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Max Sargeson

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Max Sargeson is currently reading

Psychopathia Sexualis

by Richard von Krafft-Ebing

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Max Sargeson said: " Like most 19th century psychiatric texts the Psychopathia Sexualis receives little credence today and might be panned as full of outmoded beliefs. However it offers much which the DSM-V doesn't, since Dr Krafft-Ebing had a philosophical approach to u ...more "

Mar 27, 2016 12:56AM · see review

Max Sargeson is currently reading

Beachworld

by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)

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Max Sargeson said: " I've wanted to negatively review Stephen King's nonsense for a while now, but I was reluctant, because in order to do so fairly I would have to actually reread one of his ridiculously long novels; which I haven't been through for years - then I remem I've wanted to negatively review Stephen King's nonsense for a while now, but I was reluctant, because in order to do so fairly I would have to actually reread one of his ridiculously long novels; which I haven't been through for years - then I remembered he writes short stories too!

Alright, let's start with the serious issue of originality; two years before Stephen King wrote Beachworld British horror writer Ramsey Campbell published the lesser known piece The Voice Of The Beach (1982), which likewise concerns two friends mired upon a beach (albeit Earthside rather than extraterrestrial), a locale which increasingly shows itself to be possessed of a malevolent and manipulative sentience. One of the men cannot resist the eerie edicts of the beach - nor the misgivings of his terrified buddy - and wanders out into the dunes to his doom. Sounds familiar? Now, inadvertent plagiarism is inevitable in a world with billions of potential writers penning their thoughts to paper, but independent accusations of infringement against Stephen King date back decades. Such controversy would be more forgivable if Mr. King didn't pursue multi-million dollar lawsuits over so much as the title of a work, or go on to sell the movie rights for fiction that likely isn't even his...

Secondly, regarding the body of the story itself, it contains inanities like the protagonist's companion repeatedly reminiscing about sixties band The Beach Boys, dead for 8,000 years in this fictional timeline (with such anachronism it's obvious the story was originally centred around something like a modern day shipwreck on an uncharted isle rather than a crashed spacecraft on another planet, more on that later...). I don't normally like to nitpick the plausibility of Sci-fi, but why would someone in the far future listen to 20th century rock? There will have been many generations of musicians come and gone since, each comparatively more memorable: Fame based upon sex appeal (as most singers and actors thrive upon) is fairly short lasting, with their prestige passing with age and dying even before their body. There are kids today who don't know who The Beach Boys are. Eight thousand years on? Implausible, unless somebody is the founder of an enduring religion or philosophy or if they make some remarkable mathematical or physical discovery which is perennially relied upon there's no way people will remember their name millennia from now.

Thirdly, I don't think that science fiction synchronizes well with horror at all unless it is of the dystopian sort that gives a ghastly glimpse of the direction technological society is headed, or if it is of the "cosmic horror" variety that raises disturbing implications about the world we live in. Beachworld is neither, it's a plain ole monster story played out around a distant star for some reason (well, we know the reason, the writing is unoriginal and a translocation from mundane settings make it seem less so). Regarding this last point, some might give counterexamples like the movie Alien as a classic of Sci-fi horror, but I'd say the plot and action of Alien would work just fine if explorers had encountered the thing in some remote corner of present-day earth, possibly with inclement weather preventing speedy rescue. Beachworld on the other hand just doesn't work anywhere. ...more "

Oct 08, 2018 08:02AM · see review

Max Sargeson is currently reading

The Fantastic Art of Beksinski

by Zdzisław Beksiński

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Max Sargeson said: " The art of Zdzislaw Beksinski is particularly interesting because by painting these grotesque, fantastic and surreal scenes in such amazing detail he drew attention to the limits of our visual perception; it's my theory that when we are looking upon ...more "

Oct 15, 2015 09:27PM · see review

Max’s Quotes

“Have you ever been at a festival when you were sad or ill? Well, then you’ve felt how much your sadness was irritated and exasperated, as by an insult, by the joyful faces and the beauty of things. It’s an intolerable feeling. Think of what it must mean to a victim who is going to die under torture. Think how much the torture is multiplied in his flesh and his soul by all the splendour which surrounds him; and how much more atrocious is his agony, how much more hopelessly atrocious, darling!”
― Octave Mirbeau, The Torture Garden

4 likes

“Alas, the gates of life never swing open except upon death, never open except upon the palaces and
gardens of death. And the universe appears to me like an immense, inexorable torture-garden… What I
say today, and what I heard, exists and cries and howls beyond this garden, which is no more than a
symbol to me of the entire earth.”
― Octave Mirbeau, The Torture Garden

tags: death, torture

13 likes

“Come now, don't make such a funeral face. It isn't dying that's sad; it's living when you're not happy.”
― Octave Mirbeau, Le Jardin des supplices

68 likes

“You're obliged to pretend respect for people and institutions you think absurd. You live attached in a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions you despise, condemn, and know lack all foundation. It is that permanent contradiction between your ideas and desires and all the dead formalities and vain pretenses of your civilization which makes you sad, troubled and unbalanced. In that intolerable conflict you lose all joy of life and all feeling of personality, because at every moment they suppress and restrain and check the free play of your powers. That's the poisoned and mortal wound of the civilized world.”
― Octave Mirbeau

102 likes