Comments on: My Four Favorite New Books of 2009, #3: Tracy Daugherty’s Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme

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A Guide to My Writing Here at Big Other « BIG OTHER — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:07:04 +0000

[...] My Four Favorite New Books of 2009, #3: Tracy Daugherty’s Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthe… [...]

By: My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 1 « BIG OTHER

My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 1 « BIG OTHER — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 13:27:25 +0000

[...] on December 18, 2009 at 6:41 pm | Reply My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 3 « BIG OTHER [...]

By: My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 5 « BIG OTHER

My Favorite New Books of 2009, Part 5 « BIG OTHER — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:21:06 +0000

[...] Part 3 [...]

By: John Madera

John Madera — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:30:14 +0000

I thought you were being tricksy with the Borges reference, but this is even better.

By: A D Jameson

A D Jameson — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:22:13 +0000

Ah, I meant to put that above comment here, below John’s. Oh, well.

For anyone interested, this short documentary mentions Borges’s influence on Cammell, Roeg, and PERFORMANCE:

INFLUENCE AND CONTROVERSY: THE MAKING OF PERFORMANCE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGmZYKm7FGo

(See 2:24–3:30 in the second part for some discussion of ol’ “Bor-gaze.”)

…I’ve watched this doc (it’s on the DVD) and think it’s OK—a bit clunky (hideous graphics!), but with good info and historical context. But it’s no substitute for the original film.

…The original trailer of which is here:

How I long for the days when trailers could include song lyrics like “faggy little leather boys”…

…not to mention Anita Pallenberg, topless…

…and portly Englishmen taking off their trousers…

By: A D Jameson

A D Jameson — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:01:04 +0000

There actually is a Roeg/Borges connection: PERFORMANCE, Roeg’s first film as director, ends with an amazing (and very direct) Borges reference. Although, at the time, that was probably more the doing of Roeg’s co-director, the late and under-appreciated Donald Cammell.

…Interesting where this has gone, considering that the original post was about HIDING MAN. To bring it back a bit, I used the Google search box at Garfunkel’s site to check on whether he’s read any Barthelme. I found no results, but the search seemed a bit wonky (it didn’t find books I know he’s read).

He did read John Barth’s THE END OF THE ROAD, in August 1968.

…Ah. I checked using Google proper, and no Barthelme. In fact, see this:
http://www.artgarfunkel.com/articles/newyorker.html

Quoting:
“He also doesn’t read postmodern fiction—the Garfunkel Library contains no Pynchon or Barthelme. “I tried ‘Gravity’s Rainbow,’ and I thought it was fraudulent,” he said.”

The man has spoken!

(I still love you, though, Mr. Garfunkel!)

By: John Madera

John Madera — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:50:53 +0000

I don’t know about that, since the two letters that Roeg needs to spell Borges is “bs”.

Looks like you got the last word up there. Comments only go nine deep.

By: A D Jameson

A D Jameson — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:39:11 +0000

Sure! Don’t worry—eventually all my posts will be about Roeg…

And all other Big Other posts. Roeg is the the cinematic equivalent of Tlön…

By: John Madera

John Madera — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:32:21 +0000

As these comment boxes get smaller and smaller I realize that your comments here merit full-on posts of their own. Let’s see some Garfunkel and Roeg love-fests. Well, not between those two, of course.

By: A D Jameson

A D Jameson — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:23:19 +0000

I think that a lot of people dislike BAD TIMING because they view it as when Roeg started to “slip.” That is to say, they want to claim PERFORMANCE, WALKABOUT, DON’T LOOK NOW, and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH as the man’s masterpieces, then let the rest lie (although some don’t want to include TMWFTE).

I believe this has a lot to do with how frank it is concerning sex, and abusive relationships. Which is what Roeg’s films become increasingly about starting with BAD TIMING (although that theme is present from the start).

Personally, I think that his string of masterpieces includes and extends past BAD TIMING to EUREKA, which I currently consider the greatest unknown film of the 1980s.

And Roeg’s films past EUREKA are also pretty strong: CASTAWAY, INSIGNIFICANCE, and THE WITCHES are all good. (For anyone who liked FANTASTIC MR. FOX and needs more Dahl adaptation: check out that last one! Very good, and very disturbing—the way Dahl should be. Although the last scene is pure nonsense.)

Anyway, BAD TIMING: A SENSUAL OBSESSION is a great film! It’s no surprise that the Criterion Collection snatched it up. (I imagine they’d love to do all of the early Roeg films.)

As some unnamed executive said of it at the time, “It’s a sick film for sick people.” *Precisely!*