Waltz into Darkness

by William Irish, Cornell Woolrich, Wallace Stroby (Introduction)

From “the supreme master of suspense” comes the chilling chronicle of one man’s descent into madness. (New York Times)

When New Orleans coffee merchant Louis Durand first meets his bride-to-be after a months-long courtship by mail, he’s shocked that she doesn’t match the photographs sent with her correspondence. But Durand has told his own fibs, concealing from her the details of his wealth, and so he mostly feels fortunate to find her so much more beautiful than expected. Soon after they marry, however, he becomes increasingly convinced that the woman in his life is not the same woman with whom he exchanged letters, a fact that becomes unavoidable when she suddenly disappears with his fortune.

Alone, desperate, and inexplicably love-sick, Louis quickly descends into madness, obsessed with finding Julia and bringing her to justice — and simply with seeing her again. He engages the services of a private detective to do so, embarking on a search that spans the southeast of the country. When he finally tracks her down, the nightmare truly begins…

A dark tale of the destructive power of love, Waltz into Darkness is a classic “femme fatale” narrative that shows “the father of the modern suspense story” (LA Times) at the top of his unsettling craft. It has been adapted for film twice, most notably serving as the basis for Francois Truffaut’s Mississippi Mermaid.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Noir, Classics, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

364 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

pseudonym of Cornell Woolrich

Reviews

[Metodi Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Понякога купувам наслуки от кашоните на букинистите от площад Славейков книги, оценени от тях на по лев, два. И изненадващо често попадам на бисери, които иначе надали бих прочел.

"Валс в тъмнината"от Уилям Айриш (псевдоним на американския писател Корнел Улрич), е точно такава книга. Включена е в поредицата криминални романи на издателство "Х. Г. Данов", издадени в джобен формат преди 1989 година. До тук каквото съм прочел от тях, винаги е било много добро - подборът, преводите и редакцията им са безупречни.

Творбите на Улрич са обичани от Холивуд - цели 25 от тях са били превърнати във филми, включително и този му роман (няма да издам кой е филмът, но също не е никак лош, макар и по-различен от книгата).

Авторът е майстор на психологическият трилър, има отличен стил, а героите му са абсолютно пълнокръвни създания.

Разнася се беззвучна музика.
Танцуващите фигури се появяват
и бавно тръгват една към друга.
Валсът започва.

Луис Дюранд е преуспял и заможен вносител на кафе от Ню Орлийнс, на който в живота липсва единствено женска ласка. Затова той се включва в клуб за запознанства и след тримесечна кореспонденция, предлага брак на г-ца Джулия Ръсел от Сейнт Луис, без дори да я е виждал.

Идва денят, в който тя трябва да пристигне, но от корабът слиза не тя, а фаталната съдба, която ще промени животът му завинаги!

Краят на историята е това, което според мен прави тази книга значима и незабравима. Романът ми достави голямо удоволствие, обичам елегантния изказ на Улрич и я препоръчвам силно на читателите, търсещи добре изпипана криминална и любовна история едновременно.

Беззвучната музика спира.
Танцуващите фигури клюмват
и се отпускат като попарени.
Валсът свършва.



Има я в Читанка:

https://chitanka.info/text/26984-vals...

[Agir(آگِر) · Rating 4 out of 5]

مظلومی زن، درست به سان برفی است که در مقابل آفتاب واقعیت ذوب می شود. اما مرد مظلوم، اگر ده بار دیگر ازدواج کند، در آخر همان قدر مظلوم است که در ابتدا بوده است. هیچ گاه چیزی یاد نمی گیرد



:در مورد کتاب

داستان درباره مردی سی و هفت ساله است که به وسیله ی نامه نگاری با زنی تقریبا هم سن خود از شهری دیگر آشنا می شود و قرار است این زن که ژولیا روسل نام دارد با کشتی بیاید تا با هم ازدواج کنند.ولی وقتی کشتی از راه می رسد بجای این زن، دختری جوان و با زیبایی خیره کننده به "لویی دوران" لبخند می زند و خود را ژولیا روسل معرفی می کند و
..می گوید به عمد عکس خاله اش را فرستاده بود و



اما همه چیز به آن خوبی که فک می کنید پیش نمی رود
..و اتفاقاتی می افتد که این دو از هم دور می افتند

و در ادامه مردی را می بینیم که دنبال انتقام است ولی بیشتر از آن خواهان دیدن دوباره همسرش
او نمی تواند دیگر به زندگی شرافتمندانه خود بازگردد و آنرا ادامه دهد
تمام این سالها تنها بوده و در چند هفته طعم عشقی شیرین را چشیده است
..و بعد هجران

..لویی از همه چیز می گذرد از منزلت اجتماعی و پول و
او فقط یک چیز را می خواهد
ژولیای دروغی یا همان بونی را



همیشه آرزو داشتم، همسر خوب و شجاعی داشته باشم.زنی که آداب معاشرت را به خوبی بلد باشد و سرش را تنها برای بله و نه گفتن به من بلند بکند. اما حالا هیچ زنی را غیر از تو نمی خواهم. گونه های سرخاب زده، دود آتشی که همه جا با تو است، خنده ها و شوخی هایت، این چیزهایی است که اکنون من را شیفته می کنند.بونی،بونی! چه بلایی سر من آورده ای؟ به این نتیجه رسیدم که تو بهترین همسر دنیا هستی و کسی را جز تو نمی خواهم. درست همانگونه که
!هستی، بدون احساس و بدذات




