Re: Robert Aickman
 

I've watched this a few times now. It's really surprisingly good. It gives hope that a feature film based on Aickman's fiction might actually work.

Anyone have any ideas on who would be a good director?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Guy Maddin, for sure. He's probably the only person who could do justice to The Swords (while making it completely his own, of course).

Polanski, perhaps.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I think Jeremy Dyson himself would be the ideal choice, because I can't honestly think of another film director with the right sensibility.
Oddly enough the most Aickmanesque TV programme I've ever seen is The Ice House, the 1978 BBC Christmas ghost story. However, it wasn't actually based on an Aickman story - it was an original script by John Bowen and directed by Derek Lister. With its enclosed milieu of middle-class characters caught up in inexplicable events and its subtly menacing Pinteresque dialogue it's strongly reminiscent of "The Hospice" and "Into the Wood".
It's available on DVD now, with The Signalman and Stigma.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I don't know Maddin's work, but I'll check him out.

Thanks.

I'll have to put that on some kind of wishlist.

Sadly, I rarely get to watch films these days. I watched The Seventh Seal last night, which is the first thing I've watched of that length at home in a long while. (Over a year, maybe? At least, over six months.)

I think the last thing I watched at the cinema was American Hustle, which was fun.

For that reason, I think I can't give any very inspired suggestions myself.

One sign of something going 'mainstream', of course, is the production of soft (plush) toys in relation to it. It has occurred to me recently, that it's harder to think of what plush object or creature would represent Ligotti's work. A fluffy black pig? Literally a shadow, as in a sort of amorphous puddle of darkness? A soft mannequin?

And then, it would be harder again in Aickman's case.

In a sense, though, perhaps this is precisely why the dangers of adapting Aickman's work to film might be less pronounced, since there are fewer easy-to-caricature images to seize on.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Highly recommended! This little video essay (6 min.) on one of his best films gives a decent overview of the his work:
http://vimeo.com/29218524
I had the pleasure, a few years ago, of seeing Karen Black (since, sadly, deceased) do a live narration for his Brand on the Brain.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Faber has issued a press release for its Aickman reissues, including cover art for Dark Entries and Cold Hand in Mine, which are coming out in June along with The Late Breakfasters and The Model. The Wine-Dark Sea will follow in August and The Unsettled Dust in September. There will be introductions from Reece Shearsmith and Richard T. Kelly, and afterwords from Ramsey Campbell and Leslie Gardner; it's not clear from the release which books will have which.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I'm happy that they gave a mention that Tartarus Press is offering the hardcover versions of Aickman's collections!

Re: Robert Aickman
 

It's very surprising, yet laudable that they did so.

Though, the colors and compositions of the covers are nice enough (for children's/ya books ;P) I have to say they would work better for "creepy tales"-type collections or reissues of Poe aimed at teens; they do not capture the spirit of Aickman at all imo. Aickman isn't "creepy" per se, his is the quotidian world imperceptibly(then incrementally more) askew---difficult to capture in illustration, which I think Gorey's shadows--on Painted Devils in particular-- conveyed somewhat. Really the best thing for Aickman would be the creepier works within the surrealist tradition. I think of Aickman as a literary surrealist.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Here's an article from The Guardian's website about Aickman and the Faber reprints. It largely regurgitates the press release, but there's also a quote from Richard T. Kelly's introduction and potted summaries of "The Fetch" and "The Hospice."

Re: Robert Aickman
 

So does that mean Tartarus won't be publishing The Late Breakfasters?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Thanks for the digging and the update Cynothoglys.....Yes it's a shame....the obsessive compulsive in me would have liked a uniform collection of Aickman books. Just reading through the whole of the thread. Julian Karswell seems like an interesting character. I agree with some of his points not so much. Looks like he's banned though..

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Robert Aickman event in London next month:
http://www.printroomlondon.com/article.php/7/projects

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I have interesting news that perhaps you have already heard. There is live footage of Aickman on the canals! He appears on a passing barge, smiling into the camera as he passes by, unbeknownst of the many loyal devotees who shall set their eyes on a bygone master happily riding on the canals. I believe there is another video yet this is assuredly the better piece. He appears at approximately one minute and fiftytwo seconds and lasts until the next minute in eight seconds. It could very well be a tale conceived by Aickman. Now if only there was footage of Lovecraft. If anyone knows I would certainly be most grateful.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Many thanks for posting that clip. The only other film I've seen of Aickman was a short sequence in the BBC documentary The Golden Age of Canals (which I think is mentioned earlier on this thread).

I don't think any film of Lovecraft exists. There are three films of Algernon Blackwood (two of which can be seen via the BFI website) and audio recordings of Arthur Machen and Clark Ashton Smith.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I am afraid the closest you will come is this:
It is an acting performance imitation of Lovecraft. A caricature, but enjoyable. My favorite part is 49:00 into the film, where Lovecraft very sternly, trembling with overflowing passion, reassures us of his own integrity and honest artistic intentions.

Otherwise you will have to build up your own inner footage, based on the many documented observations of his person. Lovecraft Remembered is an excellent book for this purpose.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Next month Tartarus Press will publish a new edition of Aickman's second volume of autobiography, The River Runs Uphill, reinstating material that Aickman had pruned from the first edition. For more information, click here.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Really great clip! It's always fantastic finding gems like these. I suspect we'll see a few more rare clips of weird writers turning up as more old videos make it to YouTube.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Is anyone else going to the Aickman 100th birthday party at the Print Room in London this Saturday?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

How strange! This is scarcely five minutes walk from where I live.

