Even with context, I'm not sure what to make of this quote (http://www.livejournal.com/users/substitute/330509.html). It resists falling into the trap of happy people/endings are stupid, although the odour is detectable.
I see why you reread it a lot. There's something powerful there but also a paradox, and I am suspicious of paradox, as it can sometimes be the cheap road to apparent profundity.
The main problem is that juvenile minds don't like happy endings. Adolescents (of any age) are hungry for experience, and thus sure to be fans of nihilistic darkness -- not seeing the satire in works like Fight Club or Neuromancer. Yes, some 8-year-old girls won't like sad endings. But anyone of age who still clings to such stories knows, at some level, exactly what they're doing. The unspoken premise, that people like Gaitskill rarely pick up on: they accepted the mundanity of their real lives a long time ago. I can't bear the sadness of a middle-aged woman who has a dozen Mickey Mouse branded items on her desk.
And in a way, Gaitskill is preserving one hope of the adolescent. Shrugging off all evidence, all disppointments, and all discomforts, she still clings to the hope of transcendence. Clings to it with the tenacity of an ice-climber.
Some days, that seems like nobility to me, other days, vanity.
Suffering isn't vanity, it's truth. The "suffering" that wealthy children complain of is not what adults and less lucky children experience.
Happy people and happy endings aren't stupid. They are, however, inaccurate and not serious.
When you find yourself using words like "unspoken" and starting sentences with "in a way" it makes me tired. The only common thread I can find in the things to which you object is that they are clever and written by someone else.
And "devils advocate" disclaimers are just trying to have it both ways.
Both ways... well let me explain. I identify a *lot* with what she said. At least in that piece. But that makes me a bit suspicious, especially since when externalized in that piece it seemed to skirt close, but not quite, to being a philosophy of futility. Lately I've decided to assume life isn't futile, and I'm on the lookout for ways out.
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Date: 2004-01-31 03:42 pm (UTC)I see why you reread it a lot. There's something powerful there but also a paradox, and I am suspicious of paradox, as it can sometimes be the cheap road to apparent profundity.
The main problem is that juvenile minds don't like happy endings. Adolescents (of any age) are hungry for experience, and thus sure to be fans of nihilistic darkness -- not seeing the satire in works like Fight Club or Neuromancer. Yes, some 8-year-old girls won't like sad endings. But anyone of age who still clings to such stories knows, at some level, exactly what they're doing. The unspoken premise, that people like Gaitskill rarely pick up on: they accepted the mundanity of their real lives a long time ago. I can't bear the sadness of a middle-aged woman who has a dozen Mickey Mouse branded items on her desk.
And in a way, Gaitskill is preserving one hope of the adolescent. Shrugging off all evidence, all disppointments, and all discomforts, she still clings to the hope of transcendence. Clings to it with the tenacity of an ice-climber.
Some days, that seems like nobility to me, other days, vanity.
btw
Date: 2004-01-31 03:48 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-01-31 04:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-31 05:05 pm (UTC)It was a bit overreaching. I think I was really talking about myself, you can see my reply to ignatz below.
I disagree in every way.
Date: 2004-01-31 04:38 pm (UTC)Happy people and happy endings aren't stupid. They are, however, inaccurate and not serious.
When you find yourself using words like "unspoken" and starting sentences with "in a way" it makes me tired. The only common thread I can find in the things to which you object is that they are clever and written by someone else.
And "devils advocate" disclaimers are just trying to have it both ways.
Re: I disagree in every way.
Date: 2004-01-31 05:03 pm (UTC)So I pushed back on it, incoherently perhaps.