I am no fan of willful pain and suffering, especially in the form of a billion tiny pinpricks. But I would certainly consider getting tattoos if they were as cool as this lady's:
(Click each photo for the large size, as these are best viewed up close.)
For the tragically uninformed, these images are taken from Madeleine L'Engle's magnificently weird and moving science fiction novel for children, A Wrinkle in Time. They demonstrate the titular wrinkling of time and space through a phenomenon called a tesseract, which incidentally is like an actual scientific reality.
I would totally get this inked into my skin. What children's book quote, image, or other literary symbol would you get written on your body (especially if it didn't hurt so much)?
Those tattoos are so, so, so awesome!
To answer your question, I've already got 2 nerd tattoos. The teeny-tiny one on my wrist is a fleuron, which, among other things, is a decorative element in books--they often are used to divide sections of a chapter, or in the footer. I saw a photograph of someone who had a tattoo of one on her shoulder, and thought it looked gorgeous. The one I chose comes from my much read and much loved edition of _The Bluest Eye_. The edition isn't special or anything, but it is the one I own.
I also have a wee tattoo above my ankle that's a bird. It doesn't refer to a particular book, but I chose it because birds and imagery describing flight are really common to a ton of women's literature and a ton of AfAm lit as well.
I would love to get "Will to adorn," which is the title of a section of Hurston's "Characteristics of Negro Expression" tattooed--perhaps on my other wrist--as I think it would be a little cheeky given the fact that, ahem, I'm a sister who has a number of piercings and 2 tattoos, but I'm pretty sure that my adviser, who is a Hurston scholar, would laugh at me if it were in view.
Be wary of looking at a bunch of well-done, unique, & subtly feminine tattoos--having a former roommate with a number of them is how I ended up with mine!
Beth, I must see photos of these tats! I remember noticing and talking about the fleuron last time I saw you. Don't think I've seen the bird though.
I love the "will to adorn" idea. Cheeky is fabulous.
I already know I'm going to end up with some ink eventually. My midwife neighbors swears that hers were more painful than childbirth, so I feel like it'll be a good warm up before we have kids. :)
http://www.goodgraffiti.org/upload/Art43_The_Little_Prince_(A.deStExupery).JPG
Excellent choice, Liz. But you should get the text in the original French. ;)
Agreed--that would be awesome. I think that it would be cool in French or English--which ever one is closer to your relation to the book (a lot of English speakers first encounter it French class, no?)
WOW I really love that tattoo! Great, now I want one.