tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post1528175680570416746..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Curzio Malaparte: The Smell of Scorched Iron: Ukraine, Summer 1941Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-41744954865343094722010-10-08T06:20:25.498-07:002010-10-08T06:20:25.498-07:00Curtis,
Malaparte's instigations to the reade...Curtis,<br /><br />Malaparte's instigations to the reader's virtual sensorium are as remarkable as his unique use of repetition. The chapter from which this excerpt is drawn, Horse Kingdom, is staged on the Ukrainian plain, and counterposes the powerful rotting odour of organic putrefaction of a dead mare found on an abandoned farm, during the German advance, with the ambient, and overpowering, odour of burnt metal from the skeletons of destroyed military equipment scattered all about the landscape...TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-59509652555821961022010-10-08T06:00:55.505-07:002010-10-08T06:00:55.505-07:00Malaparte's descriptions of the iron are, of c...Malaparte's descriptions of the iron are, of course, remarkable, piercing and recognizable to anyone who has experienced incendiary crisis (I'm thinking of house and building fires, the aftermath of some air disasters, 9/11 in downtown Manhattan). The passage would be extraordinary without the photos, but including them makes it more penetrating. One thing that came to mind, which seemed (slightly) relevant to me, at least, is that I don't naturally have olfactory reactions to black & white imagery, but I do "smell" color photography.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com