THE KEYS TO “REFLECTION”

“Reflection” is a manuscript composed of 12 chapters, 10 dreams and divided in two parts. It is both the beating heart of Kiral World and a compass for its navigation. Reflection is the genesis, the trunk of an ever-growing family tree: every character, every place of Kiral World is somehow connected to it.

The present text holds the keys to Reflection, and is thus a travel guide for your journey into Kiral World.

The worlds

“Reflection” is centered in a hotel and its surroundings like the red district, all located at the train stop 44(6). The train glides over the sea, connecting unknown places to 44(6). As 44(6) is placed near the water, its reflection is perpetually casted on the water.

The reflection of 44(6) is 44(9), where one can find the green district; and the counterparts to all the travelers and inhabitants of 44(6).

The characters

“Reflection” is a tribute to a series of artists and artworks, viewed through the lens of the work of Niki de Saint Phalle, a French-American artist who died in 2002. Her most monumental work is a garden in Tuscany, that she populated with monumental sculptures inside one of which she even lived. Because of her interest in esotericism, each of the twenty-two sculptures represents a tarot card. The "Tarot Garden" (Giardino dei Tarocchi in Italian) has been open to the public since 1998.

In order to pay homage to this work, each character in the book and each dream that the main character has corresponds to a card of the tarot. If the titles of the dreams directly signals the card to which they correspond, it is less obvious at first glance to understand which card corresponds to which character. The way the correspondences between the characters and the cards were established was by following the interpretations of the cards layed out in "Tarot", by Rachel Pollack, a psychic that Niki de Saint Phalle considered as a reference in the field.

Here are the explanations which underline for each character of the stop 44 (6), its corresponding Tarot card, as well as the person or the real work to which he or she refers to, and its equivalent in 44 (9).

The main character

Correspondence at stop 44 (9): M.

Correspondence in our reality: the main character represents the "I" from a universal point of view, the reader who is led to reflect on himself through the reading of the book.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Fool. The Tarot is a metaphor of life, and the character that we follow through his life journey is the Fool.

N

Correspondence at stop 44 (9): the injector.

Correspondence in our reality: Niki de Saint Phalle. As she is at the origin of the Tarot garden and each character corresponds to a card, she is in fact the one who orchestrates the book. Hence the receptionist's response to the main character when he asks her where N is: "You may not see her, but she's there, behind every wall, every mind." Another clue is that when the main character first enters the hotel, he sees wire silhouettes, like prototype sculptures. Niki de Saint Phalle's sculptures were made of wire, covered with canvas coated with glue and then painted. These silhouettes are therefore in fact the prototypes of the characters in the book.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Magician, which symbolizes learning. This was the card with which Niki de Saint Phalle identified with the most.

R

Correspondence at stop 44 (9): the guide.

Correspondence in our reality: Arthur Rimbaud. Hence the excessive personality of the character, his genius, his use of drugs. It is in fact a reinterpretation of Rimbaud: in “Reflection”, he is not a poet, but a music composer. Here are some clues that allow to identify the character:

- R says "The one you describe is not the one I think I am". This is a reference to the famous sentence "I is another" by Rimbaud

-When R is swimming, he exclaims that he will add to his composition "The Drunken Boat", in reference to one of Rimbaud's most famous poems, "The Drunken Boat".

-R is obsessed by the sea. Rimbaud was obsessed with traveling, the “elsewhere” to which one had access at the time by the sea.

-The guide, the counterpart of R, says this: "I was a poet, a language teacher, a soldier and a deserter, I worked in a circus, I was a farmer, I managed a building site, I was also a trader, a manager, a coffee buyer, now a trafficker and look, I will be a geographer...". These are the occupations exercised by Rimbaud.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Tower, which represents the illumination ("Les Illuminations" is the title of a collection of Rimbaud), but also the ego destroyed by the ordeal. Rimbaud's ambitions as a poet were suddenly interrupted and that he ended up becoming an arms dealer, without ever explaining this conversion.

