Comments on: In this white darkness, we will take the place of everything

In this white darkness, we will take the place of everything

Rhaomi — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:15:29 -0800

Just wait till we're alone together. Then I will tell you something new, something cold, something sleepy, something of cease and peace and the long bright curve of space. Go upstairs to your room. I will be waiting for you... As a rare October blizzard drifts a blanket of white across the Northeast just before Halloween, what better time to settle in and read (or watch) Conrad Aiken's most famous short story, "Silent Snow, Secret Snow." About a small boy who increasingly slips into an ominous fantasy of isolation and endless snow, it could be viewed as a metaphor about autism, Asperger's syndrome, and even schizophrenia before such conditions even had names. In addition to the 1934 short story, the tale has also been adapted as a creepy 1966 black-and-white short film (also at the Internet Archive) and as a Night Gallery episode (1, 2) narrated by Orson Welles. Or for a more academic take, see the essay "The Delicious Progress" examining Aiken's use of white as a symbol of psychological regression.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:21:28 -0800

It occurs to me that the people this story would be most relevant to are probably shivering in the dark with no electricity... (Also: It's my Mefi-versary! Four years ago to the minute. :P)

By: Nomyte

Nomyte — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:21:59 -0800

Another ominous fantasy of isolation and snow is Anna Kavan's short and devastating novel Ice, or its alternative version titled Mercury. They are both dismal and dreamlike, hopeless, hallucinatory, and fatalistic.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:25:20 -0800

A story I return to again and again. That devastating second-to-last paragraph-! Aiken was also one hell of a poet, by the way.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:29:45 -0800

(I should note I first learned about the story through this eerie video adapted from the 1966 version for the Marble Hornets series.)

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:30:18 -0800

Happy mefiday Rhaomi!

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:03:34 -0800

I wonder if this story was the inspiration for the classic religious education short film "Cipher in the Snow."

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:17:19 -0800

Wow, I love this. Thanks. It also reminds me a lot of the first chapter of Infinite Jest.

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:15:35 -0800

Great, instapapered for the plane tomorrow. Happy mefiday Rhaomi!

By: RuvaBlue

RuvaBlue — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:40:27 -0800

Although Asperger's syndrome is part of the autism spectrum, most people with Asperger's [including me] do not see it as so featureless as endless snow.