برف خاموش، برف مرموز

by Conrad Aiken, حسن ملکی (Translator)

Short story, horror/fantasy.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Classics, Fantasy, American, Poetry

26 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Known American writer Conrad Potter Aiken won a Pulitzer Prize of 1930 for Selected Poems .

Most of work of this short story critic and novelist reflects his intense interest in psychoanalysis and the development of identity. As editor of Selected Poems of Emily Elizabeth Dickinson in 1924, he largely responsibly established her posthumous literary reputation. From the 1920s, Aiken divided his life between England and the United States and played a significant role in introducing American poets to the British audience.

He fathered gifted writers Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_...

Reviews

[Georgia Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hypnotic. The sentences swirl like snow. In swells, they can be long, running to a paragraph to describe the snow out a window or "the freckles on Deirdre's neck." Then, real life intrudes in short sentences: "It was the half hour for geography" and "The bell rang for dismissal."

We've all been there . . . at school and inside our own heads. Aiken captures this beautifully and painfully.

Not for new parents to read. Might be too scary. But just the thing for anyone else who is snowed in, like me, just now.

[Saman · Rating 4 out of 5]

این داستان کوتاه روایتی است درونی از حالات یک پسربچه که دچار توهم شده و در مسیر داستان، این توهم بزرگ و بزرگتر میشه و آثار منفی روی او می‌گذاره. طرد شدن او از جهان واقعی و فاصله گرفتن پسر بچه از دنیای واقعی به مرور در داستان روایت میشه. داستان پردازش بسیار خوبی داشت. این وهم پسربچه که یک دنیای برفی بود، دقیقا مثل یک گوله برف کوچک از بالای کوهی به پایین میاد و به مروز این گوله بزرگتر میشه، پسر رو تحت سیطره خودش قرار میداد. داستانهایی که از حالات درونی شخصیت‌ها می‌گند همیشه برام از جذابیت خاصی برخوردار بودند. علی رغم کوتاه بودن داستان، نویسنده تونسته بود در خلق جهان مخصوص داستانی، و پردازش درونیات پسربچه و همچنین چالش‌هایی که باهاشون مواجه میشد و این چالشها پر رنگ‌تر میشد موفق عمل کنه.واقعا شاید بیماری روانی همینطور باشه؛ دیر که بجنبی و به خودت بیای، میبینی افسارت دیگه دست خودت نیست!

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some stories, for whom only one adjective seems apt— unforgettable. This is one such story.
It begins slowly, then continues in its own pace. At every moment it seems that we are in for some dramatic denouement, some climax. Then it ends. And then, after it has ended, we suddenly realise how truly horrific the story is.
Slowly we accept the fact that this can happen to any of us— who try to run away to a different place of our own.
If you haven’t read it yet, please rectify the situation.

[Abr · Rating 4 out of 5]

داستان باحالی بود. خیلی اتفاقی از طاقچه پیداش کردم و اولین دلیلم برای خوندنش اسم داستان بود.

فرض کنید یک‌روز که خواب بیدار می‌شید، هوا سرده و حس می‌کنید داره برف می‌باره. حتی صدای قدم‌های پستچی رو می‌شنوید که روی برف صدای خش‌خش می‌ده و در خونه‌تون رو می‌زنه برای تحویل بسته. اما از جاتون که بلند می‌شید، می‌بینید همچین خبری نیست و آسمون صافِ صافه. پس اون چیزهایی که حس کردید چی بوده؟

برف خاموش، برف مرموز، داستان پسر بچه‌ایه که با توهماتی رو به رو می‌شه که به مرور زمان عین یه گوله‌ی برف دور تا دورش رو می‌گیرن و باعث می‌شن از دنیای واقعی فاصله بگیره.

این داستان، از اون دسته داستان‌های کوتاهه که به نظرم از تمامی ویژگی‌های یک داستان برخورداره.
پیرنگش خطیه، کشش داره، شخصیت پردازی خوبی هم داره و مهم‌تر از همه جزئیات‌شه! جزئیاتی که باعث می‌شن آدم یک لحظه احساس کنه داره از پنجره‌ی اتاقش زمین پوشیده شده از برف رو می‌بینه و همین‌طور پستچی که داره می‌آد به سمت خونه‌شون (حالا من خودم جنوبی‌ام و تا حالا برف ندیدم تو این شهر).

