Author: Joachim Matschoss
Genre: Travel/ Post-modern travelogue
Diary entry
I am standing on a piece of corrugated iron. Around me the rubble of a building, the smell of burning rubber, four big rats rummage near my feet. They are within reach. I am within their reach.
What to say?
What to do?
Three meters away a little child, maybe three, sitting, smiling.
This is its world.
Rain Overnight is the perception of foreign lands through the eyes of the author who travels all over Asia over the course of his life. He was always fascinated by the theatre and he was intrigued by new places and journeys from a very young age. As a boy, he loved everything about the theatre and now some sixty years later he still does. Joachim Matschoss is a playwright, poet, and theatre-maker who is fascinated by creating work from scratch, starting with a thought, image or a piece of music. He believes there is always a story to tell, to listen to. Joachim is less interested in seeing a piece of theatre grow like a flower, but more so like a weed, something raw, something with cracks, and something that is challenging both the performer and the audience member. In Rain Overnight, he combines elements of poetry, story-telling and travel memories as experienced by him on his travels.
Excerpt:
There was so much to see and experience in Taipei. From museums to markets, temples to shopping malls (not like the ones in Australia), this city had it. I walked pretty much everywhere because through walking you could really sense the heartbeat of a place.
One day I passed by a court building and learned that if you would get a prison sentence here in Taiwan the judge (in line with the ‘keeping of face’ in a Chinese sense) would not deliver the verdict to the accused in person. The guilty one would sit as a free man/woman in the lobby of the court-building and look at a plasma screen on which eventually his/her name would appear and next to it the length of the sentence was displayed and the day and time of commencement of imprisonment. He/she would note down the details and go home, ready to show up on the requested date and at the right time and place to begin their sentence
Why we love it:
Many travelers catalog their travel experiences in a very structured format by highlighting the pros and cons. Rain Overnight is different as it’s not just a regular travelogue. It’s a raw blend of theatre and travel expressed in the form of disconnected experiences that each of us go through when we explore a new place. It’s a fresh new style of writing that makes you just want to pack your bag and set off on a journey of your own.
You will love it if:
You like anything related to travel or literature or both! It’s a style of literature similar to James Joyce’s Ulysses, Zero Degree by Charu Nivedita or Ordinary Affects by Kathleen Stewart. For the traveler in you, it will bring back memories of shows such as Highway on my Plate and travel documentaries such as Tracks and Baraka.
If you would like to read Rain Overnight, you can find it on Amazon or the Notion Press bookstore.