The Goal: Read. Reflect. Respond. Over two hundred Chekhov stories. Constance Garnett translations.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
PANIC FEARS
"Everything we don't understand is mysterious."
That seems the point to this story. It's not, I'm afraid, much of story.
Presented are three examples of when the narrator was scared to death -- or felt ill at ease -- and the payoff is that once you understand something then it's no longer mysterious and therefore no longer frightening.
Or as FDR put it:
"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
The Twilight Zone seems like an outgrowth of this tale.
But that's being too generous. The Twilight Zone episodes were sometimes quite eerie and mind provoking. The same thing can't be said about this lightweight anecdote.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Actually, I thought the tale was describing how our emotions change our perceptions of the world.
ReplyDeleteIn each of the three cases, the narrator describes the setting in nice terms. The birds are singing. The black dog wagging his tale and looking at him is friendly.
When he's gripped by these panic attacks, the world around him becomes sinister. The dog no longer is friendly, but menacing.
In all of the cases, what's changed? Nothing except the narrator and his emotion.
When an unhappy person walks down the street is her experience different from a person who's in love? Same street, but different experience, perhaps. Something to ponder.