حتماً باز هم این داستان رو می‌خونم. چرا؟
چون وقتی داشتم می‌خوندمش یه‌کم حواسم پرت بود و به نظرم به عنوان یک خواننده به اندازه‌ی کافی بهش نپرداختم.

در آخر:
«آن بیرون سنگ‌فرش لخت بود؛ و این تو، برف. برف هر روز پُرپشت‌تر می‌شد، صدای دنیای بیرون را خفه‌تر می‌کرد، زشتی‌ها را بیش‌تر می‌پوشاند، و _ از همه بیش‌تر صدای پای پست‌چی را روزبه‌روز خفه‌تر. می‌کرد.»

[Koala · Rating 5 out of 5]

من عاشق داستان های کوتاهم.
یکی از بهترین داستان های کوتاهی که خوندم، این کتاب هست. این کتاب عالیه.
خیرگی خیره شدن شخصیت داستان من رو مواج میکنه...
توصیفات کتاب عالیه. ترجمه هم همینطور.

https://taaghche.com/audiobook/29265

[Raeden Zen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Lyrical, Hallucinogenic, Metaphysical, Mind-Bending Short Story

“A vague feeling of disappointment came over him; a vague sadness, as if he felt himself deprived of something which he had long looked forward to, something much prized. After all this, all this beautiful progress, the slow delicious advance of the postman through the silent and secret snow, the knock creeping closer each day, and the footsteps nearer, the audible compass of the world thus daily narrowed, narrowed, narrowed, as the snow soothingly and beautifully encroached and deepened…”

The short story, “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” is one of the most intriguing short stories I’ve ever read and re-read, and re-read, and re-read. I discovered it in “Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural,” as the story runs from page 132-149 and is easily one of the most memorable so far—memorable enough for me to review it separately—and to seek out anything and everything Mr. Aiken has written. (I was surprised to learn he was better known as a poet than a novelist.)

The bottom line: In “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” we meet Paul, a 12-year old boy who is developing schizophrenic insanity. He sees snow, silent and beautiful and omnipresent; what’s happening in Paul’s world? Can his parents help him? What will the doctor do? Find out in Mr. Aiken’s riveting short story.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An almost glacially slow story (1924) of the 'snow'-drifting of a 12 year old boy into detachment from reality. A fantasy that leaves it open whether the force is psychological or supernatural but part of the skill of the tale lies in exposing the desperation of parents seen through the boy's eyes.

Aiken was a poet and the story is expressed through an extended metaphor in which detachment from reality is likened to the effect of snow on the world - dampening it down, silencing it, removing its colour.

The metaphor appears eventually to have a consciousness outside the boy and to be seductive so that the final loss of consciousness - the sleep - is like that of an Arctic explorer (referenced in the text) losing consciousness from cold. Perhaps we are on the edge of a ghost story here.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shhh...I won't say a word! It was that marvellous.

[Arma · Rating 4 out of 5]

بیماری روانی همینقدر آروم و بی سروصدا، مثل یه برف، میاد و میشینه و مهمون میشه و قبل اینکه خبر داشته باشی، همه چی رو تو وجود خودش محو می‌کنه.

[Chrystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my, this was a very well-written story. I have heard of it before and may have even read it long ago, but don't remember it. I found it in an old hardbound book of stories that was mouldering away on my dusty bookshelf. Its red cloth cover has strings coming out of the edges and its gold embossed title has worn away completely. This story was written in the early 30s, but it feels very modern. An unsettling, mind-bending tale of psychological suspense.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few weeks ago, I was walking through the old section of the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. I came upon the plots for Conrad Aiken and his wife. I was horrified to learn that at age 10 he found his parents dead in his home, one of murder, the other of suicide. What a horrendous event for a boy of ten.
This helps to explain this short book (very short). It is both poetic and frightening. Although it might look like a child’s book, it is not for a ten year old. It might give them bad ideas.
As one reviewer wrote: not for parents of young children.

[Guillaume · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ma première lecture de Neige silencieuse, neige secrète remonte à deux ans, et un mois, tout pile. Sacrée coïncidence. A la lumière de mes dernières lectures peu roboratives je voulus redonner sa chance à ce petit récit tant adoré par certains contacts estimés. Et cette fois-ci je dois dire que la magie a opéré. Il y a deux ans je pense que je recherchais un certain type de littérature, un certain type de récit, du genre qui plombe, et exclusivement cela. Depuis j'ai ouvert mon champs et je suis incroyablement réceptif au style de Aiken, style que je n'ai pas pu apprécié à l'époque où j'avais voulu dévorer le plus vite possible ses deux petites nouvelles éditées à La Barque.

