Weird Fiction discussion

This topic (and folder) is created for discussing our April 2024 group read.

There is no Wikipedia page on this particular story collection, but there is one for the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_....
Copilot, an Artificial Intelligence program, I think, provides the following about these 11 stories that the translator, Miroslav Lipinski, used for his 1993 story collection. This collection is the one that's most widely available in English (but not the only one):

The Dark Domain by Stefan Grabiński is a collection of psycho-fantasies that delves deeply into the human psyche, exploring the extreme facets of human behavior. Grabiński, often referred to as “the Polish Poe,” masterfully weaves tales of the macabre and the bizarre, sending a chill down the reader’s spine.

In this haunting collection, lonely men find themselves lost in hostile terrain, where the darkness and unknown fears reside. The stories are suffused with an East European melancholy, creating an eerie atmosphere. Let me share some intriguing glimpses from this enigmatic domain:

"The Watchmaker": When the watchmaker dies, all the town clocks stop, leaving the streets in eerie silence.

"The Phantom Train": An unannounced train surprises the station staff, materializing out of thin air.

Grabiński’s prose is striking, beautiful, and unsettling, conjuring vivid and disturbing images. His exploration of the human condition and the mysterious realms within is both captivating and disquieting.

If you’re drawn to weird fiction, psychological horror, and tales that linger long after reading, “The Dark Domain” awaits your discovery.

Dedalus is the publisher for this collection. I have read three other books they have put out and consider them to be a really top-notch publisher of interesting fiction that's otherwise hard to find. They are one of the few publishers I shop for by name. I usually look for works by author instead. Here is their website if you're interested: https://www.dedalusbooks.com/our-books/

At least 41 and maybe as many as 44 of Grabinski's 50 known short stories were published between the years 1918 and 1922, including all of the ones in this collection. I think we have to keep in mind this was right at the end of World War I. We are in for a treat this April!

Super excited about this one!

Super excited too! A friend gave me this collection for Christmas :)

There’s a story about a being who changes genders. I find it incredible that Grabinski wrote like that in the 1920s.

I ordered the book last week and got my copy this week.

Czad translated as "Fumes" (1919) ★★★★

The first story was a hoot! An engineer gets caught out in a snowstorm all alone, has to seek shelter, and finds a strange house out in the middle of nowhere. Shades of Rocky Horror Picture Show. This trope has such a long history. Still, this story is fresh enough for me despite it being 105 years old. This plot was unexpectedly spicy, and I use that word in its 1930s pulp sense. The introduction warns us that Grabinski doesn't shy away from dealing with sex. Nothing complex goes on here, but it works well as a simple horror story.

One can tell this is a very different time from us with different cultural norms. The protagonist engineer gropes the innkeeper's daughter uninvited and exhibits other behavior that comes across to us in our time as borderline rapist or maybe just as a sexist pig. I suspect though that his behavior was acceptable for his station in society in 1919 Poland. I certainly detect no criticism of it, or surprise from the author at it. Like it's barely worth mentioning it's so normal. Weird!

Awesome stories! But yeah I imagine, that behavior was totally normal. On a related note, I read somewhere that rape as crime wasn't really prosecuted in Moscow till like 20'3 or 30s (not accurate date, don't remember the date. the fact there was a date like that is what stunned me), being treated as sort of a harmless prank - like, it's not they are taking anything away from her, what's the harm.
But yeah what a story, what a story! Gorrryyyyyy and sexyyyy.
I am about 70% in and I think at this point, somehow it is the story of the crazy train and t he story of the fireman that particularly stand out.
I'll wait posting my questions about some of these - it almost feels like he had a variety of different directions to go, and put them all down, but chose some but abandoned others, so there are threads that do not belong. When more people finish these, I will ask.

I've just started reading, and «Fumes» was certainly a hoot, yeah!

I was really taken aback by the opening lines. I know it's a translation, but I could read epic descriptive passages like that all day. Very atmospheric and vivid. Striking, even. These passages, however, are a sharp contrast to the rest of the story, which is nothing like that. The rest was much simpler or more crude in style. Some of that same kind of energy from the opening lines did come back briefly when the engineer woke up on page 21 ("Time lengthened terribly"...) , and I wish he'd written more like that. It's like two different authors, so I hope I get to see more of that in some of his other stories.

There's definitely something to be appalled by when it comes to the sleazy behavior of the engineer. It was uncomfortable to read, but it's probably a culture thing, as mentioned. Or a male sex thing in general, I guess. In any case, if I disregard that part, I liked the abrupt pacing and the horror too. I wonder what kind of creature that is. Whether it was one of the few supernatural beings from Polish folklore which Grabinski apparently almost never used in his fiction.

