The tattooed image is becoming passe as more and more people choose words to express themselves. Not just mottoes like “Death Before Dishonor,” but whole passages from novels or favorite poems.
The James Joyce one above is kind of pretentious for my taste but it’s better than all the poor unfortunate people who’ve chosen stuff from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and poems by Sylvia Plath.
The girl above chose song lyrics, from “New Found Glory” on one leg and “Cartel” on the other. I don’t know. Couldn’t she settle for lyric sheets?
The human doodle-pad look is kind of questionable to me, but in fact I have thought about a song lyric or two in memory of my son. After looking at the archives at contrariwise.org, a blog dedicated to literary tattoos, I’m more tempted to go for something really fun. How about this lyric from “Santeria” by Sublime:
Tell Sanchito that if he knows
What is good for him
He best go run an’ hide
Daddy’s got a new forty-five
And I won’t think twice to stick that barrel
Straight down Sancho’s throat
Believe me when I say that
I got something for his punk ass
That, I could live with. What do you think about literary tattoos? Cool, stupid, or you already have several?
How about the opening verse to the Bike song by Pink Floyd?
I’ve got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It’s got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I’d give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it
Greenaway’s movie “Pillow Book,” while borrowing heavily from his previous work, is chockablock with footage of literary tats. Most of them are in kanji so I have to trust the subtitles, but that works in their favor. I don’t want to read someone’s tattoos, especially if the text quotes the work of someone other than the person they’re inked on.
Unless the text is that of a dirty limerick and accompanies an astonishing bit of anatomy that demonstrates the limerick’s subject.
Oh, and put Greenaway on your hipster list while I’m thinking of it.
You know what bothers me about these word tattoos? It’s the typefaces. Even the nicest line of poetry won’t work if you use a crappy standard Word 97 standard-issue font!
there’s a whole load more here, many on particularly homogenous hipsters
http://researchtattoos.blogspot.com/
And as for those thighs? goodness me, it looks like she put a printout on her lap before the ink dried!
On the whole I love tattoos, especially men covered in them that’s a different story) but these literary tattoos make me wince. Who are these people and why are they using their body art to shove home how intelligent (?) and deep they are? Can’t they just read a book? I almost appreciate the Harry Potter ones, at least I believe they read the book, but James Joyce? Ha!
I’m sure that in a few years they will look as tired and dated as those celtic arm band tattoos did in the early 1990s.
Thank crikey I didn’t get one of those…
I actually have a few lines from songs that hold very special meanings to me, and got me through some terrible times. But my main reason for not getting them is those horrid typefaces! I can’t imagine looking at something that holds great meaning to me but being disgusted at how it looks!
I have wanted for many years to have “And hold up to the sun my little taper” tattooed down the inner aspect of my right arm. What’s holding me back? I should like to find source material of the phrase in the author’s own handwriting.
i don’t like them. it’s not that different to wearing a logo t-shirt. i tattoos, but no words– the body should not be readable.
i mean: i LIKE tattoos
Hmm….I’m sure this doesn’t count as literary….but I have the title to the song Real Talk by R. Kelly tattooed inside my wrists in a scripty font.
I don’t care what anyone does to their body by way of adornment – just don’t let it effect anyone else and just because someone is impressed by what they to themselves doesn’t mean anyone else has to give a crap – do it because YOU like it and feel it says something about you.
We’ve been adorning ourselves since year dot and we will keep doing it till we all become extinct.
That’s all.
ummmmmmmmmmmmm i guess its a personal thing, i personally think that images are more fun, more striking, more interesting, and i dont really want people reading my body, thats kind of weird. like HEY lift your skirt so i can read the rest!
“I love TS Eliot”
“Ohh, I love TS Eliot too!”
“Yeah, but I have the opening lines of The Wasteland tattooed on my ass, so I love him more than you do.”
I hate it. If a piece of literature means that much to me then I’ll put it on a painting. Or scrawl it on the walls, or on my table, or anywhere I can. I will not put it on my body because people CHANGE. That poor girl with New Found Glory lyrics is going to be linked forever to shitty music.
Not only that, but it’s pretentious as fuck.
….yeah alright, it’s pretentious…
File under hipster post.
