The opening story in “The Weird” is an excerpt from “The Other Side”
by Alfred Kubin, first published in 1908. I have no knowledge of the traditions
in European literature at the time of its publication and this is the first
time I’ve encountered Alfred Kubin as a writer. I opted for an open
interpretation of this text without any prior research, which might have helped
me say something accurate as to the meaning of his work. The only text
discussing “The Other Side” that I have read is Maureen Kincaid Speller’sexcellent take on the excerpt.
Weird Wednesday’s purpose as a feature is to allow the stories to
speak to me and “The Other Side” has proven to be vocal. After the initial
reading, I willingly accepted the reality that had befallen the city of Pearl,
where an epidemic of sleep knocked out the city’s whole population for several
days. However, the mysterious and highly contagious disease functions as a
means to set the stage for an inevitable rebellion, instigated and flawlessly
executed by all members of the animal kingdom.
In a grandiose and all-devouring display of dominance, the city of
Pearl wakes to swarms and herds and prides and packs and flocks of beastly
conquerors, who have overthrown humans. At his stage “The Other Side” reads as
an environmentalist's wish fulfillment fantasy come to life, yet, reading this
excerpt as nothing more than the literal would be insulting to the potency of
the prose and its latter direction.
The 'weird' in this tale has rooted itself within the nameless protagonist's
delivery, who serves as a vessel for the reader’s senses. This man collects
'slices of life' encounters between the old and the new citizens of Pearl,
neatly chaining one with the other complete with observations. What causes
surprise here is not so much the abrupt uprising of the natural world, but the still,
calm 'matter-of-fact' reception of these apocalyptic events by the population.
It is this peculiar juxtaposition between the dangerous outside world, where
one might become prey no matter the hiding place, and the pacified calmness
displayed by the citizens, who insist on keeping up with appearances no matter
what, that tilts the reader’s perception of how reality functions in the Dream
Realm.
This tilted reality can be likened to the absurd logic, on which
dreams run. In this direct sense, I'm reminded of Paul Jessup's stories in his
collection “Glass Coffin Girls”, where our reality rots and transforms into a
reflection from a carnival mirror. Certainly, the sickness that affects manmade
objects supports the idea of how reality erodes. Perhaps the denizens of Pearl
and the Dream Realm haven't woken from their slumber, but have only achieved consciousness
in a never-ending shared dream.
The possibilities for interpretation are countless, because Kubin
didn't intend to rationalize the bizarre fate to befall Pearl. However, the
strongest association I make with everything that has transpired within the
excerpt concerns themes in Bulgarian literature and models in behavior during
the centuries of enslavement by the Turks and then decades under the communism.
I’m rather surprised how well “The Other Side” is in dialogue with the peculiarities
in works by a great number of revolutionary writers and poets as well as the
psychological survival tactics the Bulgarian society had to adopt in order for
its identity to withstand the occupation during those two periods.
For instance, the concept of sleep on a mass scale, such as Kubin’s sleep
epidemic, has a rich history in Bulgarian literary traditions as willful
surrender of the conscious mind. During the centuries under Ottoman rule,
Bulgarian writers and poets used the 'sleep' to criticize society for their
complacency and slave mentality, even though Kubin’s sleep epidemic doesn’t
serve as such within the context in the excerpt. Further touching points
between Bulgaria and Kubin can be found within the need to maintain normalcy
under any and all conditions, even if that is impossible. This persistence to
keep a semblance of what Pearl used to be while under the constant animal
attacks and demolition can be compared to the same efforts Bulgarians had to
make during the Ottoman occupation. The animals represent not only the fear of
the citizens, but serves as masks that show the true nature of the human
oppressors. For me this association is easy to make, because anthropomorphism
has its place in our literary traditions and is still practiced today [even
though we use it to bring diversity to our swear language]. Last on the list
here is the narrator's psychological breakdown near the excerpt's end. It
neatly embodies the inner discord of a person, who hopes and thinks and tries
to resist a status quo, even if that desire is expressed through his heart's
true intentions.
I will conclude by saying that “The Other Side” by Alfred Kubin is an
extremely potent story, mainly because it's represented not in its entirety. There
is no clear way to define the proper dimensions of this story, which I don’t
mind, because it allows for the reader’s imagination to fill in the blanks. As
an excerpt “The Other Side” remains limitless, irreal and opulent as a dream.
In short, a fine way to open a compendium dedicated to the all-encompassing
weird.