:نتیجه



این کتاب دو عنوان دارد.والس در تاریکی و یکی هم پری دریایی می سی سی پی
که در ایران هم به اسم دومی چاپ شده است
بنظرم اسم اولی بیشتر به کتاب میاد

فیلم گناه اصلی از این کتاب اقتباس شده
اما فیلم تا آخر کتاب پیش نمی رود و در در آغاز بازی قمار تمام می شود
در حالیکه کتاب بعد آن باز ادامه دارد

حالا اگر فیلم را با کتاب ترجمه شده مقایسه کنیم بعضی قسمت ها در فیلم اضافه و حتی بیشتر به آن پرداخته شده اند مانند صحنه های ج ن س ی و همچنین رفتن آنتونیو باندراس به خانه های بدنام

اما نمیشه مطمئن اینو گفت چون ترجمه های که ما داریم معمولا چنین قسمت هایی را حسابی قیچی می کنند
و شاید این قسمت ها در کتاب هم بوده است

این کتاب در اصل سه ستاره داشت

از آغاز تا میانه های کتاب خیلی راحت می توانستی وقایع را پیش بینی کنی و نویسنده هم خیلی سریع از ماجراها می گذرد و در شخصیت پردازی هم ضعف زیادی دارد؛ طوری که خواننده نمی تواند با شخصیت های کتاب چندان ارتباط احساسی برقرار کند
اما در فیلم، آدم غم و درد را در صورت آنتونیو باندراس حس می کند و میدانی که چه بلایی سر این آدم نجیب آمده است و چه عذابی می کشد

بخاطر فیلم بود که یک ستاره به کتاب اضافه کردم
و البته قلم نویسنده هم در قسمت های پایانی کتاب بهتر شده بود
و داستان غیرقابل پیش بینی می شود و شخصیت را هم بیشتر درک می کنی


:حرف آخر

جملات قبل از شروع کتاب ها رو خیلی دوس دارم و این جملات بودند که باعث شدند این داستان را بخوانم

..به هیچ آورنده شدن خود می اندیشیدم
به لذتی که با مرگ در زندگی هست و وحشتی
..که در آن به پایان می رسد
ناگاه صدایی گفت: آرام..آرام

[Diana Stoyanova · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐

Тази книга ме завладя и навлезе дълбоко под кожата ми. Харесвам Американският Юг, а историята ме отведе в сърцето на Ню Орлиънс. Бях заобиколена от южняшка атмосфера и горещи нрави.
" Валс в тъмнината" не мога да го вкарам в жанрови рамки , защото излиза пищно извън тях. Води се криминале, но в него има толкова емоции, чувственост, дълбочина на взаимоотношенията, психологически взаимовръзки и драматичност , че те държи на нокти и те човърка да разлистваш трескаво страниците. Това е книга за онази безумната, изпепеляваща любов , която хем те извисява, хем те приземява, разбърква мислите ти, пречупва волята ти, прави те абсолютно подвластен, но и ти дава суперсили. Звучи чак нереално, но това, което преживява кафеният магнат Луис Дюранд е направо кошмарно- магнетично- реално. Любовните трепети в тази история не са захаросани, а напротив- те са горчиви като чаша черно кафе и също толкова отрезвяващи. Луис е олицетворение на влюбен мъж- хем силен, хем мек като памук пред любимата жена. Беше отворил душата си и беше поднесъл сърцето си на поднос...и пак би го направил, за да преживее отново цялата емоционална заря, която го караше да се чувства жив, макар и на ръба . А една жена може да бъде колкото нежна, наивна и слаба, толкова и фатално опасна...Зависи от какво има нужда и какво иска.

"Винаги съм искал да имам, както се казва, добра жена. Не съм и помислял, че може да бъде друга. Благопристойна женица, която скромно ще седи с гергеф в скута и няма да кръстосва крака. С покорно сведена над бродерията глава, а заговоря ли я, ще вдига поглед, за да ми отвърне само с „да“ или „не“. Но сега вече не мисля така. Единственото, което желая сега, е да имам жена като тебе. С неизтрит от вчера руж по страните. С безсрамно надничащо изпод пеньоара коляно. Подът около нея — покрит с пепел от пури. Която да се закача с мъжа си и в най-интимните моменти, да го подтиква да направи нещо, после да му се присмива, а не да се отпуска отмаляла в прегръдките му. [...] Макар все още да съзнавам, че трябва да си като другите жени, аз вече не искам такава. Забравил съм за тях. Искам само тебе; колкото и да си лоша и безсърдечна, искам те точно такава, каквато си."

Покрай криминалните и любовни нишки, авторът поднася с доза хумор екзестенциални истини за нещата от живота😁

"Един мъж, като се влюби, търси хубостта, а една жена [...] иска да знае как ще я осигурят материално."

" Мъж без жена е половин човек, сянка само, дето обикаля насам-натам, а откъде пада, не се знае"


" Да обичаш някого значи да даваш и да искаш да дадеш още и още, без да задаваш въпроси. Да спреш и да се замислиш означава, че вече не обичаш."

" Наивността на жената е като сняг върху нажежена печка: стопява се още при първия допир. Но ако някой мъж е наивен, дори и десет жени да има, до края си остава такъв, какъвто е бил и в началото. Мъжете не вземат поука от горчивия си опит."