I think most tattoos are stupid that aren’t my own. I’m sure a lot of people think mine are stupid. It’s mostly because I don’t know the story behind theirs, and people don’t know the stories behind mine. In the long and short of it, it really doesn’t matter. If you don’t like someone’s tattoos, then don’t look at them. All that matters to me is that my tattoos mean something to me. Fuck everyone else. Oh and Santeria had me cracking up Sister! Now that’s a tattoo I could get behind. Or maybe some Snoop Dogg lyrics about Gin & Juice.
I’d get this one, which isn’t a literary tattoo in the sense you mean here http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Donquixote.JPG in a heartbeat, if I could decide where on my body to put it and trusted the tattoo artist to not muck it up.
As for Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings tattoos, I’d never judge. Those fandoms can be pretty hardcore, and besides, the idea of tattooing a spell to drive away depression/dementia-causing monsters on myself is sometimes v. appealing.
I have a lot of tattoos…pictures and words. I get them for myself and no one else. I used to wonder what the hell someone was thinking when I saw a random tattoo…but then realized that it’s probably not random to them and they probably feel the same about mine. Unless the owner explains the meaning behind it, I try to see it for the art. My favorite question I get about my tattoos is “Don’t you know what you’ll look like when you’re 80 years old?” Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. I’ll be one awesome 80 year old grandma with stories to tell my grandkids!
I concur with TheShoeGirl. Though generally speaking, I do appreciate and enjoy tattoos mostly for their aesthetic purposes, and even enjoy looking at these literary ones if just for the fonts. But it’s almost unacceptable to want and have tattoos just for the artistry. I’ve heard that some tattoo artists want some sort of explanation as to why you want the image or words you do before agreeing to doing it, which is just lame. Who’s to deem what is meaningful?
Thumbs down. I think tattoos in general are kind of played out, but these are just a bad idea. I’ve seen some truly embarrassing “Twilight” ones, for example. On top of that, tattoos tend to smudge and fade as time passes, so eventually, you are going to have to recite what your tattoo *used to* say every time someone asks you about it.
I’m personally not a fan. It’s the equivalent of sitting on the subway and reading Kerouac, displaying the cover so everyone can see how intelligent you are. (Pardon me, I have no idea what “poseurs” are reading nowadays.)
But then again, I guess that it’s the tattoos that everyone can see that makes it look so pretentious. I’ve thought about tattooing “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai” in Hebrew somewhere on my body…but for myself. No one but the husband would be able to see it. I guess that verses, especially in memory of someone, would be okay if it’s NOT across the top of your chest or on the small of your back…
BUT i also do understand wanting to have strangers see the verse and ask about the reason you got it…so you could talk about the people nearest and dearest to you.
Hmm…
I’m a fan of these tattoos if they are done well. I think the one with the writing all over that girl’s thighs isn’t pretty or well thought out. I’m definitely a lord of the rings geek, and I will absolutely admit to having some elvish writing on my person. I went to a very skilled tatto artist, and it looks very nice (although its not everyones taste).
After my Dad died in March, my sister got a tattoo with lyrics from Beyonce’s ‘Halo.’ My Dad loved Beyonce and loved that song so much, so my sister got “Standing in the Light of Your Halo, I’ve got my Angel Now, G.J.D” tattooed on her ribcage. It’s such a beautiful and meaningful tattoo, and really helped her to heal after his death.
When it comes down to it, it’s your body and no one’s opinion of tattoos should hamper your decision of whether of not to get one.
The closest I’ve ever come to seeing a “literary” tattoo that I really liked was on a girl who had an upper-arm band tattoo, like the 90’s tribal style, but hers was a detailed rendering of a book shelf with antique-looking bound books, some straight, some leaning, all sans titles. If I was a librarian I would absolutely get a tattoo like that!
i love tattoos in general.
that said, i had a very old one lasered off because it bled out and wandered some inches and thus looked horrible. i had had it for 20 years.
as to the scripture tats: i would love friedrich von schillers words “freude schoener goetterfunken” as a tat. he wrote the poem in 1785. this translates to “joy, beautiful spark of god” and stems from the lyrics used for beethoven’s “ode to joy”. maybe i’ll get that on the back of my upper arm, down to my ellbow, in white ink. maybe.
