In Sheila Heti’s Novel, Critics Could Save the World—or Destroy It | The New Yorker

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“Pure Colour,” Heti’s most mystical work yet, considers what judgment means in both art and life.

Save this story Save this story A Japanese folktale concerns a young acolyte so obsessed with drawing cats that the elderly and perplexed head priest sends him away. In time, he finds shelter in an abandoned temple that, unbeknownst to him, is haunted. But he has ink. He draws cats all over the walls, the beams, and the floors. Tiring, he tucks himself into a closet to sleep, but wakes to the sounds of violent struggle. When the temple falls silent, he creeps out. The mangled body of a giant goblin rat lies on the ground. From the walls, the beams, and the floors, his cats look on, their mouth

In Sheila Heti’s Novel, Critics Could Save the World—or Destroy It | The New Yorker

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