Lost Hearts by MR James - 8 out of 10

 

Lost Hearts by MR James

 

8 out of 10

 

 

Lost Hearts is part of a collection of short stories, some of which are enticing, wonderful, but this one is not overwhelming

 

Not for me anyway, and this has to do with the fact that I do not like ghost stories, or maybe I have had too much of that

From here on, this is not about Lost Hearts, my opinion is clear and expressed in the first line, I do not like it

 

But, since there is all this space here, why not rant on things of the past, Remembrance of Things Past https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/un-amour-de-swan-by-marcel-proust.html being my absolute favorite chef d’oeuvre

I chose geology, then geophysics as subject study, and graduated in 1990, after the Revolution that has taken down Ceausescu

 

With pride I must say that I took part in the overthrow off that heinous dictator, and the link is at the end of this note

However, while studying in University, I took on guiding lessons, then worked for the National Tourist Office

 

Once on a practice tour, I saw that geophysicists could not do their job, because Ceausescu had decreed the start of the ‘Agrarian Revolution’, which meant that had priority and everything else had to stop, though for not good reason

To satisfy the tyrant, and because they were sycophants and the dogs from Animal Farm https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/animal-farm-by-george-orwell-magnum.html they would actually ruin the crops

 

That is another story though, perhaps for the next ‘review’, when I will abandon the subject and go odd rails again – I did not mention ‘spoiler alert’, but it was clear enough, right, I said all I had to about Lost Hearts

Watching those engineers sit idly, in lousy circumstances (albeit, in a communist country you could not expect much, if anything) I decided to change jobs, and go into the Hospitality Business, or travel and tours

 

Indeed, I brought home a color television, then a video player, and eventually, the Dacia car, later traded for an Audi (fifteen years old, but like a helicopter, in those days, when there were very few automobiles)

Incidentally, it may be because of the Audi that Miss Romania stopped and talked to the dog parked inside – yes, it could also be the animal, who was cute, named after Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick

 

In that film https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-witches-of-eastwick-by-john-updike_4.html Jack Nicholson is the devil, under cover as Daryl van Horn, and that was my German shepherd, the pretext for talk

Let us get off this route – which is nonetheless very present in multiple notes and stories on this blog – and try and explain my adversity to ghost stories, of which I had had enough notwithstanding my adversity

 

As a guide and later entrepreneur in the travel business, I have taken Americans, British, Canadians and some others around this country, and the number one spot was…Dracula’s castle, and then other places were also taken by the count

Hence, I have had to talk about the guy, the myth, legends, historical facts and superstition, the ghosts and all that, because that was the demand, aside from Bran, there was Sighisoara, where Vlad The Impaler was born

 

When not traveling to Bran, we were off to Poienari, a citadel now in ruins, where we have had a connection with Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for the vampire count, albeit so distant from the fictional character

The real man was quite a weird fellow, and a lot of horror is associated with him, the sympathizers say it was all in the name of patriotism, to keep the Ottomans away, and defend his land, besides, cruelty was common

 

Nevertheless, if we are to listen to the gruesome legends, we are terrified, for instance, he is supposed to have asked the beggars, homeless, if they want to end this life, and they said yes, thinking they are in for a treat

And yes, he did give them a meal, but set them on fire after that, he would put nails into the heads of ambassadors that kept their hats on, in the name of respecting their customs, he would impale the enemies and much more…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”