I think most tattoos are stupid, except mine. (Didn’t someone else just say that?) But who am I to decide what’s stupid and what’s not? And I’m almost instantly attracted to girls with lots of tattoos. I have a friend who is gets stupid cliche tattoos on purpose and I thought that was an interesting and funnyl idea. It’s confusing. I say, if it feels good, blah blah blah…
I’ll definitely agree with whoever said that the font is the key to these tattoos. Totally. But I like the literary tattoos as long as they’re not too pretentious and annoying. But then I guess that’s just a good way for me to know that I’m more than likely not going to get along with that person and to stay away.
So when are we going to do “The Customer is KIng”?
JC! So many typos…
I think most tattoos are stupid, except mine.
i agree with this. Narcissists of the world unite!
I think ALL tattoos are stupid.
I want “That’s so gay” tattooed on my neck in palatino font.
Mine consist of…
B4WARNED
METL
Love Is A Battlefield
I Would For You
Kick Start My Heart
MOM/POP
MISS YOU
Too many, who cares. They all have a story and a meaning.
P.S. I LOVE YOU Juli!!! Hahaha
I don’t understand tattoos, partially as I haven’t experienced permanency in life… relationships, jobs, houses, clothing/makeup/hair styles, music, friends, food, vacation spots, authors, accessories, grooming/house cleaning products, likes/dislikes of any sort really. Would I like to forevermore carry the same hairstyle/belt/shoes I wore in the 80’s, 60’s or 70’s… the best boyfriend’s name up to that point, a drunken Born to Lose motto, a revolutionary/sentimental/soft/hard statement that has meaning for me now, but fades & is replaced months down the road? No, to all.
Boredom readily accompanies me. Rooms are changed every 4-6 months. Different lipstick colors are worn daily. Clothing choices move regularly from feminine, colorful & flowing to form fitting, dark & assertive. Artwork is regularly disbanded with, replaced or moved, including my own. The same people bored with their same lives with the same stories make me never have time for a coffee, to hear the same story told the same way by the same person, yet again. No comfort is taken in my life by routine & viewing the same movie 30 times.
My small opinion (& opinions basically reflect one’s own life… in my opinion) is that as you move through your inevitable stages of grief, some periods will be clunky & anguished, some will bring incredible pride & love as a mother & woman, others will bring a wonder of what if, what could have been, what should be & ultimately, a mother’s knowing of a son well-loved, remembered, respected & honored here & where is is now.
Wouldn’t an entire wall with your stenciled lyrics be wonderful if crafted above dozens of framed photos of your son, you, your family, on one entire wall (family & friends could paint/create/design each frame, if you like)… or a painting of the same lyrics with any number of corkboards pinned beneath so photos can be shuffeled about, added to or highlighted. Perhaps a wall mural which is accessible to all family & friends when they feel the desire to express a loving memory or wish for your son. Or, his favorite leather jacket, painted, adorned with meaningful remembrances, buttons, jewels & letters & poems placed into pockets & displayed.
Your love & desire to comfort your child won’t change. Your ideas, hourly/daily memories & moods will. A tattoo would be a reminder of what you felt at this moment in time… an ever-evolving book with photos, quotes, poem fragments… or a wall/room/jeans/T-shirts with the same… will reflect your important cache of views of the very important life you created & allowed to flourish. Whichever you choose will be for the best. Just one very small opinion. Be well… Nikki
‘Spent 15 years getting loaded, 15 years till his liver exploded’
The ex-Anton – Well, Summer has a good tattoo artist for us, when we’re ready.
elio100 – Eeoow, looking at that blog, I’m even more put off. Back of the neck is really pissing me off. They’ve gone and made a gangster thing girly!
@Heinous – I love you. That is all.
MILTON!!!
—
As for the tattys, if someone likes it, I love it. Personally, I think a max of 2 lines looks best, but there was one I saw on contrariwise that took up most of a woman’s back and was gorgeous.
“I think most tattoos are stupid, except mine.”
My sentiments exactly!
I have a tattoo but with no writing. I think SOME words are ok, but maximum 3 or 4 and the font has to be great. I don’t mind a few words in a traditional tattoo font, (or if it’s a home-job, a single word in really plain letters) but mostly I dislike words, especially hackneyed maxims, crap song lyrics or anything “literary”. ICK.
I think “pretentious” sums up why I hate “literary tattoos” perfectly. If you have to write it on your body, it’s probably not true.