Lire Neige silencieuse, neige secrète peu de temps après Des fleurs pour Algernon permet aussi d'observer la présentation stylistique du personnage à la perception décalée : celui ou celle (celui dans nos deux cas) qui vit dans un monde autre, son monde. Ici il est question de neige, neige qui tomberait, étoufferait les sons, donnerait à son univers une teinte fantastique, douce, claire et dégagée. Il y a quelque chose dans l'écriture d'Aiken qui accueille, les mots, les pensées, construisent ce petit cocon douillet à l'écart du monde réel. Les pensées de ce jeune garçon, ses évasions, son confort mental, il est surprenant de se rendre compte à quel point ce (très) court récit contient tant. Tant de poésie, tant de petits détails qui se faufilent, de psychologie (la narration se fait principalement dans la tête du garçon), de douceur. Un livre à mettre entre toutes les mains, pour s'émerveiller.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written but disturbing story about a boy's withdrawal from reality into mental illness. A scary look at how sometimes there is nothing that you can do to save a person. Good story.

[Georgina N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Όταν η ονειροπόληση λαμβάνει άλλες προεκτάσεις .

Ο Paul δυσκολεύεται να εστιάσει την προσοχή του στις υποχρεώσεις του σχολείου του και αφαιρείται από την πραγματικότητα , δε δίνει σημασία στην οικογένειά του ,απομακρύνεται από αυτήν και απομονώνεται . Συγκεκριμένα , συγκεντρώνεται στο χιόνι , το οποίο όμως δεν υπάρχει .Αυτός όμως το σκέφτεται και θέλει να χιονίσει. Ονειροπολεί πως χιονίζει και θέλει να σκέφτεται μόνο αυτό .Παραμελεί τον εαυτό του και την οικογένειά του . Όταν κάποια στιγμή η μητέρα του ,ανήσυχη, καλεί το γιατρό ,εκείνος την διώχνει και της λέει πως τη μισεί.

Για μένα το βιβλίο είναι πολύ επίκαιρο ,κάτι σαν ωδή στον εθισμό. Το χιόνι αντιπροσωπεύει στις μέρες μας το ίντερνετ και κάθε κακιά συνήθεια και το πόσο έχει/έχουν εισχωρήσει στις ζωές των παιδιών/εφήβων ,οι οποίοι έχουν οδηγηθεί στο σημείο να αποξενωθούν από όλους και απ'όλα προκειμένου να εξακολουθήσουν απρόσκοπτοι να επιδίδονται στις κακές συνήθειες.
Επίσης ο τίτλος είναι εξαιρετικά εύστοχος γιατί το "silent ,secret" συμβολίζει το πόσο κρυφά και ύπουλα μπορεί να αναπτυχθεί μία κακιά συνήθεια"

3 αστέρια γιατί αν και μικρό το βρήκα κουραστικό σε κάποια σημεία .

[R. S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange and disturbing, but beautifully written.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little short story was pretty much poetry. The words were filled with imagery and metaphors, and each sentence was clearly thought through. It is a cute, sweet little thing.

On first read I wasn't very keen. It was well-written but it was too flowery in language that I have to re-read several parts to understand exactly what was happening. It made it so that I didn't really comprehend the ending.

Yet once we had a talk in a seminar at uni, I changed my mind slightly. Understanding the piece allowed me to appreciate it much more. I could connect to it better and I was actually upset over the ending.

[Jack Cheatle · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Silent Snow, Secret Snow" by Conrad Aiken is about a 12 year old boy. He becomes obsessed with a different world and he has to mange living in the real world and his imaginary one without his parents noticing. He is actually becoming mentally ill, but something happens near the end of the book to change this. Read this book to find out what happens.

I thought this book was pretty confusing, but overall I understand the concept. It makes you think a lot and I thought that was cool.

I would recommend this book to any people in highschool and above. It was a pretty confusing and deep book for a middle schooler.

[Sherry Elmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A local library has a wonderful classics shelf that could provide a lifetime of reading. Recently, I was surprised to find this little book on that shelf. At first, I thought someone had set it there and forgotten it, but I saw by the tag that it was intended for the classics shelf. Why that is, I really don't know.
The best way I can describe this story is weird. It's kind of lyrical and kind of creepy and when it was over, I thought that there are a lot of other books far more worthy of my time.

