Ira Levin R.I.P.

[Cornelius]

IHT November 14, 2007

Ira Levin, a mild-mannered playwright and novelist who liked nothing better than to give people the creeps — and who did so repeatedly, with best-selling novels like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Stepford Wives" and "The Boys From Brazil" — died on Monday at his home in New York. He was 78.

Levin's output was modest — just seven novels in four decades — but his work was firmly ensconced in the popular imagination. Together, his novels sold tens of millions of copies, his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, said Tuesday. Nearly all of his books were made into Hollywood movies, some more than once. Levin also wrote the long-running Broadway play "Deathtrap," a comic thriller.

Combining elements of several genres — mystery, Gothic horror, science fiction and the techno-thriller — Levin's novels conjured up a world full of quietly looming menace, in which anything could happen to anyone at any time. In short, the Ira Levin universe was a great deal like the real one, only more so: more starkly terrifying, more exquisitely mundane.

In "Rosemary's Baby" (Random House, 1967), a young New York bride may have been impregnated by the Devil. In "The Stepford Wives" (Random House, 1972), the women in an idyllic suburb appear to have been replaced by complacent, preternaturally well-endowed androids. In "The Boys From Brazil" (Random House, 1976), Josef Mengele, alive and well in South America, plots to clone a new Hitler from the old.

[Ghoul]

bas sam se sinoc, sastavljajuci top-10 must-read horror knjiga, nosio mislju da li da uvrstim ROZMERINU BEBU, ali to ne ucinih: prema odlomcima koje sam citao, prema komentarima solidnih autoriteta (polanski, s.t. joshi, itd.) stekao sam utisak da se radi o osrednjem romanu u kome je ideja/gimmick glavna, ali su pristup i idejnost i stil inferiorni (npr. u romanu, kazu, uopste nema dvosmislenosti oko prirode desavanja, sve je 100% djavolovo maslo, i to je jasno od pocetka knjige).

ipak, pitam se da li je neko citao taj roman?

kao klinac sam strasno voleo MOMKE IZ BRAZILA, ali odavno ga nisam reprizirao i nisam siguran koliko bi mi to danas bilo trashy (i ako bi bilo, koliko bi mi smetalo).

u svakom slucaju, covek je ostavio znacajan beleg na pop kulturu II polovine XX veka, a na horor narocito, mada je to umnogome zahvaljujuci superiornim EKRANIZACIJAMA a manje njegovom konkretnom storytellingu. nesumnjivo je umeo da nadje catchy ideju, potentnu i inspirativnu, savremenu i relevantnu. sad, koliko je od nje u umetnickom smislu uspeo da ostvari, drugo je pitanje, ali i dobri koncepti su nesto za respect.

u svakom slucaju, of kors, R.I.P.

[Cornelius]

Ja sam čitao Rosmary's baby pre nekih 15/20 godina, kada sam živeo u Americi. Knjiga nije na mene ostavila neki utisak. Prilično jednosmerna. Baja kaže - sad će pijemo viski i naredna scena je kako oni piju viski. Polanski je to bolje uradio, jer je stvorio opštu atmosferu koja je zastrašujuća. Ista je situacija kao sa Shiningom. Kubrik je bolje odradio od Kinga, stvorivši opšti utisak straha i ludila.

[Ghoul]

pa, kornelije, izgleda da se slazemo po oba osnova (levin, king), a to ne sluti na dobro...

[Cornelius]

pa, kornelije, izgleda da se slazemo po oba osnova (levin, king), a to ne sluti na dobro...

Ne brini, to je samo geografski. Verovatno se osetio deo mojih suvodolskih gena.

[crippled_avenger]

Novelist Levin Dies at Age 78


Legendary playwright and novelist Ira Levin has died. He was 78. The writer - who saw many of his works turned into major Hollywood movies - died of natural causes on Monday at his home in New York. Levin is most famous for writing the novel Rosemary's Baby, which was made into the 1968 film of the same name, directed by Roman Polanski. He will also be remembered for writing The Stepford Wives - first adapted for the big screen in 1975 and then remade again in 2004 in a version which starred Nicole Kidman. Levin wrote on a variety of genres throughout his career and sold millions of books worldwide, despite only producing seven novels in 40 years; he also penned the hit Broadway play Deathtrap, later made into a movie starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. He leaves behind three sons, Adam, Jared and Nicholas, by his first wife Gabrielle Aronsohn, who he divorced in 1968. He divorced second wife, Phyllis Finkel, in 1981

[Kastor]

Otvorio bih i ja jedan topik, ali ne znam baš da li je čovek zaslužio i četvrti.

[lilit]

Otvorio bih i ja jedan topik, ali ne znam baš da li je čovek zaslužio i četvrti.

   

[Cornelius]

http://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/viewtopic.php?t=5189