Ataraxia

  So Much Water So Close to Home and The Third Thing that Killed My Father Off by Raymond Carver Excellent, if somewhat strange tales So Much Water So Close to Home Claire, her husband Stuart and some of his friends are the heroes of this narrative. The men are actually in the roles of, if not the bad guys, at least people with an ambiguous attitude. As they went fishing, they have found the body of a dead young woman. They dispute about the best course of action. -            She is not moving anywhere, says one. That may have settled the matter. For they arrange their camping site and food. Then they think about dragging the corpse from the water, so that it would not disappear. They pull her by the fingers and then tie her. At this point I was thinking that they are actually affecting the crime scene and may have destroyed evidence necessary to catch the killer. Claire is mystified when she hears what happens. -   ...

  Why Don’t You Dance? Viewfinder and Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit by Raymond Carver Very good, if somewhat bizarre narratives Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E Why Don’t You Dance? In the first narrative, we have a man that is selling all his things in order to or being in the process of starting all over again. A young couple is interested in some of the items on display… -            How much for the bed? -            50 -            Will you take 40? -            Yes -            How about the TV? -       ...

  The Compartment and A Small Good Thing by Raymond Carver Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E The Compartment In this narrative the hero travels by…train. He is in Europe, on the way to see his son, who lives in Strasbourg. At the start of the tale we have read about major differences between parent and child that have culminated in a fight. Physical, with the father head locking the son. But later on, a letter has not only explained about the move to Strasbourg, but invited the parent to come over. And it ended with: -            Love Since the father has not taken a holiday in a long time, at the American engineering firm where he works, he will take it now. In fact he decides to have all the six weeks that he is entitled to. On the tr...

  Force of Evil, written by Abraham Polonsky and Ira Wolfert, based on the novel by the latter and directed by the former 10 out of 10 This splendorous motion picture is included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list -  https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/8  - and it is indeed one of the best one can see and although it dates from 1948, it seems to have echoes, a disturbing message and similarities in the present where America looks like regressing, for, if in the movie the Force of Evil could be contained and is anyway limited to some villains of power, but a relatively small one, in the present, Evil sits down in the White House… Only yesterday, the Orange Evil has pardoned a line of major crooks, people involved in and sentenced for prison terms for corruption and associated felonies, players like the former governor of Illinois, who upon the senate seat becoming available with Barak Obama being sworn in as pr...

  Beginners by Raymond Carver Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E It was a great pleasure to read some of Carver’s accounts. And then go through them again. The audio work that I had the great chance to listen contains the short stories, selected essays and then some of the narratives are presented again. There are differences. But I could not distinguish between the earlier form and a version published later, modified in some details…I guess. Or maybe there is a difference of substance, but none that I can distinguish. There is the account of the man who has to sell his things, in a garage sale, in the narrative called Will You Dance… A young couple wants to buy the bed and then some other things, for which the owner makes some offers. And then… -       ...

  Call If You Need Me by Raymond Carver   The story of Raymond Carver is conditioning the reader for a happy ride: Palo Alto, The Californian Coast, the beach. Words create Worlds as Tal Ben-Shahar keeps saying at Harvard. With the words from “Call if You Need Me” our mindset becomes positive. Tests have been made and they showed that words used in soccer, or Florida (to my surprise) create a framework which makes us think and act in strange ways. “Nancy was a tall, long legged woman, with brown hair…” there’s a character to make your reading even more pleasant, although I may be wrong. The story is more complex than that. The two married people who are at the center of the tale have marital problems, which can be resolved, the husband aka narrator tells us. Husband and wife cheat on each other, but agree to avoid contacting the other parties involved, in order to resolve their issues. I wonder what the verdict of John Gottman would be in their case. He is a renowned specialis...

  Elephant by Raymond Carver Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E I empathize with the hero of this account. He is in deep financial trouble. In fact, it is his family that is hopeless and leans heavily on this man. The first to appeal to the hero’s mercy is the brother. He needs five hundred dollars or else he will be evacuated and finished. So the kind relative gives him the money. It is nevertheless on condition that he will repay the mother. Because this main character has his mother to take care of as well. So the arrangement involves the brother sending the money back to their parent, and this is a way of pressing the issue. Or so the hero hopes. But in vain. For the brother does not return the loan, directly or in any other way. There is a controversy over the amount he sent to the...

  Yours, Caragiale aka Al Matale, Caragiale from Works by Ion Luca Caragiale Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E     and    http://realini.blogspot.ro/ This is one of the worst productions I have seen in… -            I don’t know…ten years? Generally I avoid looking at something I don’t like And it must be stated that I did not have the masochistic urge to really absorb everything that was included in this failed attempt. The National Theater for television has this initiative that is laudable: -            There is a play on every Monday and we have had Yours last night -            Next week there would...

  Lajko – Cigany az Urben, written and directed by Balazs Lengyel 8.8 out of 10 Although not soon on your radar – hopefully you read this and look for the comedy – this interesting film is worth watching. It brings a new perspective on the Soviet space program, the sexuality of Leonid Brezhnev and challenges the idea that they only tried with Lajka – very close to Lajko – the dog and then the Russians succeeded with Gagarin. Even if a complete fantasy most likely, the spirit, the ideas inserted in the plot are not just worthwhile, they satirize with splendid talent the monstrosity of a murderous social system. The communists select three people to take part in a space program, supervised by Leonid Brezhnev, before the beast becomes leader of the Evil Empire and one of the most dangerous men ever. One is Lajko – Serban Lajos, played by the excellent Tamas Keresztes, a Cigany aka gipsy that comes from a family that had tried to fly, using rockets propelled by ‘bio’ fuel, using manure...