tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post2378044673671805160..comments2024-01-05T11:16:11.081+00:00Comments on Russian Dinosaur: A translator's tale, Part Three of ThreeRussian Dinosaurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708798725927250672noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post-21142679941308378262013-09-15T17:19:43.932+01:002013-09-15T17:19:43.932+01:00Thanks for your kind words, Hat! I haven't see...Thanks for your kind words, Hat! I haven't seen Vampyr recently enough to remember the scene you mention (although I must check out the Pasternak effect), but I'm glad we think alike on subtle creepiness. Writers can't always book in to Room 217...Russian Dinosaurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708798725927250672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post-6314807388432484442013-09-14T20:41:25.727+01:002013-09-14T20:41:25.727+01:00On the other hand, Eliot Borenstein in the TLS con...On the other hand, Eliot Borenstein in the TLS concentrates mainly on <i>Stalin's Ghosts</i> (and praises it highly), so I guess it all balances out. (Oddly, the site is willing to show me the "In this week’s TLS" that mentions the review, but not the review itself; it's the most useless website of any of the big lit-mag guns.)Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post-77348933025478571722013-09-13T18:51:09.075+01:002013-09-13T18:51:09.075+01:00What matters is the apparent fact of action we don...<i>What matters is the apparent fact of action we don't understand and can't explain</i><br /><br />Exactly. Just yesterday I watched Dreyer's great 1932 <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampyr" rel="nofollow">Vampyr</a></i>, and this device is used right from the very beginning, when the expected scenes of the protagonist (who looks disconcertingly like the young Pasternak) checking in at the village inn are ominously intercut with a man with a scythe summoning a boat and crossing the river. Why? Not explained. We frequently hear and see things we do not understand, and the movie becomes more and more chilling without any of the ooga-booga shock effects of your ordinary horror film.<br /><br />It's great to have you posting again, and I too was surprised that Greg gave <i>Stalin's Ghosts</i> such short shrift!Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.com