When I first wrote about vidding, I said:
I wish there were a way to respond like this to a novel or short story. Imagine. Wow. If someone did something like this in response to my work, I would cry like a baby and count myself blessed. — from my post “Vid it“
And today comes this from Karina Melendez — her response to my story “Strings”.
The words are taken (a bit randomly) from…”Strings”. The music is by Philip Glass. The beautiful footage belongs to Patricia Rozema and Aaron Platt. — Karina Melendez, describing the origins of “Mad Rush“.
And so I’m crying and I’m blessed. I’m overwhelmed by this beautiful gift. It’s just astonishing.
Because apart from the incredible personal meaning this has for me, I stand in awe of what she’s done for fiction. It would never have occurred to me to use words in this way, and I think it’s fucking brilliant. This is not a “video of the story” — it’s a response that uses the story I wrote to show the story that she feels. This is not the story of “Strings,” it’s the heart of “Strings” — what music means, how it feels, what it does. And how what we keep inside us will always find a way out.
Watch it, please, please. And please go let Karina know what you think.
Saying thank you doesn’t seem like enough, somehow. And so I thought that along with my thanks, I would offer the story itself. Here is “Strings”. It’s one of my best. I hope you enjoy it.
Wow. This is really cool. Thanks. Now I’m the one who feels like crying.
I just love translating your work in every way I can.
Yes, that’s exactly it – she got to the ‘heart’ of strings. Beautiful. Moving. Risky. In that way it’s just like Strings.
Excellent work, Karina.
I hadn’t read Strings before this post, so I read it first. There is such longing in that story, as there is in Karina’s video. Thanks for sharing both.
Barbara, you’re welcome. Yes, lots of longing, and some of that fear we were talking about recently…