[Juergen John Roscher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to follow journey of a mentally ill boy. Not my definition of an enjoyable book.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

اصلاً چرا هم‌چی شده بود، یا چرا درست باید آن‌موقع هم‌چی می‌شد. خوب، این را شاید نمی‌توانست بگوید؛ یا شاید هم اصلاً نشده بود این را از خود بپرسد. این قضیه بیش‌تر یک راز بود، از آن چیزهائی که باید از پدر و مادر حسابی مخفی نگه می‌داشت؛ و همین‌اش هم بود که خیلی کیف می‌داد. عین یک چیز خیلی خاص خیلی با ارزش بود که باید بی‌این‌که کسی بفهمد، بگذاردش توُ جیب شلوارش ــ یک تمبر کم‌یاب، یا یک سکهٔ قدیمی، یا یک تکه زنجیر طلا که روی سنگ‌فرش پارک افتاده باشد و زیر پا له شده باشد، یا یک عقیق کوچولو، یا یک صدف دریایی که لکه‌ئی، رگهٔ خاصی داشته باشد که با صدف‌های دیگر فرق بکند ــ هرجا می‌رفت، یک جورِ گرم و پای‌دار و خوش‌آیندی حس می‌کرد مالک چیزی است، انگاری راستی راستی یکی از آن چیزها را داشت. فقط هم احساس مالکیت نبود ــ یک جور احساس مصونیت هم بود. انگار آن راز پناه‌گاه امن و دژ محکم خوبی بود که می‌توانست در پناه‌اش به یک خلوت آسمانی برسد. این اولین چیزی بود که از آن قضیه دست‌گیرش شد ــ عجیب‌وغریب‌بودن آن به جای خود. حالا هم، همین‌که روی نیم‌کتِ آن کلاس کوچک نشست، برای پنجاهمین‌بار، همین دست‌گیرش شد. نیم‌ساعت درس جغرافی داشتند. دوشیزه بوئل داشت با یک انگشت کُرهٔ زمین خیلی گندهٔ روی میزش را یواش‌یواش می‌چرخاند. قاره‌های سبز و زرد آمدند و رفتند و سؤال پشت سؤال شد و جواب پشت جواب آمد، حالا دختر کوچولوی جلویی او، دِردِر، که کک‌ومک‌های پس گردن‌اش عین ستاره‌های دبّ اکبر بودند، از جا بلند شده بود و رو به دوشیزه بوئل می‌گفت که خط استوا خطی است که عین کمربند دور زمین کشیده شده.

صورت دوشیزه بوئل، که پیر و رنگ‌پریده و مهربان بود و دو طرف گونه‌هایش طره‌های خاکستری شق‌ورقی داشت و چشم‌های براق‌اش مثل دو تا ماهی کوچولو پشت عینک ته‌استکانی‌اش شنا می‌کردند، به‌شوخی چین خورد.

[Matthew Boylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“For when at last the steps were heard, they had already, he was quite sure, come a little down the hill, to the first house; and even so, the steps were curiously different—they were softer, they had a new secrecy about them, they were muffled and indistinct; and while the rhythm of them was the same, it now said a new thing—it said peace, it said remoteness, it said cold, it said sleep.”

This was the first read of my "Short book a day (or two)" challenge. This is an incredible short story by Conrad Aiken, blending dream and memory, corporeality and the dream-entity of"silent snow, secret snow," in which the boy Paul Haselman abandons himself to.

“And then abruptly he found his interest in the talk at an end, stared at the pudding on his plate, listened, waited, and began once more—ah how heavenly, too, the first beginnings—to hear or feel—for could he actually hear it?— the silent snow, the secret snow.”

Beautifully textual poetic prose evokes the dreamscape Haselman imagines and walks through. It's a story with symbols that can be interpreted in different ways: the snow a "death-wish," the postman walking through it as the personification of death, Aiken imbues a lot of meaning into the story of Haselman who in gradually receding into his dream-world, loses contact with the real around him.
I really enjoyed this. On par with Joyce's The Dead as one of the greatest short stories I've read, and a great start to this challenge.