The ideas seller

Correspondence at stop 44 (9): the butterfly.

Correspondence in our reality: the tale "The Butterfly Dream" by Chuang Tzu, a 4th century Chinese thinker. It is a parable that questions reality. In short, a man dreams of being a butterfly. But when he wakes up, he wonders if he dreamed of the insect or if it is the butterfly that is now dreaming of him. The discussion the main character has with the ideas seller when he first goes to his store refers to this:

“- Oh I'm dreaming... I mumbled, exasperated.

- Oh, you think so? asked the ideas seller. I stared at him for a moment, confused.

- I'm sorry?

- Perhaps I am dreaming. Or could it be you?”

Correspondence in the Tarot: the High Priestess, who represents mental activity, introspection, intellectuality, which corresponds well to what the fable "The Dream of the Butterfly" induces.

The salesman/cat

Correspondence to stop 44 (9): the master of the ruins.

Correspondence in our reality: Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Untitled (Perfect Lovers), which consists of two perfectly synchronized industrial clocks placed side by side. They symbolize Gonzales-Torres and his companion, in perfect harmony, synchronized. But the nature of these clocks inevitably leads them to get out of sync. The battery of one of them dies before the other. It is a tragic illustration of life, and of the artist's love relationship: his partner, suffering from AIDS, died before him.

In "Reflection", the salesman has a clock, as well as R. If at the beginning they both shift by two hours, they end up desynchronized as the main character notices when he sees the clock in the salesman's window, slowed down by only one hour. Shortly thereafter, R disappears.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Hermit, who represents secret knowledge and a guide to introspection. It is precisely the salesman, in the form of a cat, who leads the main character to the two ladies who incite him to go to the Personal Reserve and thus pass to the other side of reflection. Introspecting means observing oneself, and this is what the main character will literally do in this second part.

The receptionist

Correspondence to stop 44 (9): the young girl who works in the restaurant, in charge of organizing the reception.

Correspondence in our reality: Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party," an installation that includes thirty-nine dining tables. Each set on each table represents a historical or mythological woman. The work includes the names of nine hundred and ninety-nine women associated with the thirty-nine guests and is a tribute to women's history. In "Reflection," the girl who works in the restaurant at stop 44 (9) mentions that she is preparing a dinner for thirty-nine guests and that she has nine hundred and ninety-nine invitations. The receptionist and this character both repeatedly use the expression "my little sugar", a hint to their connection.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Justice, which symbolizes equality. The receptionist constantly refers to justice, whether it is when she sends the main character to deliver a recipe, or when she reprimands the apprentice cook for running out of canned pineapple.

The apprentice cook

Correspondence at 44 (9): the great chef who invented the pineapple with pepper and chilli sauce, referred to by the girl who organizes the dinner in the restaurant.

Correspondence in our reality: the policeman numbered "223", in Chungking Express, an iconic film by director Wong Kar-Wai. In this film, 223's girlfriend May broke up with him on April 1, April Fool's Day. Not knowing if this is a joke or not, the policeman creates a rule: every day, until May 1st, he buys a can of pineapple, May's favorite fruit. These cans must expire on May 1. He figures that if she doesn't tell him that their breakup is a joke by May 1, his relationship will have expired by then. So this is a way for him to process his breakup.

The apprentice's obsession with canned pineapples is a direct reference to 223.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Pope (reversed card). It is the meaning of the card when it is drawn upside down that interests us here. Indeed, when this card is drawn upside down, it represents excessive credibility, exaggerated friendliness, non-conformism. These are the personality traits of the apprentice cook.

