A book about a minor event, a missing ring that signifies loss. The short story is presented in a traditional format, a text block on a white ground. Nevertheless, it’s the book’s materiality which informs the choreography of the read: embedded mica represents memory loss by its translucency and its reflectiveness; the palladium leaf is a symbol for the precious jewel; and, the opaque and translucent papers suggest the loss of sentience, which is the subtext of the story.

 

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Additional thoughts:

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The text is deceptively descriptive and mundane, in contrast to the richness of the materials.  Most importantly, "A Week of Jewels" requires the reader to understand the subtext revealed between the lines: which is the significance of the loss, when that loss happens to be one’s memory.

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The seemingly random shapes of palladium are patterned by the mica embedded into first grey sheet in each copy.