December 7, 2003 - 7400224 - The Horla

[vgarci]

This week's program is presented for your review by Dave.

For those who do not have the program, you can download it (with or without a Streamload account) at: www.streamload.com/vgarci (http://www.streamload.com/vgarci)

[Texas]

"They're after me! They're after me."

Guy de Maupassant, poor guy, apparently ended up crazy as a loon. Sad that his genius (I think his "The hand" was a classic...certainly was a strong RMT play) may have also been a curse to him.

I thought the Horla sounded like air raid sirens. Interesting episode.

[Steve]

I like this episode a lot. I like the original story on which it's based, and I like the twist Sam Dann added by making De Maupassant himself the narrator of the story (in the original it is just a nameless first-person narrative).

De Maupassant had syphilis from his 20's, and began to suffer from mental illness toward the end. About 30 or 40 of his stories reflect his descent into madness, actually a very small percentage of his output. I think he wrote something like 300 works altogether.

Anyway, I am especially fascinated by his description of the Horla because it is a near-perfect clinical description of how it feels to suffer from an anxiety attack---the weight on the chest, the feeling of being suffocated, of panic, and of losing one's strength and sense of control. It is obvious that De Maupassant was desperately trying to describe, and to come up with an explanation for, what was physically happening to him as his mental illness became worse. I find it fascinating, sad, and compelling. Also, the theme of madman as prophet---the idea of a person with deep insights that no one else understands being considered insane---is one of my favorite literary themes. The vast majority of people are so smugly confident in their beliefs, and so very comfortable that they are right and sane. . . it's important that these things are called into question from time to time.

I thought the performances and production values of this episode were all top-notch, and that Sam Dann's decision to make the play reflect De Maupassant's real life was extremely clever. De Maupassant actually [i:f0f201a9ab]was [/i:f0f201a9ab]put in a sanitarium, just as in Dann's script. He died a year later. (The original story of The Horla ends rather differently.) For anyone interested in reading the original, you can find it at the following link:

http://www.litrix.com/horla/horla001.htm

Until next time......

Steve smile.gif

[bva18]

I did not like this one as well as some of the others. I guess I just have a problem with people that think they are losing their minds or to think that some superior race is taking over our minds.

[MikeH]

I had a tough time rating this one. While I agree with Bill -- I don't prefer the "mind puzzle" stories because they are so hard to follow -- no matter how well you think you have it figured out - the fantasy character of the genre allows the author to throw a curve no matter how unrealistic. But I also agree with Steve that this story was really very well done. I was playing it at work and had to re-listen to several parts - and even then may have lost the flow of things. I will rerun it tonight when I turn in and hope I don't fall asleep. Despite my preference for more traditonal mysteries - I gave it a four for artistic merit -- it presented the tale with great talent and direction.

Mike H.

[dave]

i enjoyed this one and was glued to it . i probbably looked a bit strange gazing off into space while at work. maybe i didn't look much different than i usually do. :lol:
i've seen this theme in several sci fi shows. star trek classic for one.
i liked the idea of not knowing if mr. M was sane or not. i think maybe he was not mostly because there was no physical description of the Horla.

the one man acting alone is also exciting to me. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers comes to mind.
the sound of the Horla wasn't scary enough to me.

the acting was good in this one. accents were believable to me. tho the doctor didn't have a french accent did he? i've listened to 2 shows set in Paris in the last 2 days. i can only take so much!

[Fizzlestix]

My enjoyment of this tale comes from being both a true story (in part) and the subject matter itself.

Whenever I come across a book, film, or performance that involves a character experiencing things that nobody else seems to be aware of, completely freaks me out. I often wonder how diseases like schizophrenia target certain people and not others. Same with Alzheimer's.

I find the descent into a state of mental health where reality and fantasy weave into the same daydream to be truly frightening.

This episode was really well done and helped open up the door, for me, to an author I have not read before.

Thanks, Steve for the link to the Horla text. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. Best wishes,

Fizz

[caseybea]

Hmmmm. I just wasn't thrilled with this one at all. The background to the author was good, and I enjoyed how the episode bleeded back and forth between reality (author) and the story... but the air-raid sound thing kind of ruined it for me.

[vgarci]

I've listened to this program a few times now and I must say it's improved with subsequent listenings. I find the story to be very tragic, given the realism of Guy De Maupassant's fate with dementia. What a terrible waste of a brilliant mind. But then again, how much of his brilliance was borne from his disease? I give the program a solid 4.