a picnic for stalkers

[wytchcroft]

 

and so now i am reading again
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which was the basis of the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker.

Stalker, like Solaris, is one of my very favourite movies.



However, unlike the source novel for Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem, which i love and have read many times - i have only read a section of 'Picnic' and that was many years ago.

The film of Stalker is sometimes known as Zone (and often the use of the concept of 'Zone' is remarked upon in critics' writings) which for me immediately calls to mind the poem Zone by Apollinaire - an extraordinary work in itself. (A very crude translation of which can be found on-line here.)



You are weary at last of this ancient world
Shepherdess O Eiffel tower whose flock of bridges bleats at the morning - zone.

So, maybe in a couple of days, i might have a bash at reviewing Picnic and talking a bit about my love for Stalker and for Zone. 

Comments

[gunter-spb.livejournal.com]

You started to look old Russian fiction? When waiting for a review? :)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

i was talking to a friend and this promptd me to get the book, now i am reading and soon the review, this week sometime!:)))

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

Hmm... seems interesting... I'll be waiting.
:)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

you spoil me dear, you really do!:))

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

you would like the novel of Solaris, i recommend it.
and i it will not be at all what you expect...

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

you would like the novel of Solaris, i recommend it.
and it will not be at all what you expect.. it is very profound. a deep, deep work.

[mrimidalv.livejournal.com]

"Roadside Picnic" has not something in common with "Stalker", except a place of action - the Zone.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

ah well, i shall discover the truth of this when i read... but perhaps, theme, atmosphere? i shall see, i shall see. :)

[mrimidalv.livejournal.com]

In my opinion absolutely different products. Absolutely.
Anyway, It will be very interesting to learn your impression after you will read.

[stoshagownozad.livejournal.com]

should be very interesting.
The Brothers were used to say the work on the story for the movie was really exhausting and that the movie and the book have little connections... but anyway indeed it became part of our minds - Stalker as depicted by Kaydanovsky... and the Zone as it became real thing after Chernobyl :(((

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

have you read Tarkovsky's diaries??

they are full of shadows - but resolution also. Stalker seems to me, the same way. But he was not a natural positivist like the brothers seem to me (my view of course may change very soon!) :))

[viklamist.livejournal.com]

Movie "Stalker" created after Chernobyl, but book "RoadSide picnic" will be writing before Chernobyl.
Sorry for my English.

[alek-morse.livejournal.com]

You are wrong, movie "Stalker" was done before Chernobyl too, in 1979, but Chernobyl disaster that have been in 1986.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

that is very interesting!:) Many people consider writing to be dangerous... for what it can bring into reality.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

Нет никакого требования для извинения:)

[mr-stapleton.livejournal.com]

fascinating thing(s) - i like it!
start waiting for review :)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

have you read zone the poem by apollinaire??

[alex-kraine.livejournal.com]

My nick in many forums is Stalker... :)
The film shot by Tarkovsky was based rather not on the novel as such as on Strugatskys' screenplay named "The Machine of Desires", which, in its turn, was based on the idea of the Zone and Stalkers developed in the book.
The other news is that all of the Russian section of Internet is discussing hotly the final part of the film "Inhabited Island" based on Strugatskys' novel of the same name.
(the trailer Russian is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iXZXB5tRck )
And here is the info of that book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_Power)
It's the first part of the trilogy about Maxim Kammerer
2. Beetle in the Anthill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle_in_the_Anthill
3. The Time Wanderers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Wanderers

Hope, you will like these too if or once you have read them.

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

thank you my good friend! great information.:)


- and notice, for you, i am not a 'stalker', ha ha!

isn't it depressing...

:)))

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

Yes the history of Stalker movie is very complex. Wikipedia says (and is maybe wrong?) that an early version of the script based on another book by the brothers was abandoned - the brothers rewrote this script as The Wish Machine - published in UK as Stalker. It was THIS that i have read.

Tarkovsky then decided to adapt Roadside Picnic instead. In the third and final filming it would appear that he has used elements of both earlier sources since the movie contains ideas from one source, the wish chamber - the family background etc whereas Roadside has scenes such as the nut throwing and the cable car into the zone sequence etc.

I am enjoying Roadside very much indeed - but i would like now to track down The Wish Machine (UK Stalker) as well!

Snail on the Slope

[alek-morse.livejournal.com]

I'll wait your review from the Strugatsky's novel.

By the way, the most close novel to "Roadside Picnic" is "Snail on the Slope"... in my view, indeed. I recommend it too :)

Re: Snail on the Slope

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

In the UK there was The Wish Machine (which Wiki says is based on the early film script) - published as Stalker. THIS i have read before - and not Roadside picnic. I wonder now if i can find The Wish Machine anywhere?

Roadside Picnic is excellent - very enjoyable.:))

[eugenebo.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested to hear your opinion. That book is a wonderful mix of concepts originating from very different grounds, ranging from "depressing existentialism" to "ramping communism". I [hopefully] have no trouble separating them in the book, but would be interested to know if that obsructs a view of a person with a different cultural background :)

Nvertheless, I believe you made a right choice -- that's one of the best pieces of Soviet literature. Hope you'll enjoy it :)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

thank you:) and yes, so far i am enjoying it very much!:)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

what i didn't expect - is how funny the book is, a very dry humour but also laugh out loud. I read some out today on a train and many people were laughing. It is that sort of dark Russsian humour, and very well done.