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Post by wireman on Jun 16, 2021 12:18:36 GMT
Today we will discuss Lapland, or Film Noir by Peter Straub from the collection Interior Darkness
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Post by wireman on Jun 16, 2021 12:34:55 GMT
When I started reading this, I was lost for a while and then started realizing it's about a film noir movie script. The story mixes in all kinds of film noir characteristics and there is a script that the reader has to fill in the blanks with. I think everything that happens is supposed to be filled in by the reader. It's an interesting and challenging story. It didn't really start coming together for me until I got close to the end so I'm going to read it again and see if it makes more sense. On my second time, I'll work a little harder to fill in the blanks.
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Post by spideyman on Jun 16, 2021 14:24:53 GMT
From an interview:
Rail: Now that we’re on the subject of sexual trauma and movie houses, let’s discuss your story “Lapland, or Film Noir.” Can you talk about the use of ellipsis in that story?
Straub: Yes! That’s another one with the same theme! [Laughter.] Well, the idea of the ellipsis isn’t completely original to me. There was a book I had just read called Zirconia, written by the poet Chelsey Minnis. It has entire pages filled with ellipsis. I found it so brave and curious! I wondered if I could do the same. I wondered if it could ever be used in fiction. And my opportunity to find out came as a request for new material from Bradford Morrow, a good friend of mine who is the editor of the journal Conjunctions. Bradford was going to do an issue about cinema, and I wanted to be in it. No one had yet chosen to do a story based on film noir. I love film noir. It really turns me on. So I thought that I could do a story that mashed up all kinds of film noir movies, and I could just imply the plot by cancelling it out behind lots of ellipsis. It’s an experimental story that I wrote not for the sake of experimentalism itself but because I liked the idea of ellipsis, and I wanted to spare myself the obligation of writing out all sorts of clichés from film noir. The ellipsis also permitted me to suggest the inclusion of all kinds of things that remain basically vague, but were implied anyhow. I just really liked that combination of factors, and then, at the end, I realized that it all could be the product of a mind tormented to the point where it cannot take in its surroundings. The kid from “Lapland, or Film Noir” has had his mind erased during certain moments of the screening of these films, and he cannot recover the details that have been lost. Everything in the story is suggested with ellipsis, and the conclusion is given in a sort of fragmented, abbreviated form, with the appearance of Alan Ladd, who gives the boy a message about the boy’s own role in the abuse; but all of it comes in fragmented, abbreviated form via the use of the ellipses. And I liked that
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Post by edwardjohn on Jun 16, 2021 15:06:23 GMT
I'm still working my way through the previous Straub story, but I will catch up!
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Post by wireman on Jun 16, 2021 16:55:44 GMT
From an interview:
Rail: Now that we’re on the subject of sexual trauma and movie houses, let’s discuss your story “Lapland, or Film Noir.” Can you talk about the use of ellipsis in that story?
Straub: Yes! That’s another one with the same theme! [Laughter.] Well, the idea of the ellipsis isn’t completely original to me. There was a book I had just read called Zirconia, written by the poet Chelsey Minnis. It has entire pages filled with ellipsis. I found it so brave and curious! I wondered if I could do the same. I wondered if it could ever be used in fiction. And my opportunity to find out came as a request for new material from Bradford Morrow, a good friend of mine who is the editor of the journal Conjunctions. Bradford was going to do an issue about cinema, and I wanted to be in it. No one had yet chosen to do a story based on film noir. I love film noir. It really turns me on. So I thought that I could do a story that mashed up all kinds of film noir movies, and I could just imply the plot by cancelling it out behind lots of ellipsis. It’s an experimental story that I wrote not for the sake of experimentalism itself but because I liked the idea of ellipsis, and I wanted to spare myself the obligation of writing out all sorts of clichés from film noir. The ellipsis also permitted me to suggest the inclusion of all kinds of things that remain basically vague, but were implied anyhow. I just really liked that combination of factors, and then, at the end, I realized that it all could be the product of a mind tormented to the point where it cannot take in its surroundings. The kid from “Lapland, or Film Noir” has had his mind erased during certain moments of the screening of these films, and he cannot recover the details that have been lost. Everything in the story is suggested with ellipsis, and the conclusion is given in a sort of fragmented, abbreviated form, with the appearance of Alan Ladd, who gives the boy a message about the boy’s own role in the abuse; but all of it comes in fragmented, abbreviated form via the use of the ellipses. And I liked that  |
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Post by spideyman on Jun 16, 2021 18:21:55 GMT
From an interview:
Rail: Now that we’re on the subject of sexual trauma and movie houses, let’s discuss your story “Lapland, or Film Noir.” Can you talk about the use of ellipsis in that story?