" Жестокостта на смъртта не е в това, че тялото умира, а че всички спомени си отиват завинаги. "

" Валс в тъмнината" надмина очакванията ми. Страхотна книга.
Интригуващ сюжет, пълнокръвни персонажи, автентична атмосфера, интересна развръзка и неочаквани обрати- ето това е " Валс в тъмнината".

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Мигът изтече; нищо не може да надхвърли собствените си граници.“


„Валс в тъмнината“ е много силен и изпълнен с меланхолично настроение роман... Историята съдържа криминални елементи, но се фокусира най-вече върху чувствата на персонажите и вълнуващата напрегната атмосфера!

Действието се развива в края на 19-ти век, като главен герой е богатият, но и самотен бизнесмен Луис Дюранд. Той си е уредил брак чрез писма с непознатата Джулия. Когато бъдещата му съпруга пристига, тя е неочаквано красива, а пък Луис се влюбва безпаметно в нея. Щастието му обаче продължава твърде кратко, тъй като прекрасната жена се оказва всъщност опитна измамница...




„Тя избухна в пресилен смях, който се разсипа върху тях като звън на фалшиви монети.
— Лу, ти си толкова лековерен. Няма два вида жени; никога не е имало, няма и да има. Всички жени са еднакви, както и мъжете… И едните, и другите не са стока. — Смехът й изведнъж, секна, лицето й доби някак уморен и мъдър израз.
— Лу — с лека горчивина повтори тя, — ти си толкова… непросветен.
— Сигурна ли си, че това е точната дума?
— По-скоро наивен — съгласи се тя.
— Наивен ли? — кисело се възпротиви той.
— Наивността на жената е като сняг върху нажежена печка: стопява се още при първия допир. Но ако някой мъж е наивен, дори и десет жени да има, до края си остава такъв, какъвто е бил и в началото. Мъжете не вземат поука от горчивия си опит.“

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woolrich’s “Waltz into Darkness” was made into movies as “Mississippi Mermaid” (1968), directed by Francois Truffautand starring Catherine Deneuve as Julia) and in 2001 as “Original Sin” with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie. He originally published it under his William Irish psuedonym in 1947. It is a novel of seduction and obsession set in 1880’s New Orleans. 

The lead character is one Louis Durand, a well-to-do man, who, like so many do on the internet today, took in a mail-order bride, one Julia Russell. Fifteen years earlier, Durand was set to be wed, and he recalls that he had “stars in his eyes, flowers in his hand,” and saw the door “swing slowly open and two men come out, bearing something dead on a covered litter.” It was yellow fever and it not only killed Marguerite, but killed much of what lay inside Durand. Fifteen years later, he is wealthy, but 37 now, and is now ready to make a “bargain” “with love, taking what he could get, in sudden desperate haste, for fear of getting nothing at all, of having waited too long, after waiting fifteen years, steadfastly turning his back on it.” 

As the novel opens, “[t]he sun was bright, the sky was blue, the time was May; New Orleans was heaven, and heaven must have been only another New Orleans, it couldn’t have been better.” He has never met Julia, but he is so anxious to be married that he has great new house prepared for her. He is so excited. But, as he waits for her to disembark from the river boat, he starts getting a few hints that things are off. He doesn’t see her come down the gangplank and she doesn’t look like her photograph. But, perhaps that is okay, because she looks so much better, so much younger, so much prettier. ”Her face held an exquisite beauty he had never before seen, the beauty of porcelain, but without its cold stillness, and a crumpled rose petal of a mouth.” When they marry immediately, she tells him it is a “waltz for life” and a “waltz with wings. A waltz never ending. A waltz in sunlight, a waltz in sunlight, a waltz in azure, in gold — and in spotless white.” She was “An angel leaving the earthly plane.”

But this is Cornell Woolrich writing and the reader knows that it will not be a rose garden, but as the title conveys a waltz into darkness. The mysteries about Julia continue to mount, including her penchant for smoking cigars and sitting with her legs crossed like a man, but Durand is mesmerized by her beauty and thinks the honeymoon will last forever. It lasts just long enough for her name to be added to his bank accounts and for her to suddenly disappear with his fortune. 

This is where the story really begins in earnest because Durant knows he has been taken and that he has been made a fool of. He is beside himself with grief and agony and, by George, he is going to track down this woman if it is the last thing he does. ”The town, the world, his mind, were hanging suspended in bottomless night.” We are told: “He was something motionless standing within a black-lined box. And if it breathed, that was a secret between God and itself. That, and the pain he felt in breathing, and a few other things.” 

Love and despair has made Durant crazy, crazy enough to hire a private eye, and crazy enough to abandon his business interests and scour the entire South for a glimpse of this truly evil damsel who has swindled him and dashed all his dreams to nothing. And when he finds her, you know she will already have her sharp talons into another man. Durand suspects as much and you as the reader know that, despite the firearm he carries as he searches, he will never be able to kill her. Rather, he is finds he is eternally under her twisted spell, willing to believe whatever fabrications she invents, willing to do everything imaginable and then some just to be with her. 

Woolrich is an expert at painting Durand’s desperation and his successive sinking into the depths of hell, one level at a time, led by an expert, until he finally realizes that there is no clawing his way back to heaven. Noir is what Woolrich does best and he takes the reader across the dance floor to sample the darkness from which there is no escape.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

11/2017

This novel, published under his pen name, William Irish, in 1947, is not in print or even available for e-reading. I bought and read a very old copy. It is unusual for Woolrich, perhaps, in that it is historical fiction, taking place in New Orleans in 1880. But this works for him and it is a very Cornell Woolrich book. About an innocent man taken in by crime and sin and unable (unwilling) to escape. It is great, though a bit too long, until the end, which I found confusing and false.

