{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3931",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 3931,
    "subject": "Russian Ark",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "2003-04-13T18:38:07+00:00",
    "last": "2003-04-28T06:01:17+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0304-3166@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Russell Wodell",
        "address": "hse at telus.net"
      },
      "date": "2003-04-13T18:38:07+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) re: Russian Ark",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "This will seem to many to be off-topic; but I can't resist writing about\nthis film by Aleksandr Sokurov. As you may know, it consists of one\nunbroken 96-minute take travelling the entire length of the Hermitage in\nSt. Petersburg, a stunning technical achievement. What I hadn't\nanticipated is that the first two-thirds of the film are very much like\nbeing inside a Wolfe novel (the last third is like being inside a\nTolstoy novel). \n \nTwo protagonists, one visible and one invisible (the latter being the\nnarrator, using Sokurov's voice) move from gallery to gallery, all\ninhabited by Russians from past and present; we slowly figure out they\nare both dead. Only certain of the other characters can see them unless\nthe visible ghost touches them, after which they can briefly interact\nphysically (dancing together, discussing the art on display). It is\nnever made explicit whether the others characters are also ghosts or\nwhether the protagonists are travelling through time, or both; and the\nending is stranger than anything in Solaris. \n \nI can only suggest the haunting quality of the film by saying it is like\nPeace combined with a Russian Soldier in the Mist. I suspect it is most\nunlikely that Wolfe and Sokurov know anything of each other's work. but\nthe parallels are very pleasantly surprising. I wonder if anyone could\nask Wolfe if he has seen the film, or encourage him to do so.\n \nThere is one lovely lupine line of dialogue: \"Dead authors weep when\ntheir books are reprinted.\""
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0304-3348@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Timothy Reilly",
        "address": "treilly at ozemail.com.au"
      },
      "date": "2003-04-28T06:01:17+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (urth) re: Russian Ark",
      "in_reply_to": "<urth-v0304-3166@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I can second Russell Wodel's recent recommendation for Russian Ark.  It's a stunning film that would appeal to anyone who likes Wolfe.\n\nTim"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}