DAILY PHOTO: Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Kolkata
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Tag Archives: Gothic
BOOK REVIEW: The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction by Nick Groom
The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction by Nick GroomMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Gothicness is the perfect kind of subject for the VSI series because it’s one of those areas about which everybody knows something, and yet knows nothing, really. Goth is [or has been] a people (or some people’s perception of other people,) an architectural style, a literary / cinematic genre, a contemporary lifestyle, and a political motif. Because of this diversity, even people who have a degree of expertise on some aspect of gothicness may have little understanding of other aspects or how these varied forms of gothicness relate (if they do, and – if they don’t — why enough people believe they relate to have made this well-formed, consensus view of connectedness.)
The downside of this diversity is that this book will almost certainly be dry, verging on tedious, at some point in the reading, depending upon one’s interests. For example, I found the portions on Gothic literature and cinema to be fascinating, but the part that dealt with gothicness in Whig politics to be boring. [With the architecture bit somewhere in between.] That said, one needs to follow this throughline to see how so many varied domains came to be Goth. Also, the book is quite short, so one isn’t likely to be bored to death because there’s not enough space spent on any one topic for that to happen.
I learned a lot about what it means to be “Goth” [or “goth”] from reading this book. It covers the history in some detail, but also brings it around to present-day movies and art. If you seek to know more about what “Gothic” means, you should definitely look into this brief guide.
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DAILY PHOTO: Hungarian Parliament Building: Two Views [Human- and Kukac-eye view]
Gothic [Free Verse]
The gothic cathedral is dark -- unilluminated, but for the flickering orange flames of votive candles, and the weak winter light of a gloomy December day that warms the panels of stained glass. A pew creaks. A tiny movement makes a giant sound, owing to the stony acoustics. The pew is creaking from the restless fidgeting of the church's sole occupant.
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DAILY PHOTO: St. Vitus Stained Glass, Prague
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Gothic Imagination [Free Verse]
I first saw the stone beast by the light of a bright day -- frozen, still & placid My second sighting was on a rainy night, a steady, careless rain, the kind of rain that seems to have declared itself the new default mode. I saw it in the space of lightning flash -- the silhouetted gargoyle. It lacked the fine detail of its sculptor's effort. It lacked the clean edges and ornamental effects. Imagination filled in the lost detail with scales rippling under muscular flesh. And while the lightning felt prolonged, it was still just a flash -- leaving me to wonder whether I'd really seen it rear back, preparing to lunge off the wall? And then I saw the world through its eyes and all was better... and then all was worse.
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DAILY PHOTO: Shettihalli Rosary Church; i.e. The Sunken Cathedral
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BOOK REVIEW: Frankenstein Alive, Alive! by Steve Niles
Frankenstein Alive, Alive: The Complete Collection by Steve Niles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This graphic novella collects four issues together with some ancillary matter (e.g. draft sketches.) It not only draws upon the Shelley Frankenstein world; it picks up from it as if it were a sequel. That is, it begins on the Artic ice, with Frankenstein’s monster intent upon finding peace – if not an end — frozen in the glacial mass. The story is about the monster coming to grips with its humanity, its monstrosity, and its immortality.
When the monster’s attempt to freeze himself in the ice fails to bring eternal rest, as well as a second attempt of a similar nature, the monster realizes there is no respite to be had in hiding out in suspended animation. It will simply result in a string of rebirths like the one that began his torment. The monster must go about the business of living.
Wandering back to civilization, the monster finds a rare friend among a wealthy doctor, and takes up residence in the doctor’s mansion. At first, this doctor, Dr. Simon Ingles, seems quite unlike the monster’s creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Ingles isn’t repulsed by the creature’s existence and has a nurturing manner that wasn’t to be found in Victor. However, eventually we see that Ingles shares with Victor an ambition to be free from the shackles of mortality.
Ingles wants to harness the power of life to keep his terminally ill wife from dying. The price that must be paid to extend his wife’s life is even more foul than that paid by Dr. Frankenstein. When the monster recognizes this monstrous ambition in Ingles, he is torn about what to do. On the one hand, Ingles has been kind to him, is in many ways a good person, and the monster thinks that it is far be it for him to enforce morality given his own great crimes. On the other hand, the monster is uniquely attuned to the darkness of this desire shared by the two doctors, the desire to be master over life and death, and the sight of this ambition brings out a desire to end Ingles’ life and his despicable plan.
This is a smart story built around the humanity in a monster and the monstrosity in humans. It’s a quick read, being less than one-hundred pages. Bernie Wrightson’s artwork is appropriately gothic, and – except for a few plates between issues, is black-and-white. I’d highly recommend it for those who like classic horror and science fiction, particularly if you enjoy graphic works.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 