[Ivo Stoyanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудесен роман , на моменти мрачен , напомнящ с безнадежността си на " На изток от рая". Вярвам, че във всеки един човек живее мракът и светлината , мисля , че тук светлината победи под един или друг начин с мн висока цена ,краят е мн силен стилът на писане чудесен .

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Заможен търговец на кафе от пъстрия Ню Орлиънс на 19 век си поръчва по пощата...булка. Но вместо грозноватото лице от снимката, за негово изумление годеницата му се оказва най-прекрасното русо създание, родено от нечие развинтено въображение. И животът на Луис Дюран се изпълва с щастие, каквото не е и подозирал, че е възможно... До момента, в който тъмни фрагменти от миналото на госпожа Дюран започват да изплуват на повърхността, заедно с въпроса - коя е тя в действителност, нежната красавица със сини очи, и що за инсценировка се разиграва през очите му?

В търсене на отговори Луис ще се впусне в преследване, ще загуби всичко, и ще намери това, което никога не е търсил - съдбата си.

Романс, криминален роман, трилър - в тази стара книжка има всичко. От привидно баналното ежедневие постепенно изплуват с ясни форми най-тъмните кътчета на човешката душа, онова, което тласка дори отвъд престъплението. Може ли човешката душа да бъде спасена от обзелия я мрак? Може ли човешката душа да се пожертва и захвърли доброволно в тинята, и какво би оправдало такава жертва? Има ли спасение и тих пристан някъде в този безумен свят? И валсът само за бляскавите бални зали ли е предназначен, или е възможен дори и в глухите тъмни улички в нощта?

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, my second Woolrich novel and, although enjoyable (really 3.5 stars), not really the type of noir I thought the author was known for. Obviously I need to keep reading him, which I will do after a should break for some non-fiction (sort of a palate cleanser).

Anyway, I really like the author's style of writing, and his imagination must have been amazing. This novel takes place in 1880, primarily in New Orleans. Not a typical setting for a noir story. And Woolrich has created a prototypical femme fatale; a woman who thinks she know what she wants, but who definitely knows what she does not want, and the effect she has on a seemingly normal man. This novel is truly driven by the two protagonists, and the plot simply provides was to illustrate their interactions and reactions.

[Maria Yankulova · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 звездички

Книгата е изключително увлекателна и се чете много бързо. Остави ми е едно чувство, обаче
за наивност и затова звездичките не са повече.

Много ме подразни наивността и глупоста на Луис Дюранд.

[Jaksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished reading this book - actually I skimmed some parts.

This is not a terribly long book, but I'm going to use a word for it which usually goes with those huge tomes of 600+ pages in which things are endlessly drawn out and repeated: bloated. Yes, this book of fairly average length was BLOATED. At the start it was a great read; I was thoroughly enjoying it, but then as the MC goes through lengthy periods of self-questioning, self-doubts and good old-fashioned 'angst,' I started to get bored. (I hate that word btw.)

(Felt like I was reading a standard, 50's-era, television soap opera. Every moment a dramatic moment - or else!)

Anyhow, set in the 1880's - and quite realistically done, btw, though it was written around 1947 - Louis Durand orders a bride. Well, he responds to an add in a newspaper, corresponds with an agreeable woman for some time, then proposes to her. She accepts. But when she arrives off a riverboat in New Orleans, she appears to be NOT the same woman. But she has reasons for that...

She IS the same woman. Didn't match her photo? Well, she'd sent a photograph of her aunt, you silly ole thing! Didn't want him to 'fall in love' with her over a photo, now did she? (She's gorgeous by the way, a head-turner, drop-dead delightful, as the author will tell us over and over and over...)
Anyhow, for every little thing which seems 'off' about dear Julia, she has a quick, glib, sometimes silly response. But there are SO MANY things off about this woman, that me, in my 2020-era sensibilities is screaming, GRIFTER. FRAUD. CON-MAN. (Or woman?)

To say much more is spoiler territory, but even when the book moves into a sensible POV and Louis makes some reasonable assumptions, it deviates again into soap-opera land. Now, in 1947, people prob. ate this up, although I do think there had to be more than few who kept saying, "Now wait a minute! Why is he doing that?"

But for every wrong move Louis makes, there's always this: he loves the woman.

Okay, it gets tangled and intense in the middle, drawn-out and repetitious toward the end. I actually skimmed entire pages and missed not a thing. I really am in the mood to read some of the 'classic mysteries,' to feel out various authors' styles, how they told a story, who their MC's were that I often hear about. But this one fell flat for me somewhere about 100 pages in. A good enough 'thriller,' but a bit too dragged-out and sometimes tedious read.

Three stars.

[Mariya Mincheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Първо ще препоръчам горещо поредицата криминални романи на издателство "Х. Г. Данов" на всеки с афинитет към тях. Селекциятапоне за мен е много добра.
Колкото до четенето на "Валс в тъмнината",публикуван през 40-те - беше истинско удоволстие за мен,макар че има силен психотрилър привкус, а никога не съм била фен на този жанр.
Действието се развива през 1880 г. в южните щати,само век преди да се родя, а обществените порядки са цяла вселена по-далечни.
Преуспял търговец на кафе от Ню Орлианс решава най-после да сключи брак,като за целта чрез препоръка от отбраното общество на Сейнт Луис води романтична кореспонденция с непозната благопристойна дама . Подготвил перфектния дом той я очаква на пристанището, за да сключт брак и да започнат щастлив семеен живот.
Алчност,лъжи,коварство, убийства, безнадеждност и животински страх съпътстват разбирането за брак и любов.
Развръзките са драматични, героите -много добре изградени,историята-прилично достоверна, а повествованието приятно динамично. Освен че осветлява лицемерието на нравите и порядките от онези времена романът буди купища други поводи за размисъл.

