Re: Robert Aickman
 

Always good to see more commentary on Aickman. As I read his stories more carefully and critically, I realize that, even when they're basically comprehensible, there are so many small but valuable moments-- dry humor, casual allusions, unexpectedly significant details-- that it would take a lot of readers to catch all of them.

I've written my second essay, on "The Insufficient Answer." In hindsight its meaning seems so obvious that I don't know why I failed to grasp it on first reading the story months ago, or whether an essay laying it all out is really necessary. But perhaps it's as unclear to some other readers as it was to me. And maybe I've gotten it all wrong anyway. Whatever the case, the essay is here.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I really appreciate all the commentary on Aickman. I remember my first reading "Ravissante" (one of the first Aickman stories I ever read) and wishing I had a second set of eyes to look at it. Unfortunately at that time I literally had no one around who had heard of Aickman, much less read him. So, I'm very grateful for any and all commentary. Thanks everyone.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

There's a Radio 4 programme about Aickman on 15th December presented by Jeremy Dyson:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/pro...t-aickman.html

Re: Robert Aickman
 

My latest Aickman essay has been posted, though in this case it's more like a brief note and a set of annotations to various allusions. I think there are one or two interesting bits mixed in, though. I'm curious what other readers made of this story.

There's Nothing in Why: Robert Aickman's "The View"

Re: Robert Aickman
 

The Radio Four programme on Aickman, "The Unsettled Dust", can now be listened to on the iplayer

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Gary William Crawford's out-of-print chapbook Robert Aickman: An Introduction is now available as an e-book from Ash-Tree Press. Click here and scroll down to the second from the bottom.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I like TS Eliot's concept of 'objective correlative'.
But I prefer my own term of 'disarming strangenesses' that I've coined for describing Aickman's objective correlatives.

This is from Jason A Wyckoff's book 'Black Horse and Other Strange Stories': "…the indefinable ‘extra’ in the dream’s essence, a purity of instinctual, primal connectivity against which any appeal to rationality faltered.”

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Aickman's "Ringing the Changes" on CBC's old radio drama Nightfall:
http://archive.org/details/Nightfall...sodesMp3Format


It is episode 17.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

It makes me strangely and humbly proud that this is Canadian!

Re: Robert Aickman
 

This is GREAT! Thanks so much for putting this on the Network. I have a soft spot for the old radio shows so this was a great find.