Archive for October, 2009

Phil1009_covThe new issue of Philosophy Now magazine (Sept./Oct. 09) is available. The issue is dedicated to existentialism, and in it you’ll find my review of Revolutionary Road, the film, mostly, but also Richard Yates’ incredible novel, which I couldn’t resist talking about as well.

I’ve copied in the first few paragraphs here, and I encourage you to buy the magazine. There are a number of terrific articles for all of us parlor existentialists to enjoy. It’s a great issue.

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Nick DiChario asks if it’s existential, or just depressing.

All April Wheeler wants is for her husband Frank to shut up. Chances are you’ve felt a similar frustration. You suffer a setback in life – not your run-of-the-mill disappointment, but a game-changer, one of those epic collapses that forces you to take a long, hard look at who you are and what it means to be alive in a world that has turned against you; a moment that makes you reassess a life-long dream and decide whether it’s time to give up on it for good – and you just need a little time and space to think it through.

This is exactly where April is in the opening scene of Revolutionary Road, the film based on Richard Yates’ classic 1961 existential novel. April always wanted to be an actress, and she went to acting school before she met Frank. When she joined the local production of The Petrified Forest, it was mostly to remind herself of her former life, to rediscover the flame that once burned brightly inside her. Connecticut isn’t exactly Broadway, but for a woman of thirty-something, mother of two, opening night at the high school was a big deal. If she had performed admirably – if she had gotten a standing ovation, or even a sincere round of applause – it might have been enough to justify her existence.

But she was awful – so awful that she knew she would never act again, and most likely had no talent to begin with. Although this scene is passed over quickly in the film, Yates gives it a good measure of attention in his novel. It is an important moment, a moment in April’s life when desire runs hard up against truth and comes out the worst for it. Frank does his best to console her, make her feel better about her failure; but all she really wants him to do is shut the hell up so she can think, put it all in perspective and rearrange her psyche to cope with the death of her dream. Not too much to ask for – but Frank is incapable of giving it. During the ride home the couple argue violently, each saying things they know will deeply hurt the other. Welcome to the lives of Frank and April Wheeler.

Leo_kate

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Two More Authors to Read and Keep Reading

Victor Pelevin and Jack Vance

InsectsFriend and fellow writer Chadwick Ginther loaned me his copy of Victor Pelevin’s The Life of Insects. We’d been chatting about the author, and I’d mentioned that Pelevin was one of those writers I’d recently heard a lot about but hadn’t had a chance to read. I knew a little of Pelevin, that he was a Russian author who liked to mess outside the lines of realism and mix philosophy and pop culture and other weirdness into his stories. Basically, just the kind of stuff I love. Even though I was expecting a strange bit of literary smoke, it took me awhile to get into the book. Were the visiting American and his two Russian acquaintances really mosquitoes? Who (or what) was Marina? A flying ant? And what could possibly be running through the head of a young dung beetle other than his black sphere? I soon discovered that the trick to mastering this book was to simply give in to it and let the prose and the odd bits of philosophical observations carry me into the lives and stories of the people-insects. Once I realized that Pelevin’s characters were not humans transforming into insects (or vice versa) but they were both humans and insects at the same time, living in both worlds, this one and that one, I stopped worrying about the details and simply became one with the music he was playing. Take, for example, this completely bizarre love scene between Sam and Natasha:

“Sam felt his proboscis straightening up under Natasha’s dexterous hands, and he looked ecstatically into her eyes. A long dark tongue with a shaggy tip divided into two short hairy branches hung from her jaw. The tongue shuddered in excitement, and dark green drops of thick secretion tricked down it. ‘Eat me,’ whispered Natasha, tugging on the antennae protruding from beneath Sam’s eyes, and he buzzed and groaned as his proboscis crunched through the green chitin of her back…”

Are you kidding me? That’s great stuff. And as the short novel crawls and digs and buzzes and flies and hums forward, you begin to see more and more how the lives of humans and insects are strangely similar, how we, much like insects, are driven by instinct and hope and absurdity and our inescapable social structures. The book is disorienting, clever, poetic, and sophisticated, and you can’t help but think of the Russian tradition of political allegory as you read along. Highly Recommended.

Jack Vance

Jack Vance

I’m the first to admit that I have not read nearly enough of the sf classic authors. One of those authors is Jack Vance, generally considered among the very best writers in the field, winner of the Hugo and Nebula and World Fantasy awards, not to mention the Grand Master. There was a great article about Vance in the NY Times Magazine back in July 09 written by Carlo Rotella, in which a number of popular authors were quoted as having been influenced by Vance during their early teen years, including guys like Neil Gaiman, Dan Simmons, and Michael Chabon. 

So when I happened upon The Languages of Pao in the library, I decided to mend my ways. Although the book was originally published in the 1950s, I found it to be a great read and none the worse for wear. How often have you read a science fiction novel where the central conceit is linguistics? The book has interplanetary politics and intrigue, an assassination plot, and a powerful story of loyalty, homesickness, and survival. The young protagonist and heir to the throne of Pao, Beran Panasper, is just a boy when his father is murdered. He is spirited away to the planet Breakness to spare his life, where he is educated and taught many languages, and given the tools he will need to one day reclaim his rightful place on Pao. Vance is one of the cherished few sf stylists, and this book, not surprisingly, will pull you in with its wonderful language. I understand that The Dragon Masters is a must read. Many of Vance’s books have been republished and are still available and reasonably priced. If anyone has a favorite, let me know. I’m up for more. Highly recommended.

Of further interest…

More books by Victor Pelevin.

Jack Vance’s biblio.

Here are all the books that remain almost three years after the demise of my once proud and beloved bookstore. Eight grocery bags. They will soon be donated to the local library. All good things must come to an end. Sigh. (There’s that darn cat again.)

WC09 038

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inglorious Basterds. Well, heck, just go see it. The movie is brilliant. Forget that it’s Quentin Tarantino, purge all your preconceptions, ignore everything you’ve heard and read about the film, and just go see the darn thing. It’s a great film filled with incredible performances and truly creative madness, part action-adventure, part pulp-fiction, part alternate history. It’s a compelling story and a gift to the imagination. Partake. Yes, it won the Palme d’Or at CannesHighly recommended. (Inglorious Basterds official movie website.)

I caught Odd Man Out, a classic brit noir, at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House last week. Although director Carol Reed is best known for his masterwork The Third Man (based on Graham Greene’s novel), I honestly think Odd Man Out is a better picture. It’s a tour de force by actor James Mason, who plays an IRA soldier wounded and on the run from Belfast police. The film will keep you riveted for the entire 116 minutes, and the ending is nothing shy of brilliant. My apologies to those of you who don’t have the Dryden Theatre in your hometown. I know it sucks. But rent Odd Man Out if you can, or watch it online. Highly recommended.

James Mason in Odd Man Out

James Mason in Odd Man Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of further interest…

Graham Greene writes about The Third Man