The Minotaur & the Maze #2 – The Pathology of Night
The whole world is engulfed and changed into something terrible. Like the irradiated flash of x-ray, man is stripped of sex, of individuality, and left almost skeletal, utterly vulnerable at the centre of a world that has turned to a maelstrom. Seen in the right light, it remains a truly beautiful and terrifying painting, the pose inspired by the death-mask of an ancient Peruvian mummy Munch had viewed in a Florentine museum, the sky stained red as European skies were for months by the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa which reverberated around the globe. The feeling is first-hand. It is the physical manifestation of the threat of death that hung over Munch or worse the torture of madness. It is the end of the world, taking place fittingly in the hour before nightfall, the sun already in retreat. Ending not in a bang, not in a whimper but in a shriek that ignites the very atmosphere…
Darran Anderson on the murder and madness of night from Edvard Munch to Taxi Driver.
Traversing the Middle: The John Fante Tapes [Four]
And there sits Sinclair Lewis and these two women, and they’re having a drink. And he walks up and he says, “Mr. Lewis?” and Lewis just looks up at him. and here’s this gaunt, red-haired, steely blue-eyed cadaver kind of a guy, and he just stares at Arturo. And he says, “My name is Arturo Bandini,” and he offers Lewis his hand. And Lewis just looks at the hand, and the two women just look at him, look at Arturo, but nobody acknowledges him or in any way offers him any kindness or courtesy. And they leave him standing there for perhaps two minutes with his hand like that. And suddenly he just turns, enraged and humiliated, and walks out. And he goes back to the bar where his friend is, and he’s just furious. And he calls to the bartender and he says, “Get me a piece of paper, I want to write a note.” And the bartender gives him a piece of paper, and he writes, “Dear Sinclair Lewis: I happen to be a prot ég é of H.L. Mencken, and I was under the impression that you were, too. I’m sorry that I interrupted you in this way, but I want to tell you that you can go fuck yourself.”
John Fante in conversation with Ben Pleasants.
3:AM Top 5: Nik Perring
Nik Perring is a writer from the north west. His short stories have been published widely, including 3:AM, SmokeLong Quarterly and Word Riot. Not So Perfect, a collection of 22 short, short stories will be published by Roast Books in June. The last five songs Nik has been listening to are: 1. ‘Edward is Dedward’ […]