[ناصر سليم · Rating 5 out of 5]

داستان خیلی قشنگی داشت با نقاط عطف عالی که باعث غافلگیری خواننده می‌شد و بعد که متوجه شدم فیلمی هم از این کتاب ساخته شده با بازی آنجلینا جولی و آنتونیو باندراس، فیلمش رو هم نگاه کردم و لذت بردم.

[Jeffrey Powanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's skip past the atrocious prose by William Irish, pen name of Cornell Woolrich, who never wrote an elegant sentence in his life. You don't read Woolrich for his prose. You read him for his outlandish plots and his mastery of suspense.

The story, set in the 1880s, concerns a rich New Orleans coffee importer named Louis Durand, who orders a mail-order bride named Julia Russell from St. Louis. When he meets her dockside in New Orleans, he observes immediately that she looks nothing like her photo. Instead of a homely brunette, she's a stunning, petite blonde. Of course, Julia is an imposter, an orphan whose real name is Bonny Castle. She's also one of the most fascinating femme fatale characters in all of noir fiction, more than making up for Durand’s unbelievable cluelessness.

After gaining Durand's trust, Julia (Bonny) drains his bank account and leaves town. Durand becomes obsessed with bringing Bonny to justice. He partners with Bertha Russell, the real Julia's sister, to hire a private detective named Walter Downs to find Bonny and learn what became of Julia. However, in one of the book's wacky coincidences, Durand finds Bonny on his own in Biloxi, Mississippi. Despite vowing revenge, Durand inexplicably falls head-over-heels in love with her, and his love-sickness later results in two murders.

Waltz into Darkness is different in the following ways from other Woolrich thrillers I've read:


Romance: It's a romantic thriller, much like the books that Sidney Sheldon churned out in the Seventies and Eighties. The book was published in 1947, so it lacks Sheldon's eroticism. It was adapted into two critically scorned movie flops: Francois Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid (1969) with Jean Paul Belmondo and Catherine DeNeuve, and Original Sin (2001) with Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.

History: It's a gaslight historical novel, set in 1880s New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The historical setting works for Woolrich because it helps disguise the clumsiness of his prose. Maybe a few writers actually wrote like Woolrich in the 1880s.

Pace: This is the slowest of slow-burn thrillers, from a writer famous for his fast-paced stories. It slowly hooks you into its hypnotic plot, gently ratcheting up the tension.

Surrealism: The plot is piled high with coincidences, but don't let that distract you. The strange coincidences elevate the story into a fantastic amoral nightmare, the kind of caustic thriller about doomed lovers that other writers like David Goodis and Jim Thompson would perfect in the Fifties.


Waltz into Darkness is a genuine potboiler, a dark tale of the destructive power of love. Of all the Woolrich books I've read, this was easily the most fun.

See my blog post: Cornell Woolrich: Master of Gloom and Doom.

[Blagoy Nikolov · Rating 5 out of 5]

От доста време ми се четеше добър трилър, но все не попадах на такъв. "Валс в тъмнината" се оказа точно това, което съм искал и съм търсел.

Луис Дюранд е богат вносител на кафе, почтен джентълмен от Ню Орлиънс, който на 37 години решава, че е крайно време да се задоми. Рано в живота си е загубил първата си, единствена любов, което за дълго е спряло романтичните му пориви. За да открие своята половинка, той се записва в клуб за запознанства и след няколко месечна кореспонденция предлага брак на Джулия Ръсел - жена от Сент Луис, която е виждал само на снимка.

В уговорения ден той я чака на пристанището, но от ферибота слиза не тази г-ца Ръсел, която той очаква, а съвсем друга жена.

Майсторството на автора, което отличава "Валс в тъмнината" от почти всички съвременни трилъри е в самия сюжет - обикновени герои, обикновена история, но блестящо пресъздадени, със стил и дълбочина, толкова визуално въздействащи като един натюрморт - шедьовър. Толкова е различно усещането, толкова различни перспективи ни показва Айриш (Улрич), че все едно си преживял още няколко живота из страниците на романа, изпитал си разтърсващата, фаталната любов, която те погубва, но не би я разменил дори за живота си. Краят беше невероятен.

[Nam Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truyện ít chất trinh thám trong số mấy cuốn Woolrich đã đọc mà thiên về tâm lý tội ác. Nhưng phải thán phục văn phong và tài miêu tả tâm lý tuyệt vời của tác giả. Mình bị cuốn hút bởi diễn biến tâm lý của Durand và theo dõi hành trình đi vào bóng đêm của anh chàng tội nghiệp. Quá si tình đến mức dại khờ nhưng cũng rất đáng thương. Còn nữ chính đúng là hình mẫu điển hình của ''femme fatale'', một cô nàng quỷ quyệt tàn nhẫn dưới vẻ ngoài của một thiên thần.

