VL 'Stokely's dog' 49.1

[Henry]

Yeh, I was thinking of including "The Magician," and even "Summer with
Monika" as examples of extreme brilliance and beauty without obvious, i.e.
mid-depth, gravitas.  The Magician, for example, deals with god and the
paranormal universe as earthboundly as possible.  I do need to give Wild
Strawberries another chance, as I loved it when I was a teen, but I've
questioned its value as I matured.  I was so much older then...

Henry Mu


-----Original Message-----
From: Robin Landseadel

I've seen a lot of Bergman. Have you ever seen what Bergman did with  
Mozart's "Magic Flute?" One of my all-time faves and every bit as  
mannered as "Vineland."

I do love "Smiles of a Summer Night" and the way it echos some of Jean  
Renoir's pastoral work. Bergman's little seen "The Magician" manages  
to echo some of the dark themes about faith in "Seventh Seal" but is  
altogether different.

Similar, perhaps with lines that lead more towards "Against the Day,"  
Bergman's "Fanny & Alexander" manages to be both more monumental and  
in some way more personal and bound up with memory, time and the not- 
so distant past than "Seventh Seal" and "Persona."

Thanks for chiming in, Henry. It would be a pity if all that Pynchon  
came up with was Gravity's Rainbow, great as it is.

. . .like, say, Beethoven's 14 quartet in c-sharp minor---one of his  
peaks.

On Dec 15, 2008, at 3:58 PM, Henry wrote:

Have you ever seen Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night?"  Not as long or as
"heavy" as Personna or The Seventh Seal, but it's beautiful nonetheless.
It's like comparing a quartet to a symphony, they may be the same length,
but while the density of and width of a quartet may be less, it's height may
surpass any orchestral works.

http://tinyurl.com/bergman-on-amazon