«O Menino de Cabul»: «The Kite Runner» no cinema

Há um ano atrás, o americano de origens afegãs, Khaled Hosseini, lia-nos no «Livro de Cabeceira» o seu primeiro romance, publicado em 2003: «The Kite Runner». Neste momento, chega às salas de cinema portuguesas a adaptação do livro, entretanto best-seller. Chama-se «O Menino de Cabul» e é dirigido pelo suiço Marc Foster.
»» http://www.kiterunnermovie.com/

94. «1984» (George Orwell) por Frank Muller

«It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, Ms chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine, and had a varicose ulcer above Ms right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with title enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.»

No ano 1948, a revolução burocratizada controla e oprime uma sociedade, «Oceania». O Ministério da Verdade dá lápis azul a George Orwell, sábados à meia-noite, a partir de 23 de Fevereiro, em 107.9 FM.

93. «Amours, Les Yeux et la Mémoire» (Louis Aragon) por Louis Aragon

Viajando até à França de meados do século XX, visita ao poeta Louis Aragon com leituras do próprio de «Amours» e «Les yeux et la mémoire», na companhia das vozes do sempre fiel Léo Ferré e ainda Berthe Sylva, Yves Montand, Georges Brassens e Jacques Brel.

« Fils naturel de Louis Andrieux (ancien sénateur de Forcalquier) et de Marguerite Toucas. Après avoir participé au dadaïsme, il est un des créateurs en 1924 du mouvement surréaliste avec André Breton et Philippe Soupault. Il rejoint avec certains membres du groupe surréaliste le parti communiste français, auquel il restera fidèle jusqu'à la fin de sa vie. Sa poésie est largement inspirée depuis les années 1940 par l'amour qu'il portait à son épouse, Elsa Triolet, écrivain elle aussi et belle-sœur de Vladimir Maïakovski, qu'il avait rencontrée en 1928. Son œuvre porte aussi en filigrane la secrète blessure de n'avoir pas été reconnu par son père, Louis Andrieux, diplomate et préfet de 30 ans plus âgé que sa mère, Marguerite Toucas. Celle-ci, afin de préserver l'honneur de sa famille et de son amant, le fit passer pour le fils adoptif de sa mère et Andrieux, son parrain. Il évoque ce qui fut le drame secret de sa vie dans un petit recueil de poèmes intitulé Domaine Privé. Il fut aussi, avec Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Jean Prévost, Jean-Pierre Rosnay et quelques autres, parmi les poètes qui prirent résolument parti, durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, pour la résistance contre le nazisme. C'est là le sujet d'une autre blessure profonde : la rupture avec son ami Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, qui après avoir « hésité entre communisme et fascisme » (voir Une femme à sa fenêtre), s'est tourné vers le nazisme. Sorte de suicide, qui le poussera à vraiment se donner la mort à la libération. Il existe aussi des « œuvres croisées » entre ces deux génies : Gilles et Aurélien.

Après le décès de son épouse en 1970, Aragon affiche ses préférences homosexuelles, que Drieu La Rochelle avait évoquées dès les années 1930, dans Gilles notamment. Roger Nimier disait d'ailleurs, à son propos : « C'est le seul homme capable d'assister à une réunion du Comité Central du PCF en smoking rose. » Il meurt le 24 décembre 1982, veillé par son ami Jean Ristat. Il est inhumé dans le parc du Moulin de Villeneuve, dans sa propriété de Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines, aux côtés de sa compagne Elsa Triolet. »

Este sábado, 2 de Fevereiro, na meia noite dos 107.9FM.

90. «Naked Lunch» (William Burroghs)

«"He was," as Salon's Gary Kamyia notes, "20th-century drug culture's Poe, its Artaud, its Baudelaire. He was the prophet of the literature of pure experience, a phenomenologist of dread.... Burroughs had the scary genius to turn the junk wasteland into a parallel universe, one as thoroughly and obsessively rendered as Blake's."

Why has this homosexual ex-junkie, whose claim to fame rests entirely on one book--the hallucinogenic ravings of a heroin addict--so seized the collective imagination? Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch in a Tangier, Morocco, hotel room between 1954 and 1957. Allen Ginsberg and his beatnik cronies burst onto the scene, rescued the manuscript from the food-encrusted floor, and introduced some order to the pages. It was published in Paris in 1959 by the notorious Olympia Press and in the U.S. in 1962; the landmark obscenity trial that ensued served to end literary censorship in America.