Kết thúc truyện là một đoạn kết buồn và mình sẽ còn nhớ về nó khá lâu.
Chấm 7.75/10

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cornell Woolrich was a favorite of moviemakers: his novels and stories were adapted into more than 25 motion pictures, with Rear Window as probably the most famous. Two (Francois Truffaut’s 1969 film Mississippi Mermaid and 2001’s Original Sin—which, though it is already largely forgotten in whole, has achieved an extended internet lifespan in the form of a much-viewed clip of an explicit sex scene) were based on Waltz into Darkness, a 1947 novel published by Woolrich under the pseudonym William Irish. Both of these adaptations postdate Hollywood’s noir explosion of the 40s and early 50s, and the story takes place not in hardboiled Chicago or Kansas City but in post-Civil War New Orleans. Still, this is a classic noir study of a femme fatale—in this case a woman who goes by the names Julia and Bonnie. The two women who have played Julia/Bonny, Catharine Denueve and Angelina Jolie, are beautiful actresses who can possess a serpentine coolness on screen that is, despite the deficiencies of both films, appropriate for the role.

Louis Durand is a businessman hoping to augment his financial happiness with a marriage to a mail order bride. When he arrives at a steamboat dock to meet her for the first time he finds not the plain looking woman whose photograph he was sent but a beautiful young girl. The girl, Julia, gives an unconvincing explanation as to why she deceived him about her looks, and Louis, pleased by her beauty, lets none of her ensuing suspicious behavior—a coarse crossing of the legs, the neck snapping of a song bird—convince him that she is not really the woman she claims to be, until, that is “Julia” cleans out his bank accounts and disappears. This expected betrayal, coming less than a third of the way through the book, turns Louis murderous: he stalks women who resemble Julia on the streets, hires a private detective, chases a mask wearing girl through Mardi Gras to press a revolver into her chest. These hallucinatory chapters are a fine writing performance by Mr. Woolrich, whose style throughout the book is more fluid and graceful that those of his tough guy peers.

After a chance dinner invitation brings Louis back in contact with Julia, who explains that her real name is Bonny, and he is placated by her flimsy sob story, we know that loss of money was not what drove Louis to near insanity but the loss of love. And to protect this woman he will not only cheat and murder but allow himself to be murdered.

As is typical in noir the femme fatale’s motives are ambiguous. We see her through Louis’s eyes, and are only privy to the careful chosen thoughts she shares with him. She exists as much as hints and clues left behind—as when the name “Billy” is seen on a burnt letter in a fireplace—as she does as a full bodied presence. Julia/Bonny, however, has more depth than other characters of her type—since she is revealed early on as a thief and liar, the reader doesn’t have to spend a lot of time wondering when she will show her evil, but rather is given a few hundred pages to watch her vacillate between the world she is comfortable in, that of con games and crime, and that which she aspires to, the high class life of New York fashions and fine dining. That her behavior in both of these worlds is that of a sociopath is hardly surprising, given the way that female strivers were commonly portrayed. (And perhaps still are: one of the more frequently voiced views of Hillary Clinton was the ominous one that she would “do anything to win.”) I’ll leave to the reader to judge whether the ending reveals that Julia/Bonny is a more complex being than we imagined or a hopelessly cardboard figure having an unconvincing epiphany. That Louis becomes a vehicle for her redemption, short-lived though it may be, just as she is the vehicle of his brilliantly described downfall is a nifty turnaround of a noir convention.

http://mullatari.parastrophy.com/arch...

[Gina Dalfonzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! At times it felt a bit long, and went a little overboard with the detail, and the characters were completely bats -- but for all that, it was utterly riveting. A truly striking and suspenseful piece of work.

[Grizsdina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The movie "Original Sin" with Angelina Jolie is based on it so I had to read this book;-)
It`s a really good book and Cornell Woolrich is a"worth to read" author

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cornell Woolrich's Waltz into Darkness is about a fairly well-to-do young man named Durand who sends away for a bride. When sher arrives in New Orleans via steamboat from Missouri, it turns out she looks younger and far more sexy than the photograph the man had in his possession. So the question arises: Is she the bride who was expected? Well, it turns out she isn't; and Durand is in for the ride of his life as the woman turns out to be not quite the docil;e sweetie he expected.

Francois Truffaut turned this novel into one of his better films, Mississippi Mermaid (1969), starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

[Antje · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mich dürfte meine Enttäuschung gar nicht verwundern, konnte ich schon nichts Truffauts Verfilmung "Das Geheimnis der falschen Braut" abgewinnen und dass obwohl er zu meinen Lieblingsregisseuren zählt.
Aber nach dem begeisterten Lesen zweier Woolrich-Bücher wagte ich nun das Unterfangen. Leider!

Wie im Film werde ich mit den beiden Protagonisten nie warm - im Gegenteil, sie nerven alle Beide. Ebenso langweilte mich in diesem Werk Woolrichs Erzählstil, der mir vielerorts zu unnötig ausschweifend ausfiel. -
Die Idee an sich fand ich originell: Ein Mann wartet am Hafen auf das Schiff mit seiner Verlobten, die er bislang nur von einer Fotografie kennt. Aber statt ihrer taucht eine ganz andere Frau auf, die sich als eben seine Braut ausgibt und die er schließlich auch heiratet. - Als er endlich den Betrug bemerkt, wurde es für mich als Leserin zum ersten Mal spannend. Das Erzähltempo wurde eilig so wie Durand aus seiner Lethargie erwachte. Endlich nahm die Handlung an Fahrt auf, vor allem als weitere Charaktere ins Spiel kamen: die Schwester der wirklichen Braut und ein Privatdetektiv. Auch die anschließende Flucht und Durands fatale Fehlentscheidungen ließen sich recht flott lesen, um im letzten Viertel erneut in gähnender Langweile zu enden.
Durands Naivität - nein, Dummheit - und bedingungsloses Dahinschmachten für jenes Frauenzimmer, seine und ihre hohlen Liebesschwüre konnte mir letztlich kein Hurra entlocken.

