a lot of beautiful libraries! but also a fair amount of ugly ones, mainly in Italy, which was surprising. whether beautiful or ugly, all of the librara lot of beautiful libraries! but also a fair amount of ugly ones, mainly in Italy, which was surprising. whether beautiful or ugly, all of the libraries in this massive, library-sized book (could easily kill a family of four with it) have been around for centuries - a few for over a thousand years. as far as "beautiful" goes, I think Spain, Portugal, Germany, and maaaaybe Brazil all tied for runner-up. second to the Vatican of course, which in a surprise twist is tied for first place with the relatively homey library at Eastnor Castle in England. besides the cozy castle library, all of the beautiful libraries look like hallucinogenic showrooms rather than anything usable. except for those that favor white pigskin bindings for books set in white shelves within white and pale blue walls; those libraries look like a sinister version of heaven (and also not usable). all of the ugly libraries look like wonderful settings for a creepy gothic adventure, but are certainly not places I'd like to visit because *dust*.
if you read the copious notes, expect to see the words "Rococo" and "Baroque" so many times that you'll never want to see those words again. the writer Elisabeth Sladek also leans very heavily on the words "sumptuous" and "magnificent" - the latter at one point is used twice in the same sentence, which should be a crime.
synopsis: due to a certain experience in his childhood, a young man becomes obsessed by satyrs; this obsession causes him to engage in a lot of researsynopsis: due to a certain experience in his childhood, a young man becomes obsessed by satyrs; this obsession causes him to engage in a lot of research, which leads to several strange experiences.
"delicious" is such an effete, decadent adjective to use for a book... I guess I'm an effete decadent, because this book was savory, rich, delicious. but tastes differ, so I imagine it wouldn't be as enjoyable a meal for many. there is such an insular quality to it, as if it were written for a select audience and, perhaps, mainly for the author himself. the novel was Weighell's last and it felt both very niche and very personal: the obscure subject matter; the diffident tone and slow pace and the formal, decidedly old-fashioned prose; the smorgasbord of characters inspired by real authors, mystics, artists, musicians; the episodic quality of the narrative and the perhaps autobiographical elements of the protagonist's personality and journey; the bookishness of it all.
although this is squarely within the 'weird fiction' genre, where ambiguity reigns supreme, there are still several sequences that were overtly Horror or even Thriller: a bundle of rags in the corner of an abandoned basement suddenly taking a sinister shape; a hunt on a mansion's grounds with human prey; a conversation in a rest home with an evil old wizard that ends in an unpleasant curse being directed at the protagonist. all of that and much more was delightful. I really love the rather starchy yet sometimes arch way that Weighell writes. it was also very interesting to read about the different permutations of "satyr": archaic nature and fertility figures in the myths and legends of many cultures, artisans and architects credited as Etruscans in history books, Satanic figures, members of chthonic cults, tempters who will lead the unwary astray, guides who will lead the curious to new paths and old dimensions....more
Adventure awaits! But a very special sort of adventure... one where your foolish superstitions are explained away, your credulity exposed, your fancifAdventure awaits! But a very special sort of adventure... one where your foolish superstitions are explained away, your credulity exposed, your fanciful multicolored bubbles burst! That's no monster, it's merely a strikingly large arachnid! Those aren't a cabal of underworld fiends, they are merely sweatshop enthusiasts! There's no magical magnetical fluid in your veins, fool, you're merely being mesmerized! Let's follow our guides, the pleasantly plump and certainly very friendly Hippolyte Sperling and his much, much better half, the very sensible, brave, and exquisitely beautiful Fabienne Sperling, as they shine out their scouring, scorching Light of Reason. Truth shall shine forth! These logical exemplars of the Enlightenment shall calm your fears as they expose fantasies of the night to the cold light of rational day.
But hark, bold duo and their adherents! The Enlightenment shall soon give way to the dark, ambiguous morbidity of Romanticism! Let's hope your marriage stays intact during the turbulent and very sexy times ahead...
These three novellas and their three adventures were delightful. Erudite (endnotes!) and clever and yet also... winsome? There's a sweet innocence here. Overall this is a minor work from this very talented author, and rather in the Scooby Doo vein. But I am in favor of charming larks that seek to only provide pleasure, and so this very friendly collection is happily recommended....more
The Friendly Examiner returns! To shine the Age of Reason's bright light upon those who dwell in ignorant, superstitious darkness and those who moon aThe Friendly Examiner returns! To shine the Age of Reason's bright light upon those who dwell in ignorant, superstitious darkness and those who moon about in an unnecessarily melodramatic, melancholy fashion, reading (and writing!) maudlin "prose poems" and morbid "gothic romances" and the like. Our amiable, pleasantly plump hero and his dazzling better half Fabienne find themselves embroiled in another supposedly supernatural affair, this time involving kidnapping and enslaved writers and men dressed depressingly all in black without even their hair powdered. Egads!
I enjoyed the inclusion of real-life Heroes of Reason such as Diderot and Rousseau. Even monstrous real-life Villain of Reason, the infamous Robespierre appears, acting suitably dastardly. Or at least very close-minded and quite unfriendly. Unfortunately, their inclusion and the entire kidnapped-writer narrative made me at times feel as if this whole story was functioning purely on the level of metaphor, which does not equal pure pleasure to me.