[Mika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tu es dans cette salle de classe, remplie de bruits, d’éclats - de rires et de lumières. Tu n’as pas envie d’être ici, non tu préférais être ailleurs, derrière la fenêtre, là dehors, peut-être sous cet arbre, et tu peux déjà sentir la mousse sous tes doigts et les côtes des feuilles qui se brisent sous ton poids. Des squelettes d’automne sous tes godasses. Soudain, plus rien n’existe, tu n’entends pas ton nom, tu n’entends pas les autres, tu es sous cet arbre, tu fais partie de la terre, le vent te chatouille l’oreille, te raconte des histoires - des secrets que tu gardes au creux des tempes. Tu l’as vécu, ce moment, n’est-ce pas? Cette fuite de la réalité, la fugue dans ta tête, le refus d’appartenir aux vivants. Tu ne l’as peut-être jamais formulé, mais il est là cet instant, dans chacune de tes absences, quand tu sembles regarder ailleurs, que tu es déjà parti.e. Le court texte de Conrad Aiken, contemporain de Freud et T.S. Eliot, te capture dans les impitoyables griffes de la folie, de la recherche de l’enfance, de cette envie, bouleversante et maladive, de préserver l’innocence. Toi qui a déjà voyagé loin, très loin dans ta tête, tu te prendras ce texte en plein dans l’estomac. Car sa poésie, la justesse de chacun de ses mots, la folle exactitude du style, ne fera que te renvoyer à cette question : si tu devais partir, le ferais-tu?

[Caffers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was convinced for most of this story that the boy was slowly going deaf. Dealing with my own tinnitus, I sometimes think I could easily let the panicked feeling of not hearing the world properly make me literally go mad.
I still think loss of hearing could have been an issue, as the postman's steps got further and further away, but having read other interpretations/the study guide, I can also see how this is what it would feel like to lose your grip on reality.
This is a story where you are left to speculate and draw your own conclusions. I read it twice. I could see how each time you pick it up you might draw different conclusions. And that's kind of cool!
I was surprised that it is a child's reading level. (recommended for 9 -12 years)
It was lovely to read. Poetic.
I would recommend it if you don't mind not quite knowing what's going on for 48 pages.

[Amna Zulfiqar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of a 12-year-old boy who was stuck between his imagination and reality. Sometimes he found it hard to continue his daily chores and was so much into his imagination. Eerie.
The lines that made me think deeper:
Like some experiences are more meaningful if they are kept to ourselves.

At whatever pain to others, nevertheless, one must persevere in severance, since the incommunicability of the experience demanded it

It was funny to think that he so wanted this, so awaited it — and yet found himself enjoying this momentary dalliance with the bird-house, as if for a quite deliberate postponement and enhancement of the approaching pleasure

[Mary Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story haunted me in high school. It continued to haunt me from time to time over the last few decades. I could not remember the title, but a short few suggestions to Google, (postman, snow) brought it right up. It is out of print, so hard to come by (one in a collection of short stories by Conrad Aiken) Rare copies are available on Amazon for about $900.00. Our library did have an e copy which I feel fortunate to have downloaded.
Yes, haunting....and it might make you a little crazy. Beware.

[Suren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. At first, the story seems like a tale of melancholy boy and snow. But metaphorically it's more than that. It will change and haunt the way you see people and around. As a great poet's best-known short story, it's written by much poetry and lyrical contexture. Somehow Aiken's rare and beautiful narration about distance and indifference appealed me so much and led me to admire his poetry. Worth reading!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story centers around a young boy who begins to imagine a constant snow that isn't there. As the story progresses the child slips deeper and deeper into the snow and the life it represents apart from his mundane reality of home and school.

This is a perfect examination of a person losing their sanity and slipping into mental illness. Chilling, in the tradition of The Yellow Wallpaper.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY! And, to our indigenous friends, DAY OF MOURNING.
SILENT SNOW, SECRET SNOW is one of those wonder works all of us who went to high school in the U.S. were introduced to by our English teachers. Unlike FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (Sorry, folks) Conrad Aiken's tale of a gifted boy withdrawing into a private mental world of comfort has endured. Didn't everyone with a conscience at one time of another seek his own island in the head, away from parents, teachers and peers? Who else remembers this from ROD SERLING'S NIGHT GALLERY?

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story that is the reason I took out the big anthology of short stories I've got on the go right now. Recommendation by Robin after we were talking about strange stories. This is definitely strange! I read it out loud and the way its written is very lyrical with a lot of alliteration... and I was really tired when reading - I felt like it put me in a weird snow trance too. Spooky

[Bob Wolniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was led to read this after seeing an adaptation of it on Night Gallery, narrated/read by Orson Welles of course. The withdrawal from reality into idealized fantasy is a frightening picture of mental health crisis.