Literary Speculation

So this week I read 2 short stories. First Seventh Voyage by Stanislaw Lem then The Distance of the Moon by Italo Calvino.

The first one was bizzar. It was all about this man on a space voyage but gets caught in this time loop vortex so sees past and/or future selfs. The first thing that I thought of when reading this had actually nothing to do with the story or its contents at all. Instead it was the question, is he on a space ship or in a house that happens to be in space? I know a silly question, but when you saw that the character in on a space mission I think a space ship, either the ones that NASA uses or something like from Star Treck or Lost in Space. Yet, things were being described like the sofa seat and the kitchen - not things on your average shuttle.

Anyway, back to the story. 

Like I said, it’s about this guy seeing his future and/or past self. And I’m not talking about simply seeing them and they look ghost-like, but that they are physical and they can interact with each other. For the first encounter his reaction, though very know-it-all-like, was possible. However, when he continued to act the same way for the second, third, and forth encounter I started to get annoyed. I also began to get confused since more and more “selfs” were starting to appear at once. Towards the end I just wanted a chart or something in order to keep them straight.

Moving on.

So the second story was also strange. I mean, they talked about the moon as if it was more like an actual animal than just the moon. Like how they described the “moon’s milk,” what is it, a cow? In the end I didn’t really get it.

I took a look at some of the second authors other stories, and found that he is found of writing in first person. (Just saying that as a side note.)

So that is the last reading story. For next week we’re listening to the original radio casting of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It should be interesting.

Now usually the next thing I put up is a review on the required movie for the week. We’re suppose to watch existent a 1999 film, but while it is on Netfilx like all the others, it’s only available on DVD, not instant play, so I don’t really know what to watch. Clockwork Orange was on the alternate reading list for the week, but I’ve never really had a care to see it, especially after seeing a part of it in someone’s presentation. Well, I’ll figure out something.