Schade eigentlich, die Geschichte hätte mehr hergeben können ...

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of his very best — (though the ending left me slightly dissatisfied). 4.5, but closer to 5. I have four or five more of Woolrich’s novels on my list, and after that I will rank them. But my four favorites thus far are:

Cornell Woolrich, Deadline at Dawn (1944) (5.5)
Cornell Woolrich, Phantom Lady (1942) (5)
Cornell Woolrich, Waltz into Darkness (1947) (4.8)
Cornell Woolrich, Night Has a 1,000 Eyes (1945) (4.5)

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it more than "Night Has A Thousand Eyes," to be sure. As was the case with "Night," I read this for a project involving a film adaptation and it was both a pleasure by itself and revelatory with respect to the project. Funny that Woolich published his longest and most ambitious novel under his occasioanal pen name "William Irish."

[Holger Haase · Rating 5 out of 5]

As atypical as this is for Cornell Woolrich - it is his longest book; it's not a contemporary novel but set in 1880/81; it plays in New Orleans and the Southern US States not in New York - at the same time it is also quintessential Woolrich at his absolute best. Probably one of the most bleakest but also in a really kinky way most romantic love stories ever. Talk about commitment here and loving a person as they are... even if you're not even sure about the veracity of that person's name or whether or not she may ditch you or even kill you at the drop of a hat. It's a merciless slide into absolute obsession and self destruction. Love it....

[Lizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

No, no, no!
This is not what I wanted, nor what I was expecting!
I had an entire reading slump because of this book. I spent MONTHS sagging over this crap, and you don't even give me what was on the back cover? I trusted you! And you didn't even explain the second act of the book!
I was under the impression that this would be a cute, fun, light femme fatale mystery. Well, I was royally mistaken. Not only is this a very heavy, morally-backboned novel, but it's additionally BARELY ABOUT THE FEMME FATALE MYSTERY ASPECT. Like, ok, maybe that's the basis of the first 150 pages, but the rest of the story?
I could go on and on about how weird this book is, or how confusing the writing style is, but here's just a vague summary;

Louis Durand has been courting a woman named Julia Russell by letters for a little while and is supposed to marry her once she arrives in his town.
But, instead of the Julia Russell presented in the pictures sent to him, he receives a young vivacious blonde girl who says she had to deceive him to "find true love". But there's something sinister about her, and she soon disappears with Louis's fortune and, might I add, his dignity.
THAT WAS THE PART THAT THE BACK OF THE BOOK ACTUALLY EXPLAINED; HERE'S THE REST OF THE STORY (WHICH I RECEIVED NO WARNING ABOUT)
So, basically, he finds her again through a friend, and she admits to him that she is not Julia Russell; she is Bonny Castle. Then she proceeds to tell him her tragic backstory for 20 pages.
BUT THEN, Louis realizes he messed up real bad because he hired a detective investigator guy to find her and kill her.
So he shoots him.
And then they go on the run, from hotel to hotel, until somethin's a bit fishy.
Louis isn't feeling too well.
He tries to go to the hospital, but Bonny stops him.
And then they try to run to another town, but just as they're trying to get on the train, Louis dies. Sad.
And that's the end of the story. He dies, Bonny lives, it's whatever y'know.

Maybe I just don't get the story that well, but I just didn't find it too enjoyable. Glad I finally finished this bitch though, so hah.

[Doctor Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit, sometimes noir stories are uncomfortable to read. Noir characters are flawed, and the flaws are human flaws, ones that we can find in our mirrors.

Character-centered stories, noir or otherwise, so often have this feel of characters constructed and then turned loose on a playing field to see what happens. And, with noir, character flaws usually determine the acton. It’s a 300 page march to defeat.

That’s the way it is in this story by Cornell Woolrich.

Louis Durand is a well-to-do late-nineteenth-century New Orleans businessman. He’s tragically widowed and lonely, awkward and actually kind of unambitious about romance. He’s corresponded with a woman in St. Louis named Julia Russell. They have never met but have exchanged letters and photographs, have fallen in a sort of practical love and agreed to marry.

Julia travels by riverboat to New Orleans, where Louis has prepared a new home for the two of them. As the time approaches, he’s anxious to meet her and, if not fall hopelessly in love with her, at least fall in love with married life again.

When the travelers disembark from the boat, Julia is not there. Louis is despondent, but then surprised by the appearance of a beautiful woman, unlike the photographs he’d received, saying she is Julia. Julia explains that she sent photographs of another woman in order to be assured that Louis didn’t just fall in love with her beauty.

Louis in his turn confesses that he also lied in his letters. He had claimed to be a factory foreman when in fact he owned the factory. He didn’t want her to fall in love with his money.

Of course the woman claiming to be Julia isn’t Julia. She will turn out to be a woman more or less named Bonny, an orphan with an unclear but consistently dishonest past.

Louis is an easy mark. He’s so in love with the woman he thinks is Julia, or maybe just in love with being in love and apparently being loved by a woman so beautiful.

Woolrich describes Louis’s ecstasy in vivid detail. The style of the book’s opening is almost tryingly florid, but that will change.

