Bodies, the rest, and emotion
Jennie Kermode
at the moment," said Korin the other day, over tea. He's right, but I
wonder why. It rather seems to me that as it's aged this newsgroup has
lost some of its goths but crept ever more toward the gothic. This may
be an artefact of our times; although the millenium has turned, we still
find ourselves living in a fin de siecle society, waiting for a true
post (post) modernism or a singularity (which, even if deadly, would rid
us of the weight of our responsibility like all those seductive 1980s
post-Apocalyptic dreams). We're speaking in gothic like the Romantics
were, or the damaged survivors of the Great War. And here, no doubt,
that voice is heard louder than elsewhere.
Bodies - and, in particular, the mortality, morbidity and
mutability of the body - have always been a gothic subject; in that
respect the Lady Gaga and Caster Semenya threads are just following in
the wake of the roar of a big machine. So I wonder what other classics
we're catching hints of here, or what's likely to fit. Where are the
outsider, the poisoner and the poor doomed fool? I rather think they
venture here without having identified their own relation. Other
visitors may have given us our fill of madness and rather taken the edge
off its romantic associations, and God knows we've had our fill of
swooning would-be heroines.
What's next? What dark omens do we see around us now? What
ancient curses continue to shape our path? Whence the cruel landscapes
we traverse, the extremes that bluff against us? They seem more present
than ever, though some, over time, retreat into that thing called Normal
Life which necessitates denying them, pretending that a little world of
neatly painted houses, daily commutes, smiling families, supermarkets
and television will go on forever. I'm going to a wedding today. Odd
ritual. For others the bells ring brightly; I hear them toll. The
slender band of gold on my finger speaks of history and hunger,
conquest, blood and Moon landings. To give myself away, even
symbolically, is not only unimaginable, it's something I suspect I lack
the power to do. Perhaps being a goth is a choice, but how about being
gothic? I put on a cheerful blue dress; I put on some respectable
make-up, and a smile; I still feel the same. After all, disguises have
their own place in gothic tradition.
Jennie
--
Jennie Kermode
jen...@innocent.com
www.jenniekermode.com
The Exiled, V.2
Kermode"@triffid.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Bodies - and, in particular, the mortality, morbidity and
>mutability of the body - have always been a gothic subject; in that
>respect the Lady Gaga and Caster Semenya threads are just following in
>the wake of the roar of a big machine. So I wonder what other classics
>we're catching hints of here, or what's likely to fit. Where are the
>outsider, the poisoner and the poor doomed fool? I rather think they
>venture here without having identified their own relation. Other
>visitors may have given us our fill of madness and rather taken the edge
>off its romantic associations, and God knows we've had our fill of
>swooning would-be heroines.
Ha! If anyone would take the role, I would take the one of the
Outsider. I find it impossible to feel comfortable with the closest of
friends or the most welcoming of subcultures. An essential connection
with humanity oft seems to be missing from my social context. I don't,
have not, and never will be settled with the company of others, even
someone who I love as dearly as I do my wife.
> What's next? What dark omens do we see around us now? What
>ancient curses continue to shape our path? Whence the cruel landscapes
>we traverse, the extremes that bluff against us?
My world is increasingly swallowed by the Night, a victim of graveyard
shifts and the long hours associated with them. Colored by flickering
and harsh sodium light, everything begins to obtain the shades and
overtones of a purple and lurid world, built of Chandleresque poetics
and cynical overtones traced with morbid streaks.
Joseph Brenner
Jennie Kermode <"Jennie Kermode"@triffid.demon.co.uk> writes:
> Bodies - and, in particular, the mortality, morbidity and
> mutability of the body - have always been a gothic subject; in that
> respect the Lady Gaga and Caster Semenya threads are just following in
> the wake of the roar of a big machine.
kest
>
> Ha! If anyone would take the role, I would take the one of the
> Outsider. I find it impossible to feel comfortable with the closest of
> friends or the most welcoming of subcultures. An essential connection
> with humanity oft seems to be missing from my social context. I don't,
> have not, and never will be settled with the company of others, even
> someone who I love as dearly as I do my wife.
>
suspect we actually have the solution to that problem, possibly at the
bottom of a bottle of Trid's special squeezins.
k, following Brenner's track through old threads
Joseph Brenner
kest <ke...@removethedamnspamtrap.nettrip.org> writes:
> k, following Brenner's track through old threads
Hey, my threads aren't *that* old. (Have you been talking to Dangerbaby?)
Endymion
wrote:
What leads you to assume it's a problem?
- E
Peter H. Coffin
social context" sounds like an expression of a problem.
--
It seems that we were audited recently, and the auditors found a certain
'f' word in the comments of a configuration file, and deemed that this
is a 'security risk'.
-- Paul Fenwick
The Exiled, V.2
I would love to attend more Convergences, but there's this ever-present
problem called "money, the lack thereof" that makes it difficult. Your
solution is tempting, but I know what's at the bottom of that bottle.
It's "Wow, everyone is really hot and I'm going to fuck all of them.
Wait. Shit. Can't move or speak. Damn." My inebriation can be rather
embarrassing before I reach the immobility point.
--
---
Regards,
The Exiled, V.2
“You are a lawyer, you ought to know the correlation of facts; you
ought to know that two and two make four, not sometimes but all the
time.”
- Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, The 'Thinking Machine'
The Exiled, V.2
> On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 09:25:23 -0800 (PST), Endymion wrote:
>> On Oct 25, 1:15 am, kest<k...@removethedamnspamtrap.nettrip.org>
>> wrote:
>>> You. Are a dork and need to come to more convergences. I strongly
>>> suspect we actually have the solution to that problem, possibly at the
>>> bottom of a bottle of Trid's special squeezins.
>>
>> What leads you to assume it's a problem?
>
> "An essential connection with humanity oft seems to be missing from my
> social context" sounds like an expression of a problem.
Less of a problem, more of an annoyance.
Something is only a problem to me when it interferes with job productivity.