And it hurts with every heartbeat
It's not often I stumble on new blogs - and far rare that I stumble on blogs I instantly love, but Voyou Desœvré (via Mark) is one of the best things I've read all year. The fact that they have extremely cogent and entertaining things to say about House and sad songs only sweetens the pot; the latter in particular is germane enough to my taste in music (and possible upcoming posts on my year-end list) that I feel the need to post the good bit here:
Talking to a friend a while ago, he expressed surprise when I said that I found, in sad music, not tears and catharsis, but an odd sort of strength, or even cheer. “But listen to Miles Davis playing Concierto de Aranjuez,” he said; “how can you not feel the bleakness, the absolute despair in that record?” But what stops it short of being absolute despair is precisely the fact that it is a record. It’s not simply the bleak fact of despair, but a representation of despair; hence proof that something can be done with sadness. This kind of sublimation is not a theodicy, at least not in the traditional sense. The brute fact of suffering is not justified by the brute fact of redemption, rather, redemption, or the closest we can get to it, comes through the fact that suffering can be interpreted, that the fact that we suffer never determines what we then do with that suffering.
Yes. Just Yes.
Talking to a friend a while ago, he expressed surprise when I said that I found, in sad music, not tears and catharsis, but an odd sort of strength, or even cheer. “But listen to Miles Davis playing Concierto de Aranjuez,” he said; “how can you not feel the bleakness, the absolute despair in that record?” But what stops it short of being absolute despair is precisely the fact that it is a record. It’s not simply the bleak fact of despair, but a representation of despair; hence proof that something can be done with sadness. This kind of sublimation is not a theodicy, at least not in the traditional sense. The brute fact of suffering is not justified by the brute fact of redemption, rather, redemption, or the closest we can get to it, comes through the fact that suffering can be interpreted, that the fact that we suffer never determines what we then do with that suffering.
Yes. Just Yes.
yes!
you know how much i love sad music ...
just found yr blog - i like it!
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:33 PM
I had no idea you had one! I'll have to bookmark it when I get back home. So, back in Guelph for the new year?
Posted by
Ian |
10:18 PM