Zona, by Geoff Dyer (Pantheon). In Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 film "Zona" (better known in English as "Stalker"), an outlaw-cum-shaman known as Stalker escorts two men, named Writer and Professor, through an uncanny, Chernobyl-like Aone in order to reach The Room, where innermost wishes are supposedly granted. Dyer's characteristic blend of fitful but astute scholarship, witty irreverence, and autobiographical digression (in footnotes that creep up the page) is here devoted to "summarizing the action of a film almost devoid of action." Cavorting from Wordsworth to "Where Eagles Dare," Dyer enacts in his light-footed prose what he considers to be "the most distinctive feature of Tarkovsky's art: the sense of beauty as force." Long asides on his own as yet unfulfilled wishes (for a threesome, for more literary accolades) will perhaps test the indulgence of even loyal fans."
The New Yorker, April 30, 2012
1 comment:
one of my favourite films – but the book serves almost to repel me from ever seeing it again - don't read the book - just go see the film - in a cinema!
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