Did any of you read an introduction by the translator Miroslaw Lipinski? Based on the short summary of Grabinski's life, he received very little recognition for his work. I feel for him, and it seems like I have an affinity for the misunderstood, under-appreciated author who walks a solitary literary journey with a peculiar, fascinating artistic vision of unexplainable, mysterious things.

Also, according to the introduction, a critic and author named Karol Irzykowski, was one of the few who recognized Grabinski's originality and intelligence. Irzykowski apparently wrote innovative avant-garde fiction, which definitely piqued my interest.

Grabinski's obscurity may be deserved. My jury is still out. The second and third story impressed me less than the first, which has caused me to pause in my reading. Dude's psychic self transports west to random European trains and inhabits bodies, how, why? What?! I'll revisit those stories this weekend in order to read them more carefully, make sure I wasn't just too tired when I first read them, otherwise I will be fairly critical of them in my comments. And then I'll get reading again with the fourth story.

It's just a crazy demon-possessed train is all hahaha <--- edited: Oooops I forgot about the one you actually talked about; the demonic train is a different story.
In general, I enjoy these stories quite a bit, but yes some of them seem to be running all over the place in the - I don't know what to call it - causal relationships and story directions - like, he couldn't quite settle on what exactly is going on, and elements pop up and then left hanging. At the very least, he does not seem to subscribe to Checkov's notion of a gun on the stage, soo to say (if inn Acct 1 there's a gun, it needs to fire by act 3 or something to that effect)

My second reading failed to improve matters for me.

Demon ruchu translated as "The Motion Demon" (1919) ★★1/2

A man goes into a trance and wanders by train randomly throughout Europe, getting into conflicts with train conductors. He has no memory of undertaking his wandering, but is unpleasantly surprised when he comes to awareness at the end. Rather than deal with the questions this premise raises, the protagonist gets into a fight with a demon, resolving nothing. The End. I gave it two stars for some nice use of language in the story and a sympathetic protagonist, another half star for a promising premise. But that's it.

Dziedzina translated as "The Area" (1918) ★★

The protagonist has writer's block, moves his location, stares at a mysterious house and sees a mysterious woman appear in a window. He investigates and is attacked in order to get his blood. The end. The writing style is okay. I guess the house is supposed to symbolize the writer's block, or something. But I really didn't get this. There's some suspense to find out what the face in the house window is and if the protagonist will survive the investigation, but the stakes and meaning of the tale are simply unknown for me.

his creations. he created them from his mind.

I am happy to report I liked the 4t and 5th stories much better than the last two.

Opowieśc o grabarzu (Gaweda zaduszna) translated as "A Tale of the Gravedigger" (1918) ★★★

This one is not in chronological order for some odd reason. The earlier story is about a gravedigger named Giovanni Tossati, a mysterious figure who appeared in town twenty years ago and really wanted the job of gravedigger, in part to enrich himself with items people buried their family members in, partly for reasons maybe even more nefarious. The townspeople ended his employment. Two years later after the cemeteries were causing a lot of disquieting events the townspeople had to hire someone to calm the spirits down.

I enjoyed the atmosphere, setting, and characters here, even part of the situation the plot raised. But I am confused by the two different scenes, the earlier and the later, how they relate, or why we needed them both.

Kochanka Szamoty (Kartki ze znalezionego pamiętnika) translated as "Szamota's Mistress" (1919) ★★★★

Our stalker protagonist falls in love with a beautiful woman from a distance and never approaches her. She therefore seems to be unaware of his existence when she leaves the area. After a year he gets a letter from her wanting to meet with him upon her return. He is thrilled and they begin a relationship, a carnal one of course. But something seems off about her now....

This was a fun, suspenseful mystery. I kept wondering until the end how much of it was in the protagonist's head, how much was real. She had no reason to be with him, after all. As in all the best weird fiction, the author leaves the answer ambiguous. At least, I think he did. That, or I missed an important clue leading to a single interpretation.

I wish I kept notes on all the stories - I felt the tale of the gravedigger was really connected but I forgot how.
The story of the mistress left me puzzled, on the other hand. There were so many different little things, like it could have gone in multiple directions. I might have to browse back and recap.

----
The very last story of this book though at this time stands in mind the most! Talk about the fear of the unknown truly developed. Behind doors and corners; behind furniture, hangings, curtains, items of décor (hello Marie Condo); behind YOU - all the places where the pernicious, contemplating-who-knows-what unknown is.

