Edward Hopper, a painter who painted paintings that look like scenes from a movie, is one of the leading figures in 20th century American figurative painting. His unique realism, which depicts urban offices, hotels, theaters, and suburban landscapes using simple compositions, colors, and dramatic shadows, is popular. The people depicted in Hopper's works are expressionless, neither smiling nor sad, and their emotions are unreadable, giving the impression of silence and loneliness.

 

 

Hopper's works have also been used as cover art for three short story collections translated by Murakami Haruki, including Grace Paley's "A Huge Change at the Last Moment," and for Patricia Highsmith's novel "Carol." I think that Grace Paley's complex style, which toyed with the reader while drawing them into the story, and the secret, unrequited love affair between two women in "Carol," go very well with Hopper's paintings, which attract the viewer without showing emotion.

 

 

Author Lawrence Block felt that "there is a story in (Hopper's) paintings, a story waiting to be told," and wrote a book of short stories titled "Short Stories: 17 Stories Born from Paintings" with 16 authors who love Hopper's work. These unique authors, including Stephen King and Jeffrey Deaver, who are also popular in Japan, invite you into the stories within the paintings.

 

 

From her work "SUMMER EVENING," which depicts a nighttime scene of a man and woman who seem to be a couple having a conversation on the front porch, Jill D. Block created a family story titled "Caroline's Story." Hannah, who is about to turn 40, visits the home of her parents, who were separated from her at birth, as a hospice volunteer, hiding the fact that she is a daughter. As the story progresses, we become excited and excited as we wonder what will happen to Hannah and her family, who do not know that she is their daughter.

 

"SOIR BLEU" is a slightly eerie work in which an out-of-place clown smokes a cigarette on the terrace of a restaurant just after sunset. Robert Oehlen's "Evening Blue" is a mysterious story that makes direct use of the scenery of this work. A painter who is irritated by his unfaithful lover and the man who tries to steal her away is gradually cornered by the clown on the terrace that he suddenly catches his eye, and by his father in his memory.

 

 

A man reading a newspaper in a room, a woman lost in thought at the piano, a one-seater sofa and an orange dress make an impression in "ROOM IN NEWYORK." Stephen King has turned this into a surprising story called "Music Room." The conversation between a couple and the repeated sounds from the closet... The thrill increases as you read, and by the end of the book, the impression you get from the picture will have changed 180 degrees.

 

 

The short stories other than the three introduced above are all wonderful and allow you to fully enjoy the charm of Edward Hopper's work and the author's imagination. Enjoy this book as if you were visiting a gallery where you can enjoy art and novels at the same time, and try to imagine what kind of story you would weave from the pictures.

Originally from Tokushima Prefecture, she got a job at a regular company, but decided she wanted to work in the world of art and books, so she interned at a gallery in Kyoto and started working part-time at a bookstore in Sennichimae, Osaka. When she started thinking about creating a space where art and books existed together, she happened to find out that UMEDA TSUTAYA BOOKS was opening, and applied to be a concierge, where she has been ever since. Of course, she loves art, but her reading habits include science fiction novels, mysteries, foreign novels, and the occasional cooking essay.