there was a documentary film out in 2002 called Stone Reader. it tells the story of a film maker who reads a book called The Stones of Summer by Dow Mossman, written in 1972. the book was very well received by the NYTimes Book Review. the film maker, Mark Moscowitz develops a minor obsession for the book and tries to find more books by Mossman, only to find he had never published anything else and had fallen off the literary map.
Moscowitz goes on a hunt to find Mossman and when he does track him down, he finds Mossman living in his recently dead mother's house, a retired welder now working as a newspaper bagger. the house is filled with books and notepaper and pictures of racing dogs. Mossman himself is a frenetic eccentric, talking in wild tangents. upon the release of his book, he suffered a nervous breakdown of sorts and dropped out.
anyway, how does this relate to Bukowski.
I read the book and loved it. it's nothing like Bukowski's work. it's full of dense prose, symbols and recurring themes. and it's about 600 pages long. but I loved it. then I found out about the film, rented it and loved that also.
so I had to buy the film. I went on the interweb and found a limited edition 3 disc version available through Moskowitz's website. I bought it. it's full of bonus features and easter eggs and facsimile letters, etc.
anyway, I'm watching the 3rd disc and there's some bonus footage of Moscowitz's interview with Mossman. then, out of the blue, in the middle of one of his tangents, Mossman comes out with this:
now, why should we care what a once forgotten novelist thinks about Bukowski. I don't know, maybe we shouldn't care. I just thought that someone who writes more like Malcolm Lowry and James Joyce and who loves Shakespeare could love Factotum so much was pretty cool. I had to rewind it to make sure he said Factotum, because he only says the title once and never mentions Bukowski by name. but there it was.
anyway, I highly recommend the film if you love books. which I'm sure you do.
Moscowitz goes on a hunt to find Mossman and when he does track him down, he finds Mossman living in his recently dead mother's house, a retired welder now working as a newspaper bagger. the house is filled with books and notepaper and pictures of racing dogs. Mossman himself is a frenetic eccentric, talking in wild tangents. upon the release of his book, he suffered a nervous breakdown of sorts and dropped out.
anyway, how does this relate to Bukowski.
I read the book and loved it. it's nothing like Bukowski's work. it's full of dense prose, symbols and recurring themes. and it's about 600 pages long. but I loved it. then I found out about the film, rented it and loved that also.
so I had to buy the film. I went on the interweb and found a limited edition 3 disc version available through Moskowitz's website. I bought it. it's full of bonus features and easter eggs and facsimile letters, etc.
anyway, I'm watching the 3rd disc and there's some bonus footage of Moscowitz's interview with Mossman. then, out of the blue, in the middle of one of his tangents, Mossman comes out with this:
now, why should we care what a once forgotten novelist thinks about Bukowski. I don't know, maybe we shouldn't care. I just thought that someone who writes more like Malcolm Lowry and James Joyce and who loves Shakespeare could love Factotum so much was pretty cool. I had to rewind it to make sure he said Factotum, because he only says the title once and never mentions Bukowski by name. but there it was.
anyway, I highly recommend the film if you love books. which I'm sure you do.