The emperor

Correspondence to 44 (9): the little white men who run 44. (9)

Correspondence in our reality: Bô, a character from Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away". He is a huge, capricious baby who dominates his environment with his caprices. However, he is transformed into a mouse and becomes a burden for the heroine, who carries him everywhere with her, without him having any real function.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Emperor, who represents control, possession, unnecessary rules, and therefore a certain rigidity. The child keeps repeating "Rules are rules, rules must be followed", no matter how absurd the rules are to get an invitation to the ball. We recognize in this card the authority and the whims of Bo. This character of the emperor and his three represents in a general way, a caricature of power. On the side of Bô, we can find an ironic echo to the monarchy in countries like Belgium, where it exists only because of rules and has no real use. The Emperor is a child, to underline incompetence and stubbornness. The real power is therefore not exercised by these ostensible characters (a king, a huge baby), but by more discreet, anonymous personalities: in this book the little white men, in our current world, personalities of thee Silicon Valley, lobbies, etc.

The two ladies playing senet

Correspondence to stop 44 (9): the sun and the moon.

Correspondence in our reality: the myth of the senet game between Konshu and Thot in Egyptian mythology. This is the legend that explains the passage from 360 to 365 days in the Egyptian calendar: the sun god, Thoth, played a game of senet against Konshu, the moon god. Thoth won the game. As he had bet to receive 5 days as a winning prize, he added these to the existing 360.

In "Reflection", the two ladies compete in senet, and the winner offers 5 extra hours to the main character in reference to this myth.

Correspondence in the Tarot: the Sun and the Moon, which represent respectively the clarity of mind and the emotional journey. The meeting between the main character and these two ladies takes place at the junction between the first and second part of the book, allowing him to clarify his mind and bring his inner journey to a conclusion.

The child who speaks in English

Correspondence to stop 44 (9): the puppy that the main character sees: "Nonchalantly I followed with my eyes a puppy that trotted cheerfully before me. He was touching with his long body and short legs, his drooping eyes. His green collar contrasted with the red of his muzzle and the white of his fur. I watched him swiftly walk away, kicking up little piles of dust with each stride."

This is a reference to Yoshitomo Nara's "puppy”.

Correspondence in our reality: the drawings of artist Yoshitomo Nara. The latter has the habit of representing sulky children in drawings or paintings. Most of the time they are accompanied by sentences in English (not necessarily grammaticaly correct) and symbolize a feeling of revolt. Each of the sentences uttered by the little girl in "Reflection" is from a work of Nara. That is why they are not always grammatically correct, and why they are written in English in the original version of the manuscript, which is in French. Another key character in Nara's work is "puppy", a short-legged flat dog with a red nose and a green collar. He sometimes accompanies the girls. Unlike the latter, he is mainly represented as calm and friendly. This is why the reflection of the little girl in 44(9) is the puppy.

Correspondence in the Tarot: Temperance, but reversed. When this card is drawn upside down, it symbolizes imbalance and excess. In the early drawings of Nara, his little girls are most of the time represented enraged, revolted against society.

The dreams

The dreams correspond to the remaining Tarot cards.

The Chariot

This card represents overcoming difficulties, conquest, victory, violence. In this dream, the main character is pursued, but manages to escape from his assailants by jumping over an obstacle. This dream is the first one, because it introduces the theme of "Reflection": the conquest of oneself, the resolution of a problem. It allows the reader and the main character to "dive into their thoughts", to begin a reflection on themselves.

The Wheel of Fortune

This card echoes the changes, the cycles, like the one of life described in the book (the same person goes from a child to an old woman, passing through the adult stage). Our character begins to feel that a change is necessary, that he is not satisfied with his life.

The Lovers

This is a representation of relationships, of choices. This dream highlights five strongly linked characters. The guests will have an influence on the choices made by the main character during the course of the manuscript. But above all, this dream illustrates the relationships between factors that influence our choices: passion, reason, the unconscious and interest.

The Devil (reversed card)

It is again the meaning of the card when it is drawn upside down that interests us here. Indeed, let us emphasize that the lady who is the central point of this dream, appears to the main character upside down: "A sharp and regular clacking attracts my attention: a woman walks in front of me, on the ceiling, upside down therefore, defying all the laws of gravity".

