graylodge_library's reviews
1466 reviews

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime

The first time I saw James Dean was in a poster in my friend's room years ago. It was the one where he's lounging with a cowboy hat, and although I didn't know who he was (my friend had a habit of plastering her walls with posters of people she didn't even know, just to hide the ripped wallpaper), I thought it looked pretty cool. Apparently Dean was a huge phenomenon in Finland back in the 50s, but I personally didn't hear about him until a couple of years ago. Now when I was perusing the film shelf of my local library, I thought I'd grab this biography and see what all the fuss is about.

Unfortunately, I couldn't have gone more wrong. There were two choices and I picked the crappy one. I'm quite confused as to why someone would choose to write a biography based on rumours. It's like taking excerpts from tabloids here and there, and compiling them into a huge mess of hearsay and novel-like dialogue. There were a lot of words like if, may have and probably. Alexander should learn more about how to shove his boyish fandom aside and learn to deal with facts, instead of things that support the idea of who you'd have wanted James Dean to be. I have no opinion regarding Dean's sexuality, but I do know that it's not a good idea to take someone's bragging about sleeping with him seriously, especially since Dean's dead so you can't take his word for it.

Nevertheless, although I think Dean was copying Brando a little and that his early death kind of blew his reputation out of proportion, I can't deny that he had this certain charisma and acting skills that could have developed even further had he lived longer. I once saw a guy on the street strutting with gorgeous James Dean hair, and he kind of made me do something I never do: turn my head around. So I will probably read a bit more about Dean, since he's quite interesting as a phenomenon and not just another pretty face.

In 2007 I was in Paris on a school trip. Our schedule (believe or not, a schedule, in Paris...) included a visit to the David Lynch art exhibition. At that time I was completely oblivious as to who he is, I just connected him very vaguely to Twin Peaks after I saw his scribblings related to the show. When I got to the actual paintings, my only thought was: wtf. They were dark and very weird, and I didn't like them that much. It was broad daylight and I was completely creeped out.

Anyway, I don't remember the following journey into the world of David Lynch but I can say that although I'm still not sure about his art, I adore his works. Even though I don't necessarily always understand what the hell is going on, I very much enjoy getting into the dream-like world of his. Like he himself says, you need to make up your own conclusions and experience his movies. I completely agree that it's not necessary for the director to explain his movies, people are not that stupid. I think they just don't always trust their own judgment and brains, and want everything ready and already chewed.

I also respect Mr. Lynch quite a lot, because he just wants to do his thing, and if someone happens to like his art, great. It's always interesting to find out what an artist has to say about the process of creation and the body of work itself. I mean, I'm not an artist myself, but I do love art and these kinds of books would be a great addition to my book shelf.

Oh, and I must be one of the very few who actually thinks that the baby in Eraserhead looks adorable. Like E.T. on drugs!

Archaeology

You gotta love occultists and mad scientists sprinkled with pagan gods! It's great that Machen doesn't describe anything too precisely, but leaves the most horrible things to the mercy of the reader's imagination. I usually like descriptions, but some authors manage to make the story work without it. The characterisation wasn't the best, and the story itself was somewhat predictable. I still enjoy reading Victorian gothic and horror tales, which usually stops me from giving less stars than three. The stories are always full of atmosphere, and it's fun to see what kind of things made people's skin crawl back in the day.

I originally found this from the library because it includes Machen's The Great God Pan, which is on my to read -list. It's great though that I also get to read other gothic tales, too. Perfect Christmas read in my opinion (alongside Dickens, of course). There's usually two words anyway that make me want to read the book immediately: Victorian and gothic. Not sure about late Victorian though.

* * *

Ok, I somehow got confused with the term late Victorian. Of course I've read stuff related to this area of literary history (Dracula, Picture of Dorian Gray etc.) and have loved almost every single one of them. I just didn't realise that they can be classified as something so particular. This collection is brilliant, including well-known authors and authors who at least I have never heard about. Among the weakest stories was Dionea, it was excruciatingly boring and uninteresting. Among the best was Lot No. 249, The Dâk Bungalow at Dakor and Pallinghurst Barrow.

All those I liked were simple and traditional ghost stories with a creepy atmosphere. By outlining the basic themes of the Gothic revival, the introduction made me understand that the themes in particular are the reason why I love this branch of literature. Decadence, imperialism, Spiritualism, fascination with ancient Egypt, naturalizing the supernatural (Frankenstein), supernatural creatures (mummies, ghosts, vampires, monsters), emergence of new sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology), theory of degeneration (explaining the animalism of the criminal classes, female hysterics and the insane, and the new art forms like Impressionism, Symbolism and Naturalism), and the overall atmosphere of dark opium and absinthe-fumed brothels with lace curtains.

Now the only thing left for me to do, is to write down the select bibliography and all the authors that I'm interested in reading more from. That should grow my to read -list relatively well. Maybe too well...