Straub: Yes! That’s another one with the same theme! [Laughter.] Well, the idea of the ellipsis isn’t completely original to me. There was a book I had just read called Zirconia, written by the poet Chelsey Minnis. It has entire pages filled with ellipsis. I found it so brave and curious! I wondered if I could do the same. I wondered if it could ever be used in fiction. And my opportunity to find out came as a request for new material from Bradford Morrow, a good friend of mine who is the editor of the journal Conjunctions. Bradford was going to do an issue about cinema, and I wanted to be in it. No one had yet chosen to do a story based on film noir. I love film noir. It really turns me on. So I thought that I could do a story that mashed up all kinds of film noir movies, and I could just imply the plot by cancelling it out behind lots of ellipsis. It’s an experimental story that I wrote not for the sake of experimentalism itself but because I liked the idea of ellipsis, and I wanted to spare myself the obligation of writing out all sorts of clichés from film noir. The ellipsis also permitted me to suggest the inclusion of all kinds of things that remain basically vague, but were implied anyhow. I just really liked that combination of factors, and then, at the end, I realized that it all could be the product of a mind tormented to the point where it cannot take in its surroundings. The kid from “Lapland, or Film Noir” has had his mind erased during certain moments of the screening of these films, and he cannot recover the details that have been lost. Everything in the story is suggested with ellipsis, and the conclusion is given in a sort of fragmented, abbreviated form, with the appearance of Alan Ladd, who gives the boy a message about the boy’s own role in the abuse; but all of it comes in fragmented, abbreviated form via the use of the ellipses. And I liked that bokoebaFTerAfwUuywKb  |
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Post by edwardjohn on Jun 17, 2021 17:04:45 GMT
I've written up my thoughts on Little Tango if anyone's interested. I'll get onto this story next!
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Post by wireman on Jun 17, 2021 17:22:49 GMT
I've written up my thoughts on Little Tango if anyone's interested. I'll get onto this story next! |
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Post by spideyman on Jun 17, 2021 18:25:25 GMT
I've written up my thoughts on Little Tango if anyone's interested. I'll get onto this story next! |
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Post by edwardjohn on Jun 17, 2021 19:13:12 GMT
I've written up my thoughts on Little Tango if anyone's interested. I'll get onto this story next! |
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Post by edwardjohn on Jun 17, 2021 19:59:22 GMT
When I started reading this, I was lost for a while and then started realizing it's about a film noir movie script. The story mixes in all kinds of film noir characteristics and there is a script that the reader has to fill in the blanks with. I think everything that happens is supposed to be filled in by the reader. It's an interesting and challenging story. It didn't really start coming together for me until I got close to the end so I'm going to read it again and see if it makes more sense. On my second time, I'll work a little harder to fill in the blanks.
Interesting story. |
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Post by wireman on Jun 17, 2021 20:49:27 GMT
When I started reading this, I was lost for a while and then started realizing it's about a film noir movie script. The story mixes in all kinds of film noir characteristics and there is a script that the reader has to fill in the blanks with. I think everything that happens is supposed to be filled in by the reader. It's an interesting and challenging story. It didn't really start coming together for me until I got close to the end so I'm going to read it again and see if it makes more sense. On my second time, I'll work a little harder to fill in the blanks.
Interesting story. |
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Post by edwardjohn on Jun 17, 2021 22:54:54 GMT
I also believe that there is a character towards the end who seems to be witness to all of these noir film ideas, but who, as Straub notes in the interview, has lapses in his memory and seems to be simply noting the parts he remembers then becoming vague on the parts he forgets.
Interesting story. |
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Post by wireman on Jun 18, 2021 12:18:50 GMT
Any suggestions for next week?
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Post by wireman on Jun 20, 2021 3:53:41 GMT
Any suggestions for next week?
Discussing Wed Jun 23:
The Devil & Tom Walker by Washington Irving
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Post by spideyman on Jun 20, 2021 12:05:16 GMT
Any suggestions for next week?
Discussing Wed Jun 23:
The Devil & Tom Walker by Washington Irving
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