“In no animal had I ever found such a profound connection to myself.”
Tag: literature
Weird #37: “The Complete Gentleman” by Amos Tutuola (1952)
Photo by Kaysha on Unsplash Amos Tutuola’s “The Complete Gentleman” borrows from the tradition of Yoruba folktales to tell the story of a “beautiful” man who borrows his ‘complete’ body—feet, neck, skin, and all—from their owners. Surreal like the best folktales, it made me think of some of Italo Calvino’s more grotesque Italian fairy tales, …
Continue reading Weird #37: “The Complete Gentleman” by Amos Tutuola (1952)
World Fantasy Convention, Montreal 2021
Last October, I had the great privilege to attend the World Fantasy Convention in my home city of Montreal at the Hôtel Bonaventure. It was a relief to be able to meet writers from the United States and across Canada after nearly two years of pandemic shut-down. If it had been held in another city, I probably would not have risked travel or asked for the time off work to attend.
Weird #25: “Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass'” by Bruno Schulz (1937)
A Sanatorium where time is not what it seems.
Weird #24: “The Tarn” by Hugh Walpole (1936)
A Cask of Amontillado-style literary revenge tale starring a very, very deep lake.
Weird #23: “The Town of Cats'” by Hagiwara Sakutarō (1935)
In which a poet becomes lost in a labyrinthine wood.
Weird #22: “Genius Loci'” by Clark Ashton Smith (1933)
In which a painter becomes seduced by the abject, vampiric evil of a landscape.
Weird #21: “The Shadowy Street'” by Jean Ray (1931)
A story of a trans-dimensional street and the great fire of Hamburg.
Weird #20: “The ‘Mainz Psalter'” by Jean Ray (1930)
A weird sea voyage into bizarre dimensions.
Weird #19: “The Book” by Margaret Irwin (1930)
A terrifying story about a tiny gap in a bookshelf.
Matthew Rettino 