Comments on: My Four Favorite New Books of 2009, #1: Mercè Rodoreda’s Death in Spring

By: A Guide to My Writing Here at Big Other « BIG OTHER

A Guide to My Writing Here at Big Other « BIG OTHER — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:07:00 +0000

[...] My Four Favorite New Books of 2009, #1: Mercè Rodoreda’s Death in Spring [...]

By: My Four Favorite New Books of 2009, part 5: Other New Books That I Enjoyed in 2009 « BIG OTHER

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:07:34 +0000

[...] Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 [...]

By: My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 4 « BIG OTHER

My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 4 « BIG OTHER — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:14:56 +0000

[...] December 19, 2009 by A D Jameson Part 1 [...]

By: My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 3 « BIG OTHER

My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 3 « BIG OTHER — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:41:02 +0000

[...] December 18, 2009 by A D Jameson Part 1 [...]

By: My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 2 « BIG OTHER

My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 2 « BIG OTHER — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:55:54 +0000

[...] December 17, 2009 by A D Jameson Part 1 [...]

By: John Madera

John Madera — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:07:42 +0000

Yes, this is the kind of horror that Brian Evenson unravels in his fiction: strange communal rites and the tensions created by enclosed spaces, albeit negotiated through a fractured mental state.

By: A D Jameson

A D Jameson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:13:14 +0000

Oh, yeah! The Poetics of Space! Thanks for reminding me of that, John. I started reading it earlier this semester (a student of mine was reading it, and I stole it from her for a day). I meant to get back to it, but then forgot about it. Seemed fascinating.

One of the nifty things about Death in Spring is that the narrator reserves judgment about what he’s observing. He narrates with curiosity, but he is also accustomed to his strange world (strange to us—well, strange to me, at least). So there’s a certain kind of acceptance of what I found to be horrifying situations. Which made it much scarier.

I think it’s fair to characterize Rodoreda’s novel as being a horror novel, to some degree. Not because it’s a conventional one—but because it’s at times quite horrific!

…I hope that doesn’t put people off from checking out the book. The horror is extremely engrossing and compelling horror. (And don’t people like horror? They read Stephen King and Dean Koontz, right? Read this, too!)

By: John Madera

John Madera — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:01:11 +0000

I’m thinking that that passage lyrically limns intimate spaces in a way similar to the Bachelard’s book-length examination of space, The Poetics of Space, where he explores the grandeur, or what he calls “intimate immensity,” of enclosed spaces, of nests and shells, of furniture like chests and wardrobes and its parts, even corners of houses and angles in a room. The Rodoreda quote approaches horror more than awe, and is probably where it diverges from Bachelard. But those two feelings, as there is such a fine line between them, strike me as maybe coming from a similar place.

By: A D Jameson

A D Jameson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:36:04 +0000

Thanks, John. And I’d be curious to hear what you mean by this—the connections you see with Bachelardian phenomenology. I must confess that I don’t know anything much about Bachelard. Except that he had a notorious affair with Jélloïse .

By: John Madera

John Madera — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:09:01 +0000

I enjoyed this. The village’s peculiar customs sounds like it could have been taken from a fantasy novel, albeit one with a lyricism to match its eccentricity, its invention. And that passage you quote about the kitchen cupboard borders on a kind of Bachelardian phenomenology.