Dan wrote: "A man goes into a trance and wanders by train randomly throughout Europe, getting into conflicts with train conductors. He has no memory of undertaking his wandering, but is unpleasantly surprised when he comes to awareness at the end. Rather than deal with the questions this premise raises, the protagonist gets into a fight with a demon, resolving nothing. The End. I gave it two stars for some nice use of language in the story and a sympathetic protagonist, another half star for a promising premise. But that's it."

I think you're quite right: the premise is very promising, and he raises some interesting questions, but the ending is too abrupt and unsatisfying and I wish he'd kept chugging along the same track of the first half rather than changing tracks into a dead end. None of his ideas are developed any further, and I think it was really getting somewhere. Lots of potential. But here seems to have been no apparent point to the supernatural element here, though. Puzzling.

I still really enjoyed the beginning of this story too. He seems to be adept at atmosphere that really sets the tone. Three stars.

Dan wrote: "The protagonist has writer's block, moves his location, stares at a mysterious house and sees a mysterious woman appear in a window. He investigates and is attacked in order to get his blood. The end. The writing style is okay. I guess the house is supposed to symbolize the writer's block, or something. But I really didn't get this. There's some suspense to find out what the face in the house window is and if the protagonist will survive the investigation, but the stakes and meaning of the tale are simply unknown for me."

I really liked "The Area". It gets five stars from me!

Sure, he has writer's block, but I think that's an understatement of his entire state of mind. Let me explain my reasoning. Despite being misunderstood and judged by the public ("His output was eventually acknowledged as the product of a sick imagination, the bizzare work of an eccentric, maybe even a madman") for his "overrabundence of ideas" and "strong individualism", he "was not lacking in breath and force but was instead seized with new desires" to fulfil his ideas through greater means. He has a "belief in the materialization of fiction", and he believed in his art and the creative power in them so much that it manifested these beings. So, even though he doesn't write anything, that certainly doesn't mean he's not inspired or lacks motivation or that he's has lost any drive or sense of skill or commitment.

The introduction describes the protagonist here as Grabinski's "fictional counterpart: the dedicated artist who disdains the normal and seperates himself from the public while advancing toward a realization of powerful, supernatural forces born of his own imagination. Like the character in this story, Grabinski was an idealistic loner who strove for an understanding of the hidden forces of both the world and the human mind, and whose creative integrity depended upon representing those forces in the most potent framework available - in Grabinski's case, supernatural fiction".

That's what's at stake here: his whole being. The meaning of his life. As an artist, there's a strong - potent - creative desire to fully express and realize works of art and in so doing, yourself. So, it's a constant dream, a freedom unlike any other. But Grabinski uses that understanding to explore the consequences of not being able to fulfil that desire, and how a deeply ingrained obsession in pursuit of it might manifest. It's truly harrowing in this story, because "absolute fulfilment would also be a complete release of one's energy, causing death through a surfeit of artistic exertion. Because the ideal, as is know, is in death (...) left alone, without a point of support on a real base, they can be fatal to their creator".

These ideas are explored to the extreme here, of course, but I feel like I understand where it's coming from, and I think he expressed it splendidly. I'd say I found it awe-inspiring.

Dan wrote: "This one is not in chronological order for some odd reason. The earlier story is about a gravedigger named Giovanni Tossati, a mysterious figure who appeared in town twenty years ago and really wanted the job of gravedigger, in part to enrich himself with items people buried their family members in, partly for reasons maybe even more nefarious. The townspeople ended his employment. Two years later after the cemeteries were causing a lot of disquieting events the townspeople had to hire someone to calm the spirits down.

I enjoyed the atmosphere, setting, and characters here, even part of the situation the plot raised. But I am confused by the two different scenes, the earlier and the later, how they relate, or why we needed them both."


I don't think the townspeople ended his employment. Juding by the first line of the story, he simply disappeared. But I thought it was confusing as well, and I didn't like the ending. It was all just an accident? That seemed a bit too random. I would've liked to know more about Giovanni too, as I'm not sure the disturbances from the souls of the dead made any sense. Well, I guess it was mentioned somewhere that he was some kind of demon? And that was the reason there were no disturbances while he was alive? I also enjoyed the atmosphere, though. Three stars.


Dan wrote: "Our stalker protagonist falls in love with a beautiful woman from a distance and never approaches her. She therefore seems to be unaware of his existence when she leaves the area. After a year he gets a letter from her wanting to meet with him upon her return. He is thrilled and they begin a relationship, a carnal one of course. But something seems off about her now....