Aickman, if memory serves, was educated at Highgate School.

Mark S.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Apparently, I am.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I'm having trouble finding his Faber & Faber reprints in the US. I just had to order Dark Entries from the UK via Amazon. Anyone find a place in the US that's selling them online?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Whenever I want to buy British editions (I live in the US) I order them from Book Depository.

For example... Dark Entries : Paperback : Robert Aickman : 9780571311774

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Does anyone know what the score is withe Faber & Faber releases of 'The Model' and 'The Late Breakfasters'? They should both have been out last thursday but so far zilch.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Looks like they're available at the Book Depository:

The Model : Paperback : Robert Aickman : 9780571316823
The Late Breakfasters : Paperback : Robert Aickman : 9780571316847

Edit: Looks like The Late Breakfasters is sold out temporarily at most places.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

If anyone has acquired and read Faber's The Model or The Late Breakfasters, I'd be grateful if you would tell me if they're full of typos and punctuation errors like the previously (re)published Faber Aickman collections.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Recent article about Aickman in The Independent:
Robert Aickmans cult horror books are being resurrected for the centenary of his birth - Features - Books - The Independent
It's news to me that he reviewed films. Does anyone know if any have been published?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Robert Aickman reports in The River Runs Uphill that he wrote film reviews for The Jewish Monthly (as well as reviews for Lord Harewood's magazine Opera.) There do not appear to be more than a very few, however.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

An interesting article by Laird Barron about 'The Hospice' here: http://weirdfictionreview.com/2014/1...obert-aickman/

Re: Robert Aickman
 

To paraphrase Samuel Johnson:

"Sir, Laird Barron's commenting on Robert Aickman is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Mark S.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Something I wrote in 2013 on my blog:

"I don’t want to harp on about this, but I genuinely think that – at least in
part – that The Hospice (and Into The Wood?) forms a tribute to ‘The Magic
Mountain’ by Thomas Mann and covers many of its themes which you can tick off
one by one. And I think we know that Thomas Mann was one of Aickman’s major
influences according to his letters. But I have been the first to decry this biographical
type of literary criticism based on my life-long interest in the Intentional Fallacy!
So I am torn."

My original real-time review of 'The Magic Mountain' (including comparison with Aickman) started here:
http://nullimmortalis.wordpress.com/13219-2/

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Mark, I often feel I'm struggling to perform a similar trick whenever I try to 'stand up' as a reviewer of books!
Have you ever read the wonderful 'Dogs With Their Eyes Shut' by Paul Meloy?

Re: Robert Aickman
 

A book I have compared to both 'The Magic Mountain' by Thomas Mann and 'The Hospice' by Robert Aickman is 'The Inmates' by John Cowper Powys: HERE

“and a dog’s eyes answered his stare with a look of such unutterable loneliness…” - from 'The Inmates'

My assumption is that Aickman would not only have been a big fan of Mann but also of Powys.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I thought Barron's article on Aickman was excellent.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Yes, it is. I certainly gained much from it. Yet no article on 'The Hospice' can ever aspire to being literally 'excellent' by doing complete right by the story, because of the work's persistently resistant nature towards such efforts, I feel.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

I don't think any review can do " complete right" to a work.. since the subjective nature of art. Its like saying Monet didn't do complete right to a landscape.. well correct.. but I feel it should be enjoyed for what it is.. not what its reflecting.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Yes, I agree, but a review of Monet is perhaps meant to reflect the Monet. And I feel some works of art are easier to reflect than others.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Though Aickman's prose is often an exemplar of restrained, unhurried elegance I confess the famous subtlety people so enthusiastically attribute to his stories increasingly comes as a surprise: it only takes a brief look through the lens of sub-Freudian symbolism to see most of them as at best paeans to a vanished world and an inter-war ideal of Free Love, and more often than not just reactionary political allegories few people nowadays would care to be associated with. In my more cynical moments I'm given to suspect that one of the reasons why his work is so well liked is because adolescents are enthralled by the psycho-sexual elements and think they can lend their own fiction an aura of pseudo-sophistication by aping it in a more low-brow setting.

As for Laird Barren, well, hard-drinking protagonist (eight foot tall and reeking of predatory manhood) + carnivorous cosmos = recipe for literary epics. Joking aside the man is the future of this type of literature and deserves all the plaudits which go with that mantle.

Edit: of course I should make clear that I am not accusing anyone here of being adolescent

Re: Robert Aickman
 

Quote Originally Posted by Nemonymous http://www.ligotti.net/images/autumn...s/viewpost.gif
I happen currently to be real-time reviewing 'Ancient Sorceries and other chilling tales':
by Algernon Blackwood | THE DES LEWIS DREAMCATCHER REVIEWS

A surprising discovery I have made there regarding 'Ancient Sorceries' by Algernon Blackwood, The Magic Mountain' by Thomas Mann and 'The Hospice' by Robert Aickman.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

This used to be thread without stupid comments, last page ruined it.

Re: Robert Aickman
 

My sister is studying over in London at the moment, and she was able to pick 4 Aickman books at a store called Waterstones. They are the Faber and Faber editions of Dark Entries, The Unsettled Dust, Cold Hand In Mine and The Wine Dark Sea. I'm quite new to Aickman, but after reading 'The Hospice' the other night, I can see why he is so highly regarded.