That said, I would like “lucky that my breasts are small and humble so you don’t confuse them with mountains” scrawled across my chest.
@Heinous – that’s the kind of thing I don’t mind, a song title or something in a good font. That is how you do text tattoos, people!
Welcome Nikki
Hi. I’m pretty new here. Imagine I am waving at all of you, please. SW–yours is the first blog I check daily. I love the breadth of subject matter of your blog, and the dynamic between commenter and author.
As per lit tats: no way in hell. But for conversation’s sake, gun to head, I’d literary tattoo myself with the wonderful line from Beckett, “Of course they beat me.” Or anything from Finnegan’s Wake, which reads mostly like “bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkon.” But then my Jewish mother would stroke, and I’d be left with a life of guilt and a tattoo that amused me less by the day.
That website makes me squirm. I feel particularly bad for those who chose to adorn themselves with Jonathan Safran Foer, Anne Sexton or Bukowski, but especially for this girl:
http://www.contrariwise.org/2010/01/11/i-carry-your-heart-2/
nothing worse than an overly-quoted cummings line on someone’s breast.
p.s. Has anyone else read a few pages of James Franco’s collections of short stories, “Palo Alto”? You can do so on Amazon. If you don’t want to go through the trauma, it sums up like this: car accidents are good plot devices, misogyny is edgy, and teenagers are hormonally in flux and devoid of morals (and apparently, believable dialogue). It’s appallingly bad, but even scarier is the amount of legit literary figures he got to blurb him with gooey praise. I don’t know if this fits here or the hipster post, but its quite amusing/disturbing. Sorry for the tangent from the lurker. Carry on.
Jacqui – And wasn’t it tragic how many people have “so it goes” (from Kurt Vonnegut?) The dumbness, the pointlessness, ugh!
re the James Franco book, THANK YOU for this review! I had a feeling it would suck and now I feel vindicated. Maybe playing Allen Ginsberg went to his head??
Hi, SW, sorry for being off topic but i just wanna show my favorite tattoo i found on flickr, belonging to a girl who dedicated the tattoo for her grandma, the tattoo is not literary but embroidery picture, here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitch/2744652516/in/set-72157606623859563/
backspace – Wow. Amazing. (But painful looking)
i’m curious as to whether they’ll be legible when cellulite, wrinkles and veins appear.
the embroidery tattoo reminds me of those characters in a Bosch painting … their flowers look painfully placed as well..
I can see the point of memorial tattoos – that you can choose something highly personal, beautiful, etc, but also because of a tattoo’s permanence, and because grief can often be best dealt with when you feel like you own it rather than something that is attacking you from outside. I can totally see how a tattoo might help with that. It’s painful too, & physical/emotional pain have (broadly speaking) some relationship to one another; one type can affect the other, & vice versa.
That said, literary tattoos are a bit naff. I’m being mean here, I know, but I always imagine their thought process goes something like, “I want a tattoo, but I don’t want any bog standard picture! I want to show the world that I READ BOOKS. I KNOW THINGS, I DO”. Snore. As though having a quote tattooed onto your skin adds an extra layer to your appreciation of the poetry/writing of whoever? Yeah, I’m sure.
Single letters, symbols & dates I’m more amenable to. I would only get either a tattoo of the first letter of my father’s name in an excellent font, or an uppercase phi symbol. But even that makes me feel a bit squirmy and pretentious.
Regrettable. The way we feel about things always changes. I’m guessing that girl will probably want her thighs back when she’s older.
How about a quote in combination of Greek, Hebrew, ASCII, and Arabic, and so tiny you’d need a magnifying glass to read it? Or in DNA? (Is there such a thing?) I like words better than pictures, and only because they’re so much more symbolic than reproductions of actual things. I always say, if you have some to say, say it.
“Words give wing to the mind.”
Actually, I recommend getting it done on a t-shirt first.
xxooxoxoxo
I prefer images to the scripted tattoos, but – whatever tickles your fancy (where the heck I’m getting these expressions? just hope I’m not completely mixing them up). I have one I choose because I liked the image; I’m thinking about getting the bat from the cover of Russell Hoban book “The bat tattoo” – I like the image, the meaning of the image and the story. Read some Hoban, if you didn’t already!