This was a fun, suspenseful mystery. I kept wondering until the end how much of it was in the protagonist's head, how much was real. She had no reason to be with him, after all. As in all the best weird fiction, the author leaves the answer ambiguous. At least, I think he did. That, or I missed an important clue leading to a single interpretation."

I agree with this as well. I liked the build-up a lot, as it gradually became weirder. I think it's ambiguous too, and I don't think I have the answer to what really happened here, but that's okay. Was it a ghost? An enchantment? A curse? Four stars!


Zina wrote: "The very last story of this book though at this time stands in mind the most! Talk about the fear of the unknown truly developed. Behind doors and corners; behind furniture, hangings, curtains, items of décor (hello Marie Condo); behind YOU - all the places where the pernicious, contemplating-who-knows-what unknown is."

Wow, can't wait to read it! I'm almost at the finish line now :)

"The Wandering train" was quite eerie. It was short, but effectively weird. Cool! Four stars.

I didn't like "Strabismus" at all. I thought it was confusing and a bit boring. There were parts that, again, seemed so promising in the first half: a deep character study with psychological trauma and identity and different states of mind etc, but everything fizzles out eventually. It's a bit frustrating! Two stars.

These next two stories were okay, but it seems to me were missing one key ingredient or another that would make them truly good stories. It's as if short story writers have all read a playbook of what a short story consists, but that Grabinski hasn't seen it. So it's a hit or miss proposition for him.

Błędny pociąg (Legenda kolejowa) translated as "The Wandering Train" (1919) ★★★

This is an atmospheric piece. Grabinski does an excellent jog here of ratcheting up tension by describing a general scene of life at a train station where people are getting more and more tense. Then all of a sudden we have a ghost train appearing. At first the train appears to desire no harm, but in a story with ever mounting tension, that ceases being the case. I enjoyed the atmosphere of this story, but as I indicated earlier there was a missing ingredient. Namely, any characters. This all happens to train station people, but no one person in particular. There's no real stakes involved for anyone for the reader to care about. What an odd concept for a story!

Zez translated as "Strabismus" (1918) ★★1/2

"Strabismus" at least gives us a character: Jozef Brzechwa. He's the antagonist that "attaches himself" to the unnamed protagonist, our story's narrator. We are told, but never shown why, that Jozef is evil. The narrator hates him. We're never told why, exactly, other than that the narrator feels Jozef's values are the opposite of his. We're never exactly shown how the antagonist attaches himself to the protagonist either, why he can't simply be shunned, or at least avoided. To keep saying that they can't avoid each other in different ways page after page gets a bit tiring.

I get what the author is saying here. I too have met people that have reached what I regard to be the wrong conclusion on every matter of importance it's possible to hold an opinion on. I find myself extremely annoyed when I can't avoid hearing a pro-life, Maga go on and on about their right to own a gun and bring it anywhere they see fit, how everyone should be made to stand for the national anthem, how the confederate flag should still be flown anywhere anyone wants it to be, how wrong it is that people use public bathrooms of a gender they weren't born to, that the pledge of allegiance has the word "God" in it and kids should be made to say it that way, how the founding fathers were true Christians and our entire problem is that we have gotten away from their ideals (having no idea they were actually deists or what that means), and on and on. Unfriending works fine on Facebook, but it's harder to apply in person.

I get it. There are people I disagree with so strongly I'd rather not breathe the same air with them much less have to be in their proximity. But a desire to avoid disagreeable persons can't be the entire basis for a story. Grabinski nevertheless tries to make it one here because he has a clever twist he wants to pull off at the end. (view spoiler)[He makes the person we want to despise and avoid actually be ourselves, or more accurately, another facet of ourselves. (hide spoiler)] It's a neat idea; it just doesn't quite come off or adequately make a point here.

Zemsta żywiołaków translated as "Vengeance of the Elementals" (1922) ★★1/2

This story is about a fire chief of a small town who appears to be impervious to fire. Fire doesn't affect him no matter what risks he takes. He appears to have mastery over this elemental, fire. Or does he? This mastery does not long remain uncontested. The elementals determine to confront and vanquish this overly prideful fire chief.

This is a fun story with a moderate amount of suspense. The antagonist is never really personalized--they're just forces--and the protagonist is never made the least bit likable by the author. It's not that easy to pick a side here or care very much about the fire chief's fate, to care who wins.

