133. How do you describe the indescribable?
I.
Whilst Robert Macfarlane is signing his book, I compliment him on his fountain pen. Itās the ink that makes this pen truly special, he says: āIt contains the water of 105 riversā. I think heās joking, but he isnāt. Later, I read on his Instagram account that this is indeed special ink, mixed with water from rivers, lakes and seas across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Macfarlane is at the International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU) to talk about his new book Is A River Alive? (hence the special ink). Iāve started reading the book and will no doubt come back to it later. What Macfarlane is good at is describing things that seem indescribable. In some languages, you have specific words for a particular feeling, such as āgezelligā in Dutch.
You also have them for certain images. In Japanese, ākomorebiā refers to the way sunlight filters through the trees, creating dancing shadows. And in Scottish Gaelic, ārionnach maoimā describes the phenomenon of how shadows from the clouds drift across the moorland on a sunny, windy day.
Words often fall short when trying to describe a view from a mountain or a beautiful sunset. Macfarlane is exceptionally good at this, and in the YouTube series How I Write he explains how he goes about it. āLanguage doesnāt stand a chance of describing light in a literal way,ā he says. āNothing moves faster. Nothing is more changeable. Nothing shifts so constantly in texture and form as light. So letās abandon the futile quest for the perfect representation in the written word.ā
Macfarlane prefers to look for metaphors, which are, by definition, a distortion of what you see. āAristotle describes the metaphor as a likeness in dissimilarity, connecting one thing to another across time and space,ā he says. āThat is one of the most beautiful ways to depict nature without capturing it. For as soon as we try to capture nature, she paces restlessly back and forth in her cage and is no longer herself.ā
Just as it is not easy to convey an overwhelming encounter with nature, artists never quite succeed in sharing their way of working either. Yet I remain curious about it. During the ILFU, Macfarlane makes an attempt. His metaphor for describing this marvellous process is pottery. āYou take a huge handful of clay and throw it onto the table,ā he says. āThat forms a big, ugly lump that looks like nothing. And then you step on the pedal and the thing starts to turn. Slowly, slowly, slowly, you start to move. Just until the clay changes and takes shape.ā
II.
The film Wings of Desire by director Wim Wenders is about two angels who watch over the inhabitants of Berlin. A lovely touch is that adults cannot see the angels, whilst for children they simply exist. Children always see more than adults ā or are not yet cynical enough to shut themselves off from things.
At the start of the film, we see two children looking up from a bus. The camera frames a tall church tower. At the top stands a statue of an angel. Or is it not a statue?
At the time this film was made, in the mid-1980s, Nick Cave was living in Berlin. The young Cave lived by night; rebellious and under the influence of drugs. Wenders simply had to have him in the film. āMaking a film without Cave back then would have been a sin of omission,ā the director said in 2022 to the British Film Institute. āHe symbolised the spirit of the city: adventurous, dark, unique. That was Berlin.ā
The songs The Carny and From Her To Eternity form the climax of the film. Nick Cave performs them in the film with a certain intensity, just as he still does almost forty years later when he plays From Her To Eternity live. That wild side remains hidden somewhere within him, even though he himself has changed. I find his struggle with faith utterly fascinating. How he alternately dances with the devil and with the idea of a god.
Cave sings in Into My Arms: āI donāt believe in the existence of angels / But looking at you I wonder if thatās true / But if I did I would summon them together / And ask them to watch over you.ā Because he first states that he consciously does not believe in angels, but then immediately gives in to doubt, there is room to believe in them after all and to see them. Or, as Spinvis would put it: āInherit your childās eyes, look through themā.
PS.
What a dream, this homemade, super cosy mini-library.
- - -These are the first images from Hideo Kojimaās horror game OD. Iām really into Kojimaās games this year. I played Death Stranding 1 and 2 and the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. So Iām also really looking forward to OD, though Iām not sure how much Iāll enjoy a horror game from this director. I once played his horror demo P.T. and that was actually already too scary.
- - -Is it a good idea to use ChatGPT as a therapist? It can actually be quite a relief to be able to get things off your chest in an accessible way. NOS Stories made an excellent video about it.
- - -Jeff Tweedy has released his trilogy Twilight Override. Three albums in one; itāll keep you entertained for nearly two hours. Iām looking forward to listening to this a lot over the coming weeks.
- - -Youāve just read blog post ā133, written during the week of 22 to 28 September 2025. Subscribe to my free newsletter to receive this blog in your inbox every Sunday.