Forrest’s Reviews > Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life > Status Update
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Forrest
is on page 141 of 224
The notion that shadow puppets show their body on the puppeteers side, but their soul on the shadow side is something I find strongly compelling.
— Mar 30, 2023 10:41AM
Forrest
is on page 128 of 224
The comparison and contrast between Bali's wayang kulit shadow puppet theater, on one hand, and Plato's Republic, Medieval Arabic khayal, and Kierkegaard's Schattenspiel, on the other hand, shows something of the metaphysics of the West vis-a-vis other cultures (at least Balinese culture) and the difference in mindset within each. These are some compelling insights.
— Mar 28, 2023 09:56AM
Forrest
is on page 112 of 224
This is going to be one of those books that makes me buy more books, isn't it? Ridley Walker sounds intriguing, for instance.
— Mar 20, 2023 10:39AM
Forrest
is on page 109 of 224
The chapter on Pinocchio is fascinating, and Gross shows some erudition in mentioning Coover's Pinocchio in Venice, much to his credit. However, his "hunger" metaphor stretches credulity to the point that the puppet's nose can't grow long enough to measure it.
— Mar 19, 2023 08:47PM
Forrest
is on page 101 of 224
The story of Cuttichio is heart-rending and compelling. A puppeteer destroys his own puppet as part of a performance, a demonstration of rage at the violence he had seen in Sicily (whether at thr hand of American soldiers or the mafioso) and of shame at his inheritance of a dying art, the waxing of the puppet theater.
— Mar 18, 2023 02:54PM
Forrest
is on page 78 of 224
I cannot tell you how badly I want to see the Shakespearean puppet plays Gross speaks about here. Alas, I shall just have to hope there are some youtube videos "out there" of them.
— Mar 16, 2023 08:45PM
Forrest
is on page 65 of 224
Now we are digging to the heart of the matter: the interplay between the puppeteer and the puppet, the limitations and expressions allowed only by the puppet's "thing-ness", the strangeness of life being expressed through that which is not alive.
[note to self: draw quotes from P 64, 65 that you've marked in the book]
— Mar 14, 2023 10:53AM
[note to self: draw quotes from P 64, 65 that you've marked in the book]
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Apr 14, 2023 01:50AM
What do you think so far? I'm a big fan of puppets.
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Klowey wrote: "What do you think so far? I'm a big fan of puppets."It was good. Not what I was expecting, but quite good. I'm hoping to get the review done this weekend, possibly. Down the road, I will use this and The Secret Life of Puppets, along with all my Brother Quay books, in a longer blogpost about the Quay's films (among other things).
Forrest wrote: "Klowey wrote: "What do you think so far? I'm a big fan of puppets."It was good. Not what I was expecting, but quite good. I'm hoping to get the review done this weekend, possibly. Down the road, ..."
I look forward to that. "The Secret Life of Puppets" is another one I'm interested in.
Klowey wrote: "Forrest wrote: "Klowey wrote: "What do you think so far? I'm a big fan of puppets."It was good. Not what I was expecting, but quite good. I'm hoping to get the review done this weekend, possibly...."
I very much enjoyed The Secret Life of Puppets, which felt a little more intellectually substantial than Puppet. I will say that the poesis in Puppet, however, is far more stylistically satisfying. Both are good, but in different ways. Overall, though, I think I liked The Secret Life of Puppets a bit better. If you're interested, the Weird Studies podcast did an interview with the author of The Secret Life of Puppets which was quite good. Goodreads won't let me link to it here, but it's episode 135 at weirdstudiesdotcom.
Forrest wrote: "Klowey wrote: "Forrest wrote: "Klowey wrote: "What do you think so far? I'm a big fan of puppets."It was good. Not what I was expecting, but quite good. I'm hoping to get the review done this wee..."
Oh marvelous. I will find the podcast.
Thanks for your reviews.
I have no idea if this is any good, but I marked it to look into it sometime.
Strings Attached: The Living Tradition of Czech Puppets
One of the reviews has a link to Czech Puppets Behind the Scenes Posted on March 8, 2013 which mentions about the Brothers Quay, Jan Švankmajer, Jiří Trnka, and The Street of Crocodiles (1986). I wonder if that last film is based on the Bruno Schulz story.
columbusmuseum.org
/blog/2013/03/08/czech-puppets-scenes/
I'm listening to her interview on weird studies (need to finish tomorrow). That reference link is actually near the bottom of her GR profile page.I looked her up and found she has lived in Berkeley since 1981 (and went to UCB as early as 1964). I have lived in Berkeley since I went to UCB in 1969. lol
Klowey wrote: "Forrest wrote: "Klowey wrote: "Forrest wrote: "Klowey wrote: "What do you think so far? I'm a big fan of puppets."It was good. Not what I was expecting, but quite good. I'm hoping to get the revi..."
That does look interesting. When we were in Salzburg in 2019, my wife and I went to the national marionette theater and saw "Die Zauberflute," which was absolutely amazing and utterly surreal.
The Quay's "The Street of Crocodiles" was inspired by Schulz's (outstanding) book, but I'd be hard pressed to point out specific connections primarily due to The Quay's strange brand of surrealism (which I love).
I like the few things I've seen of The Quay's.Friends who are a couple visited the Czech Republic and absolutely loved it and went to many theater-type events. They are also "puppet people." ;-)
You might be interested in th Bone & Sickle podcast. They haven't done an actual podcast on it yet, but the host recently visited Sicily and has done a lot of patreon posts regarding the puppet shows he saw down there while doing research. Fascinating stuff.
Thanks! Looks great!It looks like they do have some audio:
boneandsickle.com/
2023/03/16/an-irish-ghost-story/