W przedziale translated as "In the Compartment" (1919) ★★★★

We finally return to a story with some characters and a human conflict, making it a much better read. A man is riding in a train compartment with an engineer and his wife. He finds himself attracted by the wife and is thrilled when he discovers the feeling is mutual. I have never read a lovers' triangle story that goes quite like this, but it sure is realistic. This story lacks any speculative element, but I like it anyway due to its profound insight into human nature. (view spoiler)[The act of sexual conquest is better than its accomplishment. (hide spoiler)]

I liked the Elementals. I thought it was an interesting sketch of a forceful entity, a cool story.

I finished this interesting story collection just four days overdue. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dan wrote: "I finished this interesting story collection just four days overdue. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Great! I just finished reading the collection and will be writing my review soon. What's your take on "The Glance"? I think that was probably my favorite.

Nicolai Alexander wrote: "Dan wrote: "I finished this interesting story collection just four days overdue. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Great! I just finished reading the collection ..."

"The Glance" did not make that much of an impression on me. A woman a man is with, his wife I presume, probably commits suicide. He can't be certain, but it's indicated. Then the protagonist, living by himself, goes mad, seeing things that aren't there just around the corner, and then behind him. The End.

If I read into the story things Grabinski doesn't make explicit, I extrapolate that the man is in deep grief over his wife's suicide and keeps looking for her where she would be out of reach. He never finds her and goes crazy expecting to while knowing rationally he won't see her.

It's a depressing story and not that well written because it leaves too much to the reader to write. I've read a better version: The Dogs of Babel. This is one of the top ten books I have read in my life, and I credit it for providing me whatever understanding of grief I may possess having never fully experienced my own yet. I can't help but compare "The Glance" to Parkhurst's novel, against which Grabinski's story comes up short.

Dan wrote: "Nicolai Alexander wrote: "Dan wrote: "I finished this interesting story collection just four days overdue. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Great! I just finish..."

Aww, too bad you didn't like it that much. But fair enough! I guess not having read "The Dogs of Babel" or any other story that jumps out to me as familiar made me like it more. I have read amazing stories with grief as the core aspect - my favorite being Grief Andrew Holleran, but not like this. I guess I appreciated Grabinski incorporating supernatural elements to that classic theme, making it more dualistic, open-ended and - most importantly - haunting. So, it's showing me a different aspect to grief than I've come to read about. Less weary, dreary and mournful - more dreadful, darkly burdensome and maddening.

Dan wrote: "I get what the author is saying here. I too have met people that have reached what I regard to be the wrong conclusion on every matter of importance it's possible to hold an opinion on. I find myself extremely annoyed when I can't avoid hearing a pro-life, Maga go on and on about their right to own a gun and bring it anywhere they see fit, how everyone should be made to stand for the national anthem, how the confederate flag should still be flown anywhere anyone wants it to be, how wrong it is that people use public bathrooms of a gender they weren't born to, that the pledge of allegiance has the word "God" in it and kids should be made to say it that way, how the founding fathers were true Christians and our entire problem is that we have gotten away from their ideals (having no idea they were actually deists or what that means), and on and on. Unfriending works fine on Facebook, but it's harder to apply in person."

Without adding too much on these topics in here, I just wanna say that all of this must be so incredibly frustrating to experience! I'm glad I don't have to deal with all of that. And I might only hear about a fraction of the political chaos in the US through various media, but it just seems like such a hot mess over there sometimes! No offense :)

Living in a Southern state of the U.S. I am most intimately familiar with the ones I encounter here. But I assume every society has its share of knuckleheads. The character Jozef Brzechwa was probably meant to represent Poland's 1918 representative member of the class.

I think you're right!

My extensive review!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Impressive review. You strongly liked a couple stories I didn't much care for. I liked the non-speculative one ("In the Compartment") more than you did, which doesn't surprise me. I'm a sucker for lovers' triangles stories, whatever the genre. But our impressions otherwise were very similar, especially our overall ones.

I too found the writing frustratingly inconsistent, and I am glad you pointed out from the intro that Grabinski didn't care that much what his readers made of his stories, that he wasn't really writing for them or fame so much. I think that fact and his relative youth (when he wrote these stories) accounts for their inconsistency. In fact, given that, they're actually more consistently interesting than one might otherwise expect.

Dan wrote: "Impressive review. You strongly liked a couple stories I didn't much care for. I liked the non-speculative one ("In the Compartment") more than you did, which doesn't surprise me. I'm a sucker for ..."

I forgot to reply to this, but thanks! I think we're generally on the same page, but our tastes perhaps tend to deviate where the author venture too far to the fringes of the genre. And thank goodness for that. Disagreement is healthy and enlightening.

In any case, I think you make a good point about Grabinski here. That makes sense.