When drawn upside down, this card symbolizes a certain rebirth (hence the references in this dream to Renaissance paintings). One becomes aware of a certain form of dependency (emotional or otherwise) and this is the first step in breaking free. This dream occurs just after the main character has made the decision to change his life by resigning: he is freeing himself, preparing to live a rebirth.

The Death

It represents a transition, letting go of certain "parts of oneself". The dream illustrates this card in an almost comical way. The fact that the main character appears outside the cube that is this room and manages to enter it by turning the walls over symbolizes the transition. This dream occurs when he frees himself from the constraints related to the creation of olfactory identities, which he regains a taste for composing: this marks an important transition in his thinking.

The Star

It represents appeasement, hope. In this dream, a man creates the world in a poetic way in a previously desolate landscape. This renewal brings comfort to our main character: "The sight is soothing. It's like he's giving hope to what's around him." He dreams of this after a very hectic day, which he recovers from by finishing his olfactory creation. Composing is no longer a source of stress, but a pleasure, his anxieties are calmed.

The Strenght (reversed card) and the Hanged Man

These two cards appear at a pivotal moment of the manuscript, where the border between dreams and reality has completely disappeared: the two are mixed. The main character can no longer distinguish between the two. More clearly, I am talking about the moment when he is at the beach with R. He first sees the "rose", a coquettish girl who is afraid of sheep and pines for the absence of a beloved.

This is of course a reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. In this masterpiece, the Little Prince takes care of a rose and fears that it will be eaten by a sheep, and temporarily moves away from it. The rose emerges upside down from the water: "a young girl slowly emerged from the water, feet first, then legs, buttocks, chest, shoulders and finally face." It represents the card of Strength when it is drawn upside down, which symbolizes weakness, pride… all traits of the rose of Saint-Exupéry.

We then find our main character in the initial situation again, on the beach with R. This repetition is not a mistake: it will be explained below.

This time he does not see the rose, but a child with vague outlines: a memory of the Little Prince, as he lives in the rose's mind. A few clues make it possible to guess that it is the Little Prince: the golden hair like wheat, his tendency to ask a lot of questions, his attachment to the rose. As he says, he is the imaginary friend of the rose: a reminiscence. He represents the card of the hanged man, which itself symbolizes liberation through sacrifice (remember that the Little Prince sacrifices himself at the end of Saint-Exupéry's book to join his rose), the acceptance of his fate, a new stage. In this part of the manuscript, the main character learns that R is going to leave and he is confronted with his own weakness: his dependence on R to inspire him and believe in him. He will have to accept his fate, harden himself.

The Little Prince was an important source of inspiration for this book. It is in homage to this work that I chose the number 44 to designate the hotel stop. The Little Prince liked observing sunsets:

"-At home, one day, I saw the sun set forty-four times. You know, when you are so sad, you like sunsets.

- So the day of the forty-three times you were so sad?

But the Little Prince did not answer.”

Now, Antoine De Saint-Exupéry died at the age of 44. If we imagine that for the Little Prince's planet, one day represents one year on Earth, the Little Prince's sadness would be caused by the death of his creator. This is a very moving link, which led me to use the number 44 as a symbol of the connection between the real and the imaginary.

The Empress

She symbolizes passion, abundance, prosperity, fertility and creative power. The lady that the main character meets in his dream watches over the fertility of the land, and represents the abundance of nature by the way she is dressed. Her behavior betrays passion and power. This dream is linked to the main character's renewed passion for the composition of smells, and the creative fertility that comes from it.

The World

This card represents accomplishment, the end of the journey, success. In this dream, the main character frees himself from constraints (symbolized by the abundance of squares) by clinging to a bird (symbol of freedom): he takes flight. This dream is premonitory: the main character is about to be confronted with himself, M, to finally be One with himself, to accomplish himself.

The Last Judgment

The card symbolizes renewal, transformation, rebirth, wonderful change. In this dream, fiction penetrates reality (the painting becomes the room). It is the ultimate dream, because it signs the final rebirth of the main character.