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Episode 444 - Mr. Arcularis (Patreon)

Published:
2019-03-23 02:25:00
Edited:
2024-12-12 19:03:28
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

Get sad with us as we talk Mr. Arcularis by Conrad Aiken.

Special thanks to our reader Sellers Burgener!

Next up: The Floor Above by M.L. Humphries

Comments

das Leid

Just got the notification while listening to Strategies again (from Youtube because you reminded me about it).... what a co-ink-i-dink..

Markus Lauerer

Really good episode! For another take on the dying in hospital/last journey trope, you might want to check out "The South" by Jorge Luis Borges. It has a similar elegiac atmosphere to it but is an even better story overall, in my opinion. Oh, and thanks for getting that insidious Mr. Mistoffelees song stuck in my head.

Hermagoras (pronounced HerMAgoras)

This was a brilliant episode. I could see where the story was going, but you unpacked it so well, and there were so many observations that stuck with me. I'm going to talk about the emotional impact of this episode in a separate comment, but I want to say something about how you've improved my teaching. (I'm a university professor.) You both have a way of connecting the stories to real life through off-the-cuff observations. In this episode, there was the notion that there are only a few types of people you meet in life, as well as the kind of "don't listen to me" comment that an older person might make to a young person. I don't know, but I have found myself doing a lot more of that in my teaching -- looking for those moments of connection to the everyday. You both do this very well, and I find myself thinking that I don't do that enough. Thank you.

Hermagoras (pronounced HerMAgoras)

OK, on the emotional hit. I got choked up when you did, Chad. I was wearing headphones in my kitchen, and I just had to sit down and grab a Kleenex. I've had a lot of encounters with or near death in recent years. A couple of years ago I went to the hospital, had emergency surgery, almost died, and may still die from that diagnosis. I am very familiar with the story's sense of living a life posthumously: that you've seen it all. Also, my own father died from brain cancer almost 7 years ago. The time between diagnosis and death was only 15 days, but I did get to see him and say goodbye. He was very reserved in his life but was emotionally open toward the end (until he could no longer speak). I have found myself much more able to be authentically emotional in recent years, after my father's death and after my own near death. The passion toward the end of the story made me think of that. Maybe this story wouldn't work as well with young readers, but for me, at 54, both the story and your sensitive and honest treatment of it hit the mark.

Shana Carter

I was so relieved when you mentioned "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" near the end of the episode, because while reading the story I kept thinking, "It's 'Owl Creek Bridge' on a boat." "Mr. Arcularis" also reminded me of two Powell-Pressburger movies: "A Matter of Life and Death" (AKA "Stairway to Heaven"), starring David Niven as a WWII pilot who has a series of death dreams after surviving a plane crash that should have killed him, and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," in which Deborah Kerr plays three women who are important to the main character — she's who I pictured as Clarice Dean.

John Glacken

I really want to congratulate you two on this episode. I even felt a bit choked up with Chad there! Really one of the best of the entire podcast and an author and story I am so thankful to have been informed of.

Raoul Kunz

All my sympathies go to Chad here, I too was not there, actually I was, of all places, at school when my father died back in '01. But what really truly gets me here is (of course, I mentioned it before...) how "real" the percpetion of coming death or rather the "on the brink of passing on" evoked here seems (to me that is). When we just leave out the ship... and the girl... and the people... so pretty much everything ...err...-_- except the "feeling" it creates, I was there and I felt as if I knew the exact feelings of Mr. Arcularis and this weird (hoho) feeling of peacefully letting go. Which of course is only a function of the story activating my ...err... memories?...of the NDE-bright-shining-darkness-thing-state ;). Still it's almost creepy... okay scratch that it IS creepy just how familiar everything described in the story feels... Thanks for choosing it it's you guys who expose me all the time to stories I just HAVE to read ;). You're my curated guide to weird fiction! ;) Best regards Raoul G. Kunz

Steve

I enjoyed this dive into quiet melancholy, and quite a long way from William Golding's Pincher Martin whose "drowned body lies rolling in the Atlantic but [whose] ravenous ego invents a rock for him to endure on."

Tara Murphy

Love and hugs to Chad. My father died alone in his room as I slept down the hall. We didn't discover him until the next morning. I heard him heading to bed, and I must have been awake when he died as he got ready for bed. I hate the thought of him being panicked and afraid and alone in his last moments. I am glad your dad had your mom with him, but I expect the fear is inevitable. Death is just stupid and unfair, and I hope you never feel bad about feeling empathy and sorrow.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I am so glad that you gentlemen have gotten to the point where you could not only record this episode, but release it. Kudos to you both. There is nothing so universal as the profoundly personal. My closest experiences with dying family members are quite different from what you have described. One grandmother struggled with death only long enough to extract a promise from my mother and me that wee would not allow anyone to prolong her life. Promise made, she went quickly and utterly at peace. Another grandmother is in hospice now. Her thoughts: "I am ready to go home to Jesus, but he doesn't want me yet." This makes her sad. The last death was more personal and more terrible; self-directed. And that one, well, I wish only for a time machine so that I could make sure the death didn't happen alone. Wishing you both all good things.

