"The Taste of the Text" is the second book in the Mandelstam project.
Over its sixteen pages, I explain, and most importantly, demonstrate, how the meaning of a text changes depending on the font it's set in, what's next to it, whether on the same or an adjacent page.
The book contains only one poem—OM's love letter to Olga Arbenina: "Because I couldn't hold your hands..." set in three font styles: the serif Mandelstam "Poetry," the slab Mandelstam "Prose," and the grotesque Mandelstam "Life," as well as interpretations of the poem in visual-poetic form.
"The Taste of the Text" has less text than "The Definition of Poetry."
Accordingly, there are more pictures.
The second book demands even more attention to detail, deliberateness, and trust from the reader/viewer. But, just like the first, it was done quickly, spontaneously, in a single breath. It was very important to me to preserve Mandelstam's "voice work" and his willingness to vary on a chosen theme.
