tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post8829032343172321000..comments2024-03-29T14:45:32.326+13:00Comments on The Imaginary Museum: Millennials (4): Song of the Brakeman (2006)Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-88884238483640989122019-11-01T00:00:40.935+13:002019-11-01T00:00:40.935+13:00Hi Jack Good post. I started Bill's book but i...Hi Jack Good post. I started Bill's book but it was a library copy and had to return it. It was good indeed and the series 'Enclosures' is good as is (the long poem) 'New Sea Land'. The language in 'Song of the Brakeman' is chaotic but fascinating. Whether it is Sci Fi? The genres mix. Ballard also I thought about (you use the adj. Ballardian) as I am reading through 'The Atrocity Exhibition', and also one thinks of the 'Drowned World' and 'The Crystal World'. But 'Ridley Walker' I read recently as I had seen something about Will Self's 'The Book of Dave'. Then I remembered Hoban. 'Ridley Walker' is one of those must reads. I like that edition's cover image. Haggard! Read him as a teenager -- a very intense almost erotic experience reading Haggard's books. I know Bill read through 'Finnegans Wake'. Looking at those quotes though I must see if I can get a copy of Bill's book. I have other of his works.<br /><br /> Scott seems to be mixing up the movie 'The Quiet Earth' (which I finally watched, and it is good, but I feel it is not the book, although it does reflect some of the themes). In the book it is hard to know if the narrator is mad or he is in hell or there is some kind of eternal return. Certainly the problematic nature of science "tampering" and so on and the arrogance (of who?) -- it is not clear that there was a plot to somehow experiment on or test the protagonist (who has "killed" his autistic son, or has he, and if so, why is he being punished (as in one reading it seems)? I discussed it a lot with my son who also read it and saw the movie again. In the end I confessed I didn't know. But the analogy still holds but I am not sure. If we can believe the narrator and The Maori and the woman are not in his imagination or at least he hasn't made up the photographs: but real or not the theme is still there. <br /> I think that if we can conflate the movie and book Scott's points about 'The Song..' are good indeed (if that theme can be dug out of Bill's book. <br /><br /> I must get a copy of it if Titus/Atuanui have any still or I see one some where online for sale. Will ask Brett as I bought some more of my 'Conversation with a Stone' and there are some more titles as well as 'Song of the Brakeman' I would like if they are extant <br /> <br /> Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.com