G. Monaldo

Dear Chad, thank you for sharing what was in your heart. Literature is often just inane purple prose and recycled tropes, and other times it is an avalanche of awakened emotions, thoughts, and catharsis. Your reaction to this is part of the reason why anyone would ever want to read about things that didn't happen and people who never existed, why fiction can sometimes be important.

Lars Backstrom

This was a very moving episode. Dear Chad, it takes great courage to do what you did. Thank you both for deciding to share this intensely personal moment with us.

Jon Hancock

A tremendous and very moving episode, gents. The mention of his father's house sounded rather religious to me, the idea of death being the return to a creator. The journeying through space was a surprisingly common theme in scientific romances, particularly some of those attempting to tackle how science and religion could coexist. Camille Flammarion was one of several authors who considered the idea of souls being reincarnated on other worlds, so heaven was, in effect, another planet. Perhaps there's an element of that here, with the soul beginning to slip free of its shackles.

Brittney Elmer

I saw Clarice Dean symbolizing not only childhood but possibility. Standing at the edge of oblivion with her, Mr. Arcularis seems to get a glimpse of what might have been. Maybe when we die, we don’t see our life flash before our eyes but get to stroll along a path we didn’t take.

Ravewolf

I don't always have patience with familiar tropes, but the writing elevated this one so much that I could not help but be drawn into it. It reads a bit like a of those later British stories by someone like Robert Aikman, that is full heavy symbolism. But it's a but different. Those stories are often a mix of awkwardness combined with fatalism, while this story seems more contemplative and less menacingly cold.

Allison Albright

What a beautiful story. I really enjoyed the discussion about it and about death, dying and loss. I've enjoyed reading the comments on this episode as well, which have all been been insightful and sensitive. I think one of the purest and most beautiful things about humanity is our ability to find empathy and connection with each other through our shared experiences of loss - and how nearly universal it is among humans to want to provide comfort in the face of another’s pain.

Cacodaemoniacal

First: I’m sort of overwhelmed by the love and honesty in this thread. It's lovely to watch unfold. I lost my father, and due to a flurry of accidents he was alone. Now I feel a bit soldiered up. Death may be a banal tragedy, but is still a tragedy. Humble thank you. Pause… Now story: Language is Aiken’s lap dog. He can make it walk on stilts and dance any dance he wants it to. but he does this so gracefully and dexterously I was enchanted despite myself. Mind you, I knew where the story was going (we all knew what bus we were on) but the route was so beautiful and creatively driven, and there were so many interesting things to look at and consider, that I did a sort of trust fall backward into it. Clarice represents so many things, unconditional love, Intelligent regard, his mother, his past loves, a golden childhood, an angel, his body, and animas…. Gaaah! I loved this story!

Eldritch Scerry

So many callbacks that could've been (and are). Besides the eponymous reference to "Polaris" (ep. 4) this work navigates the same waters as HPL's "Silver Key" (ep. 48) and the hardening of Randolph Carter in Middle Age. Fast forward to Part 2 of Innsmouth (ep. 85), where our hosts learn they're in their "Get Ready for Dying 30s," AND NOW are in their "Haven't Really Died Yet 40s." I'm also left to wonder at the similarities from MareVemMare's "Out of the Deep" (ep. 379) and "All Hallows" (ep. 378). I LOVE DEAN!

Richard Horsman

So if Arcularis means "of the little box" could this story also be called "Death: Boxworthy"?

Kevin Gidusko

Lost my mother recently and this one hurt to listen to. Chad, thanks for keeping the pain there, I think many of us were able to connect to it. And it helped.

Ko-Wahi Kit

Like a lot of listeners I also sympathize with you Chad. My dad died suddenly my senior year of high school. I don’t remember a lot from that year, and I wasn’t present when he passed, but I got pulled out of school and arrived in time to see him on the ambulance gurney in the hospital. I often wonder what passed through his mind as he went. Thankfully my mom was there when it happened, but I still wish I could have been there with him. Anyways, you realize after something like this that the Dead Parent Club is something a lot of people are a part of. I know myself and several people out there who find comfort knowing we’re amongst the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, and most of the superhero population. Thanks for putting your pain into this show, it means a lot to those of us who know what it’s like.

