edition of 20 as part of the University of Dundee’s AHRC funded project, Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text and Cognition.

Sarah and Nancy were commissioned to create the work for Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text, Cognition, to investigate how readers respond to visual aspects of poetry. Highsmith charts her murderous hero Tom Ripley’s greed for the good life using culinary themes. Ripley’s character is defined by what he chooses to eat and drink, from devil-may-care martinis in Mongibello to penitential hot milk in Rome. Sarah and Nancy decided to focus on Highsmith’s menus in the commissioned work. Inspired by Poetry Beyond Text‘s interest in experiment, they recreated Ripley’s meals in a live performance.

Sarah prepared a delicious, if sinister, dinner, for twelve guests, with a thirteenth place set for the absent Tom Ripley. Every food mentioned by Highsmith was served, from cold chicken in aspic to sole veronique, and every drink mixed (even Dubonnet!). The dinner lasted over twelve hours. All the night’s conversations were recorded and Nancy used the transcriptions as collage material, creating a series of 18 poems. Sarah photographed Ripley’s setting for each course; images and poems partner each other in the finished work.

Sarah and Nancy were delighted with the project’s success and continued the ‘novel dinner’ the following year working with The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland. The events grew and emerged as an annual participatory event for World Book Night, now coordinated by Sarah, Nancy and Linda Parr.

This new edition has been created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the last Ripley novel’s publication. Printed by Axminster Printing Company in an edition of 500. Text: Nancy Campbell, Image: Sarah Bodman. 21 x 14.8 cm, 40 pages.

• Physical Artefact Type: Artefact
• Deposit Date: Sep 20, 2021
• Keywords: artists' books, The Talented Mr Ripley, World Book Night
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7815564