I had huuuge rabid dogs phobia when I was a child. It came about triggered by a prevention booklet that was stashed away in my parents bedroom, between the folk erotic poetry compilation and a local history journal that had on page 284 picture of the bonfire that my great grandmother and her three daughters were thrown into. Sort of the library of things forbidden, that was hidden in plain sight, guarded only by my parents' thinking that I was too young to attempt reading them at all..
The rabies booklet was typically socialist promotional material and brutally graphic in details. There was a sickening gradation to the images that accompanied it. Each page of text on the left was illustrated with a page of pictures on the opposite side.
It started off with pictures of hands and legs bitten. Then faces, followed by a full page image of someone who had half of their scalp missing and portions of brain that were an open wound.
Then , the description of the disease in dogs: first, a romantic sight of children playing with a stray dog in the street. Then the rabid fox captured, then the process of a dog in a tight cage going through all stages of rabies in 12 pictures on two sides. The picture of a dead dog in the same cage too. And the infested brain dissection slides.
The most harrowing, was what followed.
Images of people.
In cage-like beds too.
Neatly organized images of human beings that were descending into the same lethally rabid madness.
*
That's why years later I had no difficulty learning to love Clive Barker's sense of ornament detail of scenes of horror - the scary parts were never scary at all - imagining them never even came close to what I have already seen.
*
Rabies, the novel, written by Borislav Pekic, is the literary equivalent of that wretched over-diligent health promo I read too young (forbidden books are always there to be rescued and read by eyes unintended, aren't they?).
This magnificent book frightens the reader in a way so overwhelming, that I feel free to suggest restraining yourself from reading it all in one go (it's that gripping), through the night, by the murky lamp light, with your pet dog snoring in your lap - like I did. Your dog might at some point just shuffle in its sleep and you might start screaming your head off.
So, reading in daylight may be a safer option.
As long as you stay away from the crowds.
And do not, under any circumstances, bring it with you to any airport for long haul voyage.
The book is not published in English yet, but by the kindness of the woman blessed to have been at Pekic's side through hell and back - his wife Liljana Pekic, and her devoted holding his ground firmly for four years now on his blog - http://borislavpekic.blogspot.com/ , it has been brought into the light and offered to the world, this perfection in theme and handling of it genre novel, this one book that managed to chill the inside of my bones far worse than rabies for real had years before..
I wil translate the interview with the author, and you can google the links to the novel translation - the author's blog is a bit hard to navigate because of its exuberant content that makes it one of my favorite places in the world - getting lost there is like finding Atlantis of my own every time I visit.
Gold doesn't grow on trees, but when Pekic is concerned, I am blinded-by-the-quest gold digger.
Go grab the popcorn and buckle up.
Buckle up hard.
The rabies booklet was typically socialist promotional material and brutally graphic in details. There was a sickening gradation to the images that accompanied it. Each page of text on the left was illustrated with a page of pictures on the opposite side.
It started off with pictures of hands and legs bitten. Then faces, followed by a full page image of someone who had half of their scalp missing and portions of brain that were an open wound.
Then , the description of the disease in dogs: first, a romantic sight of children playing with a stray dog in the street. Then the rabid fox captured, then the process of a dog in a tight cage going through all stages of rabies in 12 pictures on two sides. The picture of a dead dog in the same cage too. And the infested brain dissection slides.
The most harrowing, was what followed.
Images of people.
In cage-like beds too.
Neatly organized images of human beings that were descending into the same lethally rabid madness.
*
That's why years later I had no difficulty learning to love Clive Barker's sense of ornament detail of scenes of horror - the scary parts were never scary at all - imagining them never even came close to what I have already seen.
*
Rabies, the novel, written by Borislav Pekic, is the literary equivalent of that wretched over-diligent health promo I read too young (forbidden books are always there to be rescued and read by eyes unintended, aren't they?).
This magnificent book frightens the reader in a way so overwhelming, that I feel free to suggest restraining yourself from reading it all in one go (it's that gripping), through the night, by the murky lamp light, with your pet dog snoring in your lap - like I did. Your dog might at some point just shuffle in its sleep and you might start screaming your head off.
So, reading in daylight may be a safer option.
As long as you stay away from the crowds.
And do not, under any circumstances, bring it with you to any airport for long haul voyage.
The book is not published in English yet, but by the kindness of the woman blessed to have been at Pekic's side through hell and back - his wife Liljana Pekic, and her devoted holding his ground firmly for four years now on his blog - http://borislavpekic.blogspot.com/ , it has been brought into the light and offered to the world, this perfection in theme and handling of it genre novel, this one book that managed to chill the inside of my bones far worse than rabies for real had years before..
I wil translate the interview with the author, and you can google the links to the novel translation - the author's blog is a bit hard to navigate because of its exuberant content that makes it one of my favorite places in the world - getting lost there is like finding Atlantis of my own every time I visit.
Gold doesn't grow on trees, but when Pekic is concerned, I am blinded-by-the-quest gold digger.
Go grab the popcorn and buckle up.
Buckle up hard.
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