Andrew M. Reichart

Also of note: I've enjoyed every episode, but you guys do come up with some especially good stuff when you're covering especially good stories. Not always easy to know how good a story's gonna be, but other folks with a rep like Aiken's are likely to have some really badass stuff you could cover. This partly comes to mind because this morning I was listening to an interview with another Georgia author, Michael Wehunt, who's known for his especially beautiful prose in stories that are often ostensibly weird fiction. He cited Flannery O'Connor, Shirley Jackson, and Robert Aickman as major influences, and those three are all dead, so they're eligible (tho I dunno how readily available their stuff is for free).

Ben Gilbert

Aiken's grave, in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, was mentioned in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. His tombstone is in the shape of a bench so people can sit and enjoy the cemetery's peace and beauty.

Tara Murphy

Does anyone have any hints on where I can find a copy of the next story?

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

Vaguely on topic for this story and for Dreamland fans: today I happened upon this article from earlier this week about the weird dreams of a man who was medically kept unconscious for three weeks because of complications from heart surgery: "There is no set order to most of the dreams I experienced during my hospital stay, but I do recall how they began: in a world of rust and crimson dust, the air dry, the skies the color of mud. I sat inside a dilapidated storefront in front of a static-filled television, watching for some sign that society was more than mute things scuttling in the dark." <a href="https://kotaku.com/the-dreams-of-a-man-asleep-for-three-weeks-1833572960" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://kotaku.com/the-dreams-of-a-man-asleep-for-three-weeks-1833572960</a>

Stacy Schumacher

Upon reflection, maybe listening to this episode in a busy airport gate wasn't the best decision. Argh! Well, actually, I agree that a few tears aren't actually something for people to be embarrassed about or consider it a childish reaction. Empathy is a pretty useful thing for us humans to have, and I'm thankful that you shared this story, your reactions to it, and the other comments here.

Matt Bustin

Really nice show guys, keep them coming as I think the podcast has been on a golden streak for awhile now. It’s been a while since my dad died but I can sympathise, getting to say goodbye in the right way is for the movies and a lucky few. I think Christopher Hitchens had it pretty close when he said something along the lines that the worst thing about dying is knowing that the party is going to keep on going without you, trying to comprehend that is pretty tough and once you hit your forties it’s easy to feel like time is speeding up. How the hell have I been listening to this podcast for a decade!?!

Devin Morse

My paternal grandfather died of a brain tumor. I heard that on his deathbed he was beyond lucidity yet showed signs of agitation, and my father/aunt told him, "It's alright, dad: just let go."

Lumphammer

This is such a beautiful story. There are other stories with the same idea, but this one is so beautiful, it's like a rendition of a favourite song. And Chad, thank you for being willing to share. <3

Jake Wilson

Your author biography at the beginning gave me a lot of clues to the themes of this story, having myself read a lot of Jung while at art school then learning about psychodynamics later in life while studying psychology and subsequently taking a course in counselling skills. Clarice reminded me of the Anima, the concept of the vitality of a person's life buried in their subconscious and constructed partly from life-affirming figures met during life. The Freudian take on that was hugely shaped by the maternal relationship and, for a heterosexual man, the other women he's shared intimacies with. The passionate embrace with the Anima could be seen as Mr A coming to a level of self-perception and acceptance after confessing his unspecified guilt, confession being 'good for the soul' and an important part of the journey onwards to death. Mr A finds he can be at peace with himself in a way he presumably couldn't in life, he re-assimilates the essence of his childhood by dismissing the gap of years between himself and the woman who not only reminds him of that time but was born from it and thereafter became a separate entity within his psyche, possibly seeming forever lost to him in the adult life he grew into. As you both mentioned, adulthood is so often framed as the opposite of childhood yet each of us is merely the child we were in a different body with different restrictions on our behaviour and more responsibilities. It seems like we're supposed to forget childhood and renounce but it's surely a mistake to do so. Allowing our emotions to surface (as Chad admirably demonstrated - I salute you for that) is perhaps a way to live better, or at least more congruently and become more in touch with who we are and with those around us. A textbook psychodynamics view. Our modern western culture tries to hide death but we all face it eventually. By hiding it, not discussing it or thinking about it constructively, we rob ourselves of the beauty and meaning death gives to life - perhaps the only thing we'll ever know or truly own.

Jake Wilson

P.S. My comment became much longer than I expected, an indication of how deep the story was and how good the discussions were both in the show and here in the comments. I'm a long-time listener, occasional commenter, very much enjoying catching up after circumstances prevented me listening for a couple of years.

Tommy Smith

This episode hits hard. It genuinely brought tears to my eyes. A truly beautiful yet melancholic story and what a wonderfully bittersweet episode too. I immediately called my parents to tell them I loved them as soon as the show ended. Thank you Chris and Chad. This is an all timer for me.