Burroughs's literary experiment--the much-touted "cut-up" technique--mirrored the workings of a junkie's brain. But it was junk coupled with vision: Burroughs makes teeming amalgam of allegory, sci-fi, and non-linear narration, all wrapped in a blend of humor--slapstick, Swiftian, slang-infested humor. What is Naked Lunch about? People turn into blobs amidst the sort of evil that R. Crumb, in the decades to come, would inimitably flesh out with his dark and creepy cartoon images. Perhaps the most easily grasped part of Naked Lunch is its America-bashing, replete with slang and vitriol. Read it and see for yourself. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. »

O texto integral pode ser lido aqui.
Na Rádio Universidade de Coimbra, sábado, 12, 19 e 26 de Janeiro, almoço à meia-noite com William Burroughs a nu.

82. «Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency» (Douglas Adams) por Douglas Adams

Depois de andarmos à boleia pela galáxia no verão passado, seguimos este ano, pela voz do autor Douglas Adams, as pistas de Dirk Gently, o homem com a chave da agência de detectives holísticos, especializada em gatos perdidos e divórcios sangrentos.

Certamente a não perder, ainda, a partir de 3 de Outubro próximo, a estreia da BBC Radio 4 na dramatização desta obra. 6 episódios de 30 minutos para ouvir (na emissão online ou podcast) às quartas-feiras, entre as 18h30 e as 19h, numa frequência de alta fidelidade.

Cosmo e crime. Say no more. Domingos, a partir de 16 de Setembro, na Rádio Universidade de Coimbra - 107.9 FM ou online.
Emissão 1 - 21-22h, Dom 16 Set
Emissão 2 - 21-22h, Dom 23 Set
Emissão 3 - 21-22h, Dom 07 Out
Emissão 4 - 00-01h, Dom 21Out (meia noite de sábado)
Emissão 5 - 00-01h, Dom 28 Out (meia noite de sábado)
Emissão 6 - 00-01h, Dom 04 Nov (meia noite de sábado)
Emissão 7 - 00-01h, Dom 11 Nov (meia noite de sábado)
Emissão 8 - 00-01h, Dom 18 Nov (meia noite de sábado)

81. «Chinese Fairy Tales» por Siobhan McKenna

Chá servido pelo fiel desse imenso armazém internético, José Braga:

Chinese Fairy Tales
lidos por Siobhan McKenna
(1965; vinil, Barre Publishers)

A1 The Chinese Red Riding Hoods
A2 The Faithful One
A3 The Tiger's Teacher
B1 The Sparrow and the Phoenix
B2 Teardrop Dragon
B3 The Discontented Mason
B4 How Some Animals Became as They Are

« China's fairy tales are probably the oldest in the world since they have their roots in a civilization which goes back in recorded form at least 5000 years and quite probably existed a long time before that. (...) So far as I can learn, fairy tales were read to Chinese children in nursery and kindergarten without any material change despite the Communist revolution, up to the time of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. At that time fairy tales, like almost all other manifestations of China's cultural past, came under the fierce assault of the young Red Guards. (...) One of the best known of these is The Little Red Soldier, which is designed to inculcate patriotism, love of country and martial spirit in young children. (...) Heroes and heroines are real people - peasants, workers, soldiers, not frogs or tigers. The stories are down to earth and realistic. (...) The wicked landlord is a typical villain, the poor peasant girl the heroine, the valiant soldier or the worker the hero, but the state is important above all.»

Charlotte Y. Salisbury (autora de China Diary), notas da capa

Uma cultura distante que se aproxima: domingo, 2 de Setembro às 9 da noite de domingo, na Rádio Universidade de Coimbra - 107.9 FM ou online.

80. Christopher Recordings on Sex Instruction: A Helpful Guide for Parents

Terão Billy, Betty e Kitten, os filhos da família Chistopher, levado a tribunal a American Social Health Association por difundir estas instruções cristãs que ensinaram os seus pais a educá-los sexualmente?

« These are (...) recordings on a problem that bothers so many parents today: What should I teach my child about sex? And, particularly, how should I go about it? It's intended for use by parents' organizations and PTA groups, not for children. It's not designed to be followed word for word, but to serve as a basis for discussion as an illustration of how the beautiful story of creation can be told to children in a frank but perfectly natural way that combines both spiritual and biological elements. Only you, the parent, can decide how and when to give these instructions to your child. But these little scenes, by suggesting a phrase or a situation, may make you talk easier. »

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. Golly, dad!

Coleccionáveis dos Anos 40/50:
Record 1 - How Babies are Born
Record 2 - Girls and Menstruation
Record 3 - The Problem With Growing Boys
Record 4 - The Marriage Union

There's no place like America.

Every sperm is sacred, às 9 da noite de domingo, 26 de Agosto, na Rádio Universidade de Coimbra - 107.9 FM ou online.