A review by thecommonswings
The Dark Domain by Stefan Grabiński

5.0

Quite the thing: as fascinated by the interior machinations of the mind (and both the mind of the ostensibly upstanding members of society and those who are damaged, and particularly the inevitable overlap between the two) as forces from elsewhere, Grabinski manages to create stories that feel somehow *like* existing weird fiction but are also completely and utterly unique. He’s fascinated by interiors - houses, the mind, the heart of the city, train carriages - and how those are under attack by others and yourself. A good deal of these stories are tales of madness, but a madness not usually touched on in fiction - the triggers are about dualities, literal and figurative. Lusts and fears become personified, terrified people find their worst fears and greatest desires are closely entwined and through it all there’s a mordant, black humour that makes the stories especially memorable. There’s a fascinating afterword in this edition that connects the story The Area to Catherine Storr’s Marianne Dreams and particularly the film Paper House... and it’s a really clever thing to draw parallels with. They’re very much shared obsessions as are the films of Polanski, as the introduction points out. In his own way, Grabinski must cast a long shadow but an entirely unique one. Remarkable stuff