Reading Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend," I can't help but feel that I found this book at just the right time in my life. Matheson's skillful portrayal of life after all pretense of normality and hope have been obliterated is wrenching stuff: a nightmarish metaphor for isolation if there ever was one. I get the feeling Matheson felt this novel while he was writing it. He'd been there. He knew the territory.
He knew perfectly well that the vampires were real.
Psychic vampires are definitely real. They'll suck the energy right out of you. I had an encounter with one a couple of months ago and for a while, I couldn't realize why I felt so abnormally fatigued. I don't usually fatigue easily and I didn't feel sick. I only realized it must have been this guy I encountered at a store after wondering about it quite a while. There are even books about psychic vampires. I don't know about the actual Lestat/Dracula blood-sucking type, though....
ReplyDeleteOh, I wasn't talking about anything so lavish as psychic vampires. Just good old crashing bores do the trick for me.
ReplyDeleteI came across an interview with Matheson in which he was asked about the "metaphorical" dimensions of I am Legend.
ReplyDeleteHe replied by telling the interviewer to move to a large city, wait for a wide-scale blackout and then to go and stand outside, anywhere, unarmed.
Just wait, Matheson said, and you will see if I am writing metaphor.
this is such a great book. the chapter with the dog was especially heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteHe replied by telling the interviewer to move to a large city, wait for a wide-scale blackout and then to go and stand outside, anywhere, unarmed.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!