In Zona, Geoff Dyer claims that a work of art that changes your DNA can only be experienced at a young age, typically in your teens or twenties, and cannot happen later in life. For him, that work of art is the 1979 sci-fi masterpiece Stalker, written and directed by the legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.
I wasn’t particularly interested in reading about Stalker since I hadn’t seen it, but when I picked up Zona in the bookstore, I could not put it down. The film’s influence on Dyer is evident as he passionately and carefully summarizes its story and meaning. He analyzes not only every reel of the film but also the challenges (and there were many) of making it.
His love of this film is the basis for analogies, metaphors, and associations with art and life. The film leads him to Burning Man, Nabokov, Kafka, Antonioni, Fitzgerald, Nosferatu, The Brothers Karamazov, Solaris, L’Avventura, The Italian Job, Henry James, the Hopi, Buster Keaton, Flaubert, Roland Barthes, Daniel Day-Lewis, and on and on.
He suggests that this film, with its slow pace, has given him a deeper appreciation for art and for allowing a story to unfold. This, he laments, is not something available in movies today. But he did not love Stalker when he first saw it; in fact, he was a little bored, but “it was an experience I couldn’t shake off.”
The title Zona refers to the mythical Zone in the film, where your innermost desires will be granted. Dyer’s deepest desire appears to have been sleeping with two women at once. I mention this because it’s revealing and humorous, but it also reflects the wild honesty of his writing.
If you haven’t seen this film, I suggest you read this book before you do. If you have seen it, this book will change or reinforce your impression of a fascinating movie.
There’s a sense of going over the edge in Dyer’s writing, which often reads like a revealing memoir. He is so original that I can’t think of another writer who reaches his state of unforgettable madness.
For me, Dyer lifts Tarkovsky to the level of Homer, in the sense that Stalker encompasses history, myth, and a fantastical journey that only art can communicate.
Find Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room by Geoff Dyer on Audiobooks, Amazon/Audible, and Bookstores who are not Amazon.
Learn more about Geoff Dyer and Zona on NPR
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