We know things aren’t going to end well. We’re in a noir world after all. Louis has lost control of his character as well as his money. “Julia” is a thief, a con artist. It’s just Louis’s mind-fog that keeps him from seeing what we see.

She steals his money and disappears. Louis is obsessed with finding her, not only because he wants to recover his money and bring her to justice, but also because just maybe he’s still in love with her, or whatever he was in love with, despite it all.

Eventually, Louis is going to cross a moral line that he can’t come back from. Julia/Bonny crossed that line a long time ago, and she’s a pro at it, whether she’s playing against Louis or, later, with him. Part of the game though is that you are really only ever playing for yourself. Louis of course doesn’t know that.

When he got to the line and started to cross it, I really tried to stop him, the way you wish a character wouldn’t do what you know he’s going to do. But you’re just a reader, you have to follow him where he’s going. And nobody’s going to pull a “happily ever after” out of this hat.

And so it goes. Actually there is a kind of triumph for both characters in the end, but I'm not going to spoil that.

Calling out noir stories for misogyny is shooting sleepy fish in a small barrel. But we should probably still do it. This is a “femme fatale” story for sure. A beautiful but morally impoverished woman leads a man to his humiliating demise. Not a healthy standard.

But there’s a ton of nuance. For one thing, Julia/Bonny is actually not running her own show. Before telling it, Woolrich lists the story’s characters, including “Billy,” “a name on a burned scrap of letter, an unseen figure watching a window, a stealthy knocking at a door.” He’s also the puppeteer directing Julia/Bonny’s actions.

So the good news is that Bonny (I’ll give up using both names) isn’t so autonomously evil, but the bad news is that offstage she’s given up her autonomy to another man.

For another thing, I think there are counterpoints to think about in relation to the femme fatale in general.

The femme fatale operates in a male-dominated world. Louis isn’t a bad man, but he is a man of his time, with the presumptions about women of his time — she is weak, not very clever, and in need of a man’s leadership. And he equates beauty with naive innocence. It’s as though he’s just waiting for a woman to show him he’s wrong. He almost deserves that, if not the full treatment that Bonny dishes out.

Is the femme fatale justified, from the standpoint of turning the tables on the man? Maybe not on this particular man — Louis is an “innocent” in some respects and he deserves our sympathy for the tragic death of his first wife — but the point of the depiction of the femme fatale in a novel (or a film) is to remove her and her counterpart from the particular, to move into an iconic space in which the femme fatale really can be justified, since her “victim” is equally iconic rather than particular and real.

She asserts the legitimacy of a woman as against the presumptions of a man. In that iconic sense, that’s his comeuppance. His own conventional but still predatory attitude towards women meets its match in an adept predator of a different make.

We wouldn’t want to fall into a trap of thinking that the only way a woman can assert her legitimacy is by victimizing a man. That would be just that much more misogyny, as well as validating conflict as the natural relationship between women and men.

All of that is why I think the femme fatale is such a provocative and interesting figure. Woolrich made me think of other great femme fatale depictions, especially in noir movies — Peggy Cummins as Annie in Gun Crazy, Barbara Stanwyck as Lilly in Baby Face, . . . Stanwyck’s Lilly in particular shines as a woman turning the romantic and sexual tables on the men in her life.

Obviously, I like this book. It’s much more than just a “crime story.” Woolrich deserves his standing.

[chels ༄࿔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3,5!!)

reading this was so much slower than i thought as the first few chapters never really took me into it’s waltz. i was then swept with the mystery i was promised when i bought the book. this tale is so utterly beautiful written. cornell really has the wits of the mind when it comes to metaphor any sort of emotion or narrative. though the storyline was quite blurry for me, each page left me more hooked than the last. the last chapters really struck within my soul and tear open a wound i didn’t know existed. it was truly some kind of self harm to the heart, which is my favorite type of writing.

each word really captured the motion picture so well and i never wanted the reckless train of words to stop or switch tracks. i’m happily surprised in the ending though i kept comparing it to the movie. i think that’s what gives this a 3,5 and not a full 4. now i’m left with grief and i’m only staring into thin air — thanks, cornell!

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Post-Civil war tale set in the capital of all disguises, New Orleans, about a woman who is not all she seems. A lonely man marries a woman he barely knows (they correspond a lot, like mySpace), and she keeps leading him on and disappearing. All signs lead to her running off with his money but she keeps coming back acting mysteriously. I was engaged at the beginning of the book, but clocking in at 312 pages made it a little too long to keep me involved. At half the length it would have been a better book.

[Taylor Genie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trời ơi, có cần phải lê thê ko đây. Đọc xong quyển này củng cố quan điểm mình rằng ngoài trừ Đêm Ngàn Mắt ra, q nào của Cornell mà quá 300 trang là đảm bảo gây mệt...và cũng chả good nữa.
Nam chính nữ chính cứ mè nheo kiểu gì ấy, kiểu xây dựng mà làm mình cực kỳ khó ưa vs khó đồng cảm dc. Cộng thêm cái vụ án như làm nền cho cái chất “đen” đặc trưng của tác giả và tất cả...chỉ dừng tại đó thôi, không hơn không kém.

[Leyla Atke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a love story but a story how love can change everything. This is a story about a fallen woman and how she deceived a man and married him. She was beautiful and captured his heart. At the beginning, he didn't suspect anything. But when the awful truth came out. How blind he was! His life has turned into a nightmare. You have to read this book to find out what that is!