Scan barcode
A review by mrgalahad
The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman
5.0
Robert Aickman is a way too an underrated classic horror writer, or how he would call it an author of "Strange Stories". He was a conservationist and his writings used many themes of classic modernist writers like Pound or Hemingway. I was astonished that there wasn't much information about him or discussion about his short stories in general, as they are high brow horror literature, something which isn't often combined.
The Wine-Dark Sea is my favorite collection of his works so far. It entails eight short stories, all having deeper narratives between the lines. "Your tiny hand is frozen" is an outcry against modernity, which also could be used today, when talking about addiction to the internet or the idea of needing to be available all the time, but it also fits into older settings. Many of his stories have a classic modernist feeling, being told from the point of view, of people feeling like they don't fit into the current social structure. "The place of war is now taken into society by motoring (427 Aickman)", in almost all of his stories you could feel his disaffection of the industrialization of the world. I felt like some ideas went over my head, as I didn't get what the titular story "The Wine-Dark Sea" represented, or I am pretty sure that I came to a different conclusion than intended by Aickman, for example in "The Inner Room", which was magnificent. It also should be added that his prose, is one of the best I have read, bringing settings from abandoned Gothic mansions to Venice alive in brimming colors.
Aickman was one of the best in the Horror genre, and it's sad that his work isn't even well known by many Horror fans.
The Wine-Dark Sea is my favorite collection of his works so far. It entails eight short stories, all having deeper narratives between the lines. "Your tiny hand is frozen" is an outcry against modernity, which also could be used today, when talking about addiction to the internet or the idea of needing to be available all the time, but it also fits into older settings. Many of his stories have a classic modernist feeling, being told from the point of view, of people feeling like they don't fit into the current social structure. "The place of war is now taken into society by motoring (427 Aickman)", in almost all of his stories you could feel his disaffection of the industrialization of the world. I felt like some ideas went over my head, as I didn't get what the titular story "The Wine-Dark Sea" represented, or I am pretty sure that I came to a different conclusion than intended by Aickman, for example in "The Inner Room", which was magnificent. It also should be added that his prose, is one of the best I have read, bringing settings from abandoned Gothic mansions to Venice alive in brimming colors.
Aickman was one of the best in the Horror genre, and it's sad that his work isn't even well known by many Horror fans.