Still, even though I enjoyed this a tad bit less than its predecessor, Marvick does deliver a wry, witty, engaging tale. He has the skills of a born writer and his playfulness always charms....more
The castle is the man: austere, remote, full of a blinding light. The two visitors are the man: the first, a cynic and manipulator, a friend and a foeThe castle is the man: austere, remote, full of a blinding light. The two visitors are the man: the first, a cynic and manipulator, a friend and a foe; the second, a seeker and a secret-keeper, a lover and a lure. The forest is the man: all paths lead back to him; all paths are the same. The murderer is the man: he takes the dagger and uses it. The murdered are the man: he yearns to dream and so slashes his own throat; he attempts to escape and so stabs his own back. This castle has been built for one; and so a man shall live alone.
In his afterward, Gracq makes clear his scorn for "symbolic explanation" and the excruciating finiteness of saying this equals that. Gracq is a surrealist; he eschews the finite. Gracq would no doubt scorn my first paragraph. Scorn me, Gracq! You make your mind all too clear, your characters like Jungian archetypes, the castle itself a metaphor, as with forest and path and grave, as with secret passageway from basement to bedroom. Sometimes the inside is easier to read from the outside. I am on the outside of the castle, evaluating it, contemplating its inhabitants. Gracq lives inside that castle. Which of us sees the forest for the trees?
In his afterward, Gracq makes clear his love for the classic gothic, for Mysteries of Udolpho and House of Usher and the like; he writes that The Castle of Argol is paean to such works. This fascinating book has little in common with such works. Those are works of darkness, fields of shade and shadow concealing murky human emotions, twisted narratives shaped by those twisted emotions, layers hiding layers. Quite unlike those gothics, this is a work of shining, scouring light. A clear path is cleared. A radiant clarity is achieved, for protagonist and for reader looking into the castle, from the forest and from the paths below.
The book's incandescence dazzled me. Gracq's focus on the spatial is a hallmark of this story's brightness: the castle mapped out so deliberately, so clearly; the protagonist's body described so carefully, so lucidly; the forest and weather and other elemental things rendered with perfect understanding of how such things look and sound and feel. A painter's eye, and an architect's. The characters' mutual longing for something beyond themselves is illustrated over the course of disparate set pieces. My favorite: the three of them at sea, ecstatic and delirious, swimming ever outward, no matter if to their deaths: a brilliantly lit scene, illuminating their disengagement with mortal things, their inchoate, barely understood search for the unmapped territories, the ineffable, those ideas not to be described with mere verbiage, or made knowable through easy symbolism. These characters live in light; they yearn to be blinded by their own enlightenment.
Synopsis: a rich young man buys a castle in the country; all levels are explored....more
The little-known author Frances Oliver is a graceful writer, one whose stories are seamed with wit and wisdom, and an appreciation of life's great cruThe little-known author Frances Oliver is a graceful writer, one whose stories are seamed with wit and wisdom, and an appreciation of life's great cruelties and its little rewards. I read her wonderful Children Of Epiphany earlier this year and loved it. I will be pursuing her more ardently in the future! Her books are a challenge to find but they are out there, ready to be discovered or rediscovered. She really needs to be included more in overviews of modern weird fiction because her writing is top-notch.
This is a collection of often remarkable stories. There's just something about how she creates a world within her stories that draws me in and keeps me - an ambiguity that fascinates me, characters that I can instantly connect with, narratives that hint at disturbances just below the surface. Her clear, nuanced, and flexible style gives each of these pieces their own special flavor, from the amusingly idiosyncratic entries within "The Visitor's Book" to the mundane but inexplicable sadness that permeates the Aickman-esque "The Man in the Blue Mercedes" to the eerie feeling that the world has become a terribly different place outside the walls of "A Walk in the Forest". "Dinosaurs" lacks any sort of supernatural element, but in that story Oliver shows how she is just as comfortable detailing a pathos-ridden reality as she is with those containing fantasy or horror. Well I suppose reality contains both anyway. My favorite was the glorious children's adventure "The Monster Drawing", a sunny tale of dark things that kept me smiling from beginning to end.
"The Visitor's Book": entries in the titular object shall note a strange tapping and stranger deaths in a lovely, lonely vacation cottage...
"Cyprian's Room": the hungry incubus shall be everything your heart desires - maybe even the sickly, talented young artiste downstairs...
"The Black Mare Midnight": a secret children's book shall remind adults of how time must fly and dreams must die... or do they?
"Prester John": an idiot savant shall rant and rage in an archaic medieval style, confounding all, and then he will vanish... or did he?
"The Monster Drawing": a drawing, a spell, and a mouse create a nasty little beast that shall spook the defenseless children... or will it? Perhaps the children aren't so defenseless!
"A Walk in the Forest": in the future, an elderly man committed to an Institution shall visit the forest beyond the walls... or will he? Perhaps there is something else that lies beyond!
"The Man in the Blue Mercedes": a deep Bavarian lake and a friendly stranger shall provide escape for an unhappy wife... or will they? Perhaps this escape is but a trap! Or perhaps the wife's life is the trap.
"Dinosaurs": a suicide, some disturbing drawings, and a museum shall encourage a little girl to act out... or is she? Perhaps she is acting out because her entire world disturbs! Or perhaps it's just a phase.
"The Married Man": a woman shall prattle on about her imaginary lover... a rendezvous occurs...
"Dancing on Air": an enchanting dance shall be witnessed... a contagion is dispersed......more
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