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Paige19

Auster, OCD

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Paige19
, 01-01-2009 at 10:28 PM (3264 Views)
So, it is to be the Auster for the January forum read. I thought I was happy, since the Aquin was less appealing once I'd got a look at it, but yesterday I picked up The Dark Man at the local library (that's the only Auster they had at my branch) and read it and, while I don't object to the noir-ish feel of the prose, I was alarmed to find that there were several incidents in the book that I can only describe as very disturbing. Someone was drawn and quartered. Someone was beaten to death by terrorists. For instance.

Things like this are things I don't need in my head. It's not Auster, I know that, it's me. My problem. I'm the one with the brain run amok, who has to be careful what images get put inside it. But now that I've read the Auster, I see that he's casual about using such images, that he'll go that far, and so I am wary - The New York Trilogy might contain images just as distressing.

I mean, I got bored last week, I was at loose ends, so I read a Ruth Rendell. One thing about Rendell, you can trust when you pick her up that you're not going to end up with some horrible picture of some horrible thing stuck in your mind for God knows how long, despite the fact that there is always a murder in there somewhere, usually prominently featured.

But these things are like advertising jingles to me. They get stuck in a neural loop. It's called OCD. A drag when it comes to having to check that the stove is off ten times, but it does have its up side. I'm a whiz with details.

I'm serious. I've never seen Schindler's List. People I know have yelled at me about it. How can I, coming from a Jewish background, NOT have seen Schindler's List? Look, I want to see it (just like I want to see Syriana because I have a thing for George Clooney), but watching people be tortured is not something I can afford to do. For you, it's five or ten minutes out of your life; for me it could mean weeks of remembering and remembering and remembering.

I know it seems stupid. On the other hand, it's my brain, it's pretty useful, I kind of like it, and if it isn't perfect, well then, that's all right. I can deal with never seeing Syriana. But I knew when I read the plot summary of Syriana on the NetFlix site (yes, I'm a renter, I settle for the small screen, but I am particular about letterbox rather than pan and scan format) that there was going to be some impossible-to-get-past material. It's the stuff that you don't expect - rolling merrily along and then a sudden shift of scene to an empty room with a single chair in the middle - that is dangerous. (And here is the beauty thing about renting - just press the button, the remote is in your hands, no cowering behind the movie theater seat in front of you with your hands over your ears).

I didn't expect anyone to be drawn and quartered in The Dark Man. It really came out of nowhere. Luckily for me I caught on three sentences or so before the actual event was described and was able to close my eyes and turn the page really fast.

After that I was on my guard. I guess you have to be, with Auster.

Or at least I do.

Updated 01-01-2009 at 11:30 PM by Paige19

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  1. Virgil's Avatar
    Schindler's List is a powerful movie. But not for one who will have nightmares. You know what happened, so what's the point of watcing the movie if it will bother you. But if you can handle it, then it's a great movie. Oskar Schindler, the person not just the character in the movie is heroic. I can never get enough of watching art (literature, movies, paintings, etc) that profiles heroism.
  2. mtpspur's Avatar
    Schindler's List, Apocalyspe Now and Saving Private Ryan are three movies I should see but I'm not. I too would rather keep some images out of the brain cells. Platoon still brings a nervous jolt to the system. Warning - never watch Platoon then immediately go to a church party--the steps between Heaven and Hell are that close.
  3. sprinks's Avatar
    We had to watch Schindler's List during our History incursion. Now, I'm not from a Jewish background or anything, but the whole day made me cry. I find history fascinating, and all of it really makes me think, only I often end up crying because so much of it is just so horrible. But anywho, although I admit to having to look away during some of the more violent scenes, I loved the film. Schindler is amazing. Although the film isn't entirely true to what really happened, he is still such an inspiration. His speech to the Jews at the end... Well that was my favourite bit. I found the documentaries a lot harder to deal with than the movie. I still feel the bad effects of seeing historical footage, but I still feel a surge of empowerment when I think of the film and how some people aren't all that bad. Of course that's just my opinion and if you don't think you can handle it, then don't watch it .
  4. TheFifthElement's Avatar
    Ah, I wouldn't worry Paige; I've read The New York Trilogy twice and, to the best of my recollection, there's no random violence in it. Though I guess you could say it's mentally disturbing. Very circular. I haven't read The Man in the Dark yet though I have it on loan from the library, but I understand that Auster wrote it as a backlash after years of the Bush administration that left him mentally drained to the point that he didn't think he could write anything. That may explain the violence.
    Schindlers List is a good movie but disturbing. If you know it will disturb you then there's no benefit in watching. For the record I can't watch Jurassic Park because watching children in peril of being eaten by a dinosaur is too much for me. I actually can't bear to see children scared. The more recent adaptation of War of the Worlds does the same thing, because Dakota Fanning is so fabulous an actress. It makes me very upset.
  5. Paige19's Avatar
    If you do get around to reading Man in the Dark, Fifth, I'd be curious to know your opinion of it.

    And I'm glad to see I'm not as much of an anomaly as I thought I was regarding violent and disturbing images in books and films.
  6. Zee.'s Avatar
    I saw Man in the Dark at a bookstore yesterday - on my hunt for the New York Trilogy ( is that good? )

    Tiny little thing, $35, no way in hell..
  7. TheFifthElement's Avatar
    hehehe, it was free at my library Am getting round to reading it, it's next on my list after we finish The New York Trilogy in the book club. Limajean, it is very good.
  8. TheFifthElement's Avatar
    Hi Paige

    So, I've nearly finished reading The Man in the Dark, got about 30 pages to go. You know, I've not been very impressed. I was hopeful at the beginning; I enjoyed the Owen Brick plot which had some interesting potential and then half way through he abandons it and goes into a big monologue about war and the depravities of war. I think Auster is an excellent writer, but my overall impression of this particular book is lazy self-indulgence. We all have views about the Iraq war and recent politics, and ideologically I don't disagree with his views, but if he wanted to express those views, or even make people just think about it, he could have done it in a much more imaginative way.

    Apart from the senseless violence (which you could say is an evocation of the senselessness of war and the horrific acts that are committed during times of war) what did you make of it?