The Art of Mervyn Peake.

Did Mervyn Peake ever do anything that wasn't just supremely bizarre?

The answer to that question, is no.

For those not in the know, Mervyn Peake was the author of the Gormenghast novels. A trilogy of tales roughly contemporary with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and considered to be one of the English language's definitive works of imaginative fiction. They are also intensely strange - centering on Castle Gormenghast, its madness-riddled ruling family, and the struggles between the heir to the throne, Titus Groan, and the Machiavellian Steerpike (one of the most brilliant villains in the history of fantasy writing, I believe). The first two novels in the trilogy were made into a stunning mini-series by the BBC for anyone interested in a well-handled "Reader's Digest" style version of the tale.

At any rate, Peake's primary career was that of illustrator, and his work illustrating the The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has just been purchased by the Wordsworth Trust. (Kudos to the Peake family for offering them to the trust at below-market value, thus enabling the institution to keep these works in the public eye.) The seven pieces are whimsical, morose, haunting, and oh-so-peculiar. And who could expect anything less, really?

Regarding Film Noir.

The Wilson Quarterly has an intriguing article on the subject of film noir and its meaning in post-war America, titled Rerunning Film Noir, up on their site. The article addresses the potential role of film noir in the burgeoning economy and complacency of middle America after World War Two.

The essay's author, Richard Schickel, contrasts the opinions of screenwriter/director Paul Schrader - who saw film noir as an expression of America's disillusionment with returning to a "peacetime economy" - with that of his own. Schickel, in contrast to Schrader, saw noir as a reflection of past agonies that America could not quite seem to escape despite the growing prosperity of everyday citizens.

For myself, I think that the popularity of film noir can be tied to something that was pointed out to me recently. During and directly following the Clinton era of riches and comfort, television shows like CSI became popular. In contrast, after five or so years of terror alerts, civil liberty violations, and corruption at the highest level fantasy t.v. is making a comeback. I think that film noir may have fulfilled a similar purpose in the post-war period, and its subsequent decline during the Vietnam era and the recession of the 1980s is equally striking. When everything was coming up roses, no one minded watching Raymond Burr almost beat a man to death, but once things began to sour we much preferred to see Burr's "Perry Mason" clear his client.

Nevertheless, the article is beautifully written and includes synopses of a number of noir films that I have never seen, but would love to see at some point after I establish a netflix account. Schickel makes a convincing argument for his interpretation of noir films and manages to skewer suburban America in the process, as when he notes, "The true tragedy of postwar American life was how ahistorical it was, how quickly those who lived it forgot the war and the Depression, how easily they settled for comfort, routine, and passivity."

True dat, homie.