- Hardcover: 592 pages
- Publisher: Summit Books; 1st Edition edition (May 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0671728318
- ISBN-13: 978-0671728311
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16 x 4.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 953 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This latest effort by the author of the seminal The Making of the Counterculture is a quirky, sexy, sprawling novel that comprises, among other things, a magical mystery tour of the history of cinema, an acid satire on Hollywood and what passes for today's cultural avant-garde, a metaphysical puzzle, an exploration of the psychological impact of films and a parable about the modern spiritual wasteland. UCLA film scholar and critic Jonathan Gates becomes obsessed with legendary German expressionist filmmaker Max Castle, who went to Hollywood in the mid-1920s and whose vampire and ghoul B-movies are viewed by cult fans as deeply troubling evocations of evil. On the trail of Castle's dark past, Gates and his ex-girlfriend, tough-minded film critic Clare Swann, encounter medieval gnostic heresies, secret societies, a teenage genius albino movie producer and an aged Dutch ex-vamp who practices tantric-like sex. Crammed with film lore that will regale cinema buffs, the narrative segues from its realistic beginning into a bizarre, apocalyptic fantasy that eventually spins off the reel, illuminating in the end only a very private, muddled vision.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"An irresistible book . . . the perfect film buff's novel." —Booklist
"Huge, deep-delving movie-lover's delight—and as rich a novel about the metaphysics of moviemaking as has ever been." —Kirkus Reviews
"A novel of great force and originality, nearly every page of which crackles with lust for film." —USA Today
"Tantalizing...scary as a Stephen King novel...has the power to fill even the most casual filmgoer with an awful, creeping dread." —Bret Easton Ellis, author, American Psycho and Less than Zero
"A real shake-up of your psyche." —The Courier-Gazette
"The boldest novel about film since Suspects." —Los Angeles City Beat
--This text refers to the
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First Sentence
I saw my first Max Castle movie in a grubby basement in west Los Angeles. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
I saw my first Max Castle movie in a grubby basement in west Los Angeles. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating book,
By
This review is from: Flicker: A Novel (Paperback)
The story of Flicker is a fiction based on a worldwide conspiracy. Consider yourself warned!The said conspiracy mostly evolves in the movie industry starting in the silent film era (with a special focus on German Expressionism and Hollywood horror B-movies) and it is based on historical and religious references (mostly the medieval inquisition against the Cathars, which I was not familiar with at all). I would suspect that this novel will be of interest to anyone that has basic knowledge in these areas. On the other hand, having too much knowledge in that regard will probably lead the reader to notice many flaws in the story. I have greatly enjoyed this book mainly for its focus on movie making. This setting is very original and brings a lot of new ideas to the whole "end of the world conspiracy" type of novel - even if the author is satiric in that regard. I have also found that the use of references to real movies, persons and events that have not been used or overused in novels of this nature (no JFK in this novel!) has help to keep my interest in the story from the beginning until the end.
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Case for Not Procreating,
By A Customer
This review is from: Flicker (Mass Market Paperback)
Roszak is a nonfiction author by trade and "Flicker" reveals why Roszak should have stayed in the nonfiction game. It's main character is simultaneously dumb, lazy and passive. Presumably, Roszak makes him that way as an excuse to explain things to the reader, but in so doing he makes the reader feel dumb, lazy and passive. Just because Aronofsky is going to make a movie of the book doesn't mean the book is good. Hopefully Darren won't borrow anything from the book other than the high concept of movies being a tool with which to end the world.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boy, I hope Aronofsky can make this watchable.,
By
This review is from: Flicker (Mass Market Paperback)
Theodore Roszak, Flicker (Summit, 1991)It must be twenty-five years ago now I tried to read Theodore Roszak's novel Bugs. I found it painfully boring, and never finished it. While the name stuck in my head for some odd reason, I never had any desire to read anything else the man wrote. Jump ahead to 2003, and his out-of-print and previously obscure novel Flicker is announced as the source of Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream)'s latest film. I instantly recognized the name of the guy who wrote Bugs, and despite my misgivings decided to dive in again, then set about finding a copy (along with about ten thousand others). Instantly, hundreds of messages popped up all over the net asking where this book could be found, its price on bookfinder (and the rare ebay copy) skyrocketed. Amazon's zShops quickly sold out of copies. It's presently as sought after as Sierra Leone diamonds. There's a copy at the Cleveland Public Library, folks. I'm done with it. And I hope that movie is a whole lot better than the book. While I will give Roszak a few points for having a readable passage here and there (Sharkey describing the construction of his cameras to the narrator early in the book has an odd, slow hypnotic quality to it), and I was willing to give him more than the benefit of the doubt that I was just young and impatient when I tried Bugs, I found this book to have the same overwhelming problem as Bugs; it's painfully, glacially, unreadably slow. It's boring. Before reading Flicker, I'd have laughed if you'd told me you found a book whose author managed to make a threesome boring. But, well, here it is. I can find absolutely nothing to recommend in Flicker, and again offer up a small prayer that Aronofsky can take this source material and make it into something watchable. (zero)
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