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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 13, 2012 9:13:05 GMT
The ape seems to be a real motiff as you say Andy.
One of the things that fascinates me is that if you analyse the stock elements of pulp you get some really horrific aspects. Often Burroughs has the great apes shambling off with the heroine. Always they are rescued. Audience happy. However, in Burroughs the intention of the ape is quite plainly to rape the woman. Not exactly pleasant. It seems to be a sort of archetypical representative of sexual lust - the beast thing and bestial urges, Neatly opposed to the ape, is the Dracula eroticism - but then Dracula started out as an utterly repellent Noseferatu and only developed elegance and charm later.
Maybe after a decent spell the ape will acquire an evening suit and a compendium of one-liners for the ladies.
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Post by Dr Strange on Sept 13, 2012 10:11:41 GMT
The mountain gorilla was only discovered in 1902. Plus, there was a lot of news reporting of fossilized humanoids and the ongoing search for "the missing link". The "Piltdown man" hoax was 1912. Newspapers were full of this stuff back then: it was a scientifically hot topic, but it was also something the general public knew about and took an interest in, so no surprise really that it spilled over into popular fiction.
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Post by Dr Strange on Sept 17, 2012 18:15:28 GMT
Whitehead seems to have had a relatively upbeat outlook Having now read as far as The Napier Limousine, that's starting to look like a bit of an understatement! I wonder what HPL thought of Tea Leaves... so sickly sweet it made me want to read some Wheatley or Birkin as an antidote.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 2, 2012 19:58:18 GMT
It occurs to me that one could easily make a television series with a recurring cast based on Whitehead's stories, as the same characters tend to return again and again in them. I nominate the people who made last year's delightful Caribbean-set murder mystery series DEATH IN PARADISE. It would be impossible for other reasons, of course.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 3, 2012 0:33:50 GMT
It occurs to me that one could easily make a television series with a recurring cast based on Whitehead's stories, as the same characters tend to return again and again in them. So who would play Gerald Canevin?
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Chuck_G
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 32
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Post by Chuck_G on Oct 26, 2012 0:03:00 GMT
My copy arrived today. Looking forward to dipping into it.
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Post by Knygathin on Oct 26, 2012 7:12:18 GMT
I have only read Whitehead's "Cassius". It's sort of a variant version of de la Mare's "A.B.O.", or even a continuation of it, isn't it?
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 9, 2012 12:45:47 GMT
Must thank Wordsworth again for my Whitehead and Benson - I was reading both collections in tandem favouring Whitehead by a head and then went with Whitehead. Having returned to Benson I was slightly tiring of him and suddenly he comes out with "The Step" - brilliant story.
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Post by doug on Sept 21, 2013 11:33:53 GMT
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Post by Knygathin on Jul 20, 2020 4:09:39 GMT
After all the initial excitement and feasting over the release of this book, it would be interesting to hear a little more about what you actually thought of the stories themselves. Any particular favorites? A venturing best to worst list is greatly desired, even if tentative, since there is very little opinion documented elsewhere about his output of tales.
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Post by Knygathin on Jan 28, 2023 11:18:31 GMT
Interesting new photo of Whitehead on isfdb.org.
Henry S. Whitehead and M. P. Shiel both had backgrounds in the West Indies. Are there any similarities, or common themes/concerns, between their writings?
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 10, 2023 6:26:23 GMT
I read "Passing of a God". Expertly done and very creepy! Fine sense of medical surgery realism. And unwittingly humorous: the natives have called forth this supreme evil god from the beginning of all Time, ... the doctor pours alchohol on it, and it collapses. I think Whitehead apes Lovecraft about ancient cosmic evil, in an unconvincing manner. And what would the ordinary doctor of the story know about such things?
But the prose is plain and dryly written. Not the truly obsessive weird outlook. I think he is inferior to both Lovecraft and Shiel.
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 10, 2023 20:36:56 GMT
Must thank Wordsworth again for my Whitehead and Benson - I was reading both collections in tandem favouring Whitehead by a head and then went with Whitehead. Having returned to Benson I was slightly tiring of him and suddenly he comes out with "The Step" - brilliant story. Yes, "The Step" was very very good. Sardonic like Clark Ashton Smith in the first half.
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