The Stepford Wives

[poliphilo]

I haven't seen either movie version of The Stepford Wives, but I've just read the book. I had Ira Levin pegged as a horror writer, but this is a fable, very gently written, which side-steps physical horror even at the climax. What is actually being done to the wives to turn them into man-pleasing zombies? We're never told. All we see is a woman, her retreat blocked by three Stepford husbands, stepping into a shiny, shiny kitchen where her former friend, now a domestic goddess, stands waiting with a shiny, shiny knife.

And............

Cut!

I love it that the shadowy chief villain is identified as a former Disney employee.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

He is good.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll put A Kiss Before Dying on my wish list.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

I have never read Levin, but I saw the most recent version of Stepford Wives and I always very much enjoyed Rosemary's Baby when I was young. I get the feeling that you are right, this brand of horror is more gentle, more thought-provoking. I like it a lot. I am going to make a point about getting around to it.

But first D. H. Lawrence! I have been on a kick. It's possessed me. I cannot for my life explain it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

When I was reading Eng Lit at Uni in the early 70s D.H. Lawrence was THE MAN.

For that reason- because I'm a contrary cuss- I rather took against him.

I still don't like the novels much, but I'm crazy about some of the poems.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

The man who taught me my first lit class in college thought he was The Man, too and I also took against him. And then Anais Nin changed my mind. She just kept going on about him. I picked up one of his short stories entitled Sun and fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

I am rather enjoying his work, though. He has an uncanny ability to portray emotion, and is particularly baffled by the female gender. I have not read enough to make an educated stance on what his attitude with and toward women is, but as soon as I do, I shall share the details.

What are some of the poems you like?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There's one called Bavarian Gentians (I think)- all about going down into the underworld- but my favourite is The Ship of Death-

"Oh build your ship of death, oh build it!
for you will need it.
For the voyage of oblivion awaits you."

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

[Giggles] I think I will stick to his fiction. I was never too keen on poetry!