#lyrical and critical essays

[acknowledgetheabsurd]

Happy birthday to Albert Camus!

(November 7, 1913 - January 4, 1960)

"In this light and silence, years of night and fury melted slowly away. I listened to an almost forgotten sound within myself, as if my heart had long been stopped and was now gently beginning to beat again."

Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays (Return to Tipasa)

#albert camus #camus #absurd #absurdism #camus birthday #camus photo #light #silence #night #sound #heart #begining #beginning to beat again #lyrical and critical essays #return to tipasa #signature

[quotessentially]

From Albert Camus’s “Helen’s Exile” in Lyrical and Critical Essays

#quote #quotes #Albert Camus #Lyrical and Critical Essays #words #books #philosophy

[philosophybitmaps]

#philosophy #quotes #Albert Camus #Lyrical and Critical Essays #Camus #life #hope #afterlife #immortality #perspective #awareness #focus #present

[nicklloydnow]

“Millions of eyes, I knew, had gazed at this landscape, and for me it was like the first smile of the sky. It took me out of myself in the deepest sense of the word. It assured me that but for my love and the wondrous cry of these stones, there was no meaning in anything. The world is beautiful, and outside it there is no salvation. The great truth that it patiently taught me is that the mind is nothing, nor even the heart. And that the stone warmed by the sun or the cypress tree shooting up against the suddenly clear sky mark the limits of the only universe in which "being right" is meaningful: nature without men. And this world annihilates me. It carries me to the end. It denies me without anger. As that evening fell over Florence, I was moving toward a wisdom where everything had already been overcome, except that tears came into my eyes and a great sob of poetry welling up within me made me forget the world's truth.

It is on this moment of balance I must end: the strange moment when spirituality rejects ethics, when happiness springs from the absence of hope, when the mind finds its justification in the body. If it is true that every truth carries its bitterness within, it is also true that every denial contains a flourish of affirmations. And this song of hopeless love born in contemplation may also seem the most effective guide for action. As he emerges from the tomb, the risen Christ of Piero della Francesca has no human expression on his face—only a fierce and soulless grandeur that I cannot help taking for a resolve to live. For the wise man, like the idiot, expresses little. The reversion delights me.

But do I owe this lesson to Italy, or have I drawn It from my own heart? It was surely in Italy that I became aware of it. But this is because Italy, like other privileged places, offers me the spectacle of a beauty in which, nonetheless, men die. Here again truth must decay, and what is more exalting? Even if I long for it, what have I in common with a truth that is not destined to decay? It is not on my scale. And to love it would be pretense. People rarely understand that it is never through despair that a man gives up what constituted his life. Impulses and moments of despair lead toward other lives and merely indicate a quivering attachment to the lessons of the earth. But it can happen that when he reaches a certain degree of lucidity a man feels his heart is closed, and without protest or rebellion turns his back on what up to then he had taken for his life, that is to say, his restlessness. If Rimbaud dies in Abyssinia without having written a single line, it is not because he prefers adventure or has renounced literature. It is because "that's how things are," and because when we reach a certain stage of awareness we finally acknowledge something which each of us, according to our particular vocation, seeks not to understand. This clearly involves undertaking the survey of a certain desert. But this strange desert is accessible only to those who can live there in the full anguish of their thirst. Then, and only then, is it peopled with the living waters of happiness.

Within reach of my hand, in the Boboll gardens, hung enormous golden Chinese persimmons whose bursting skin oozed a thick syrup. Between this light hill and these juicy fruits, between the secret brotherhood linking me to the world and the hunger urging me to seize the orange-colored flesh above my hand, I could feel the tension that leads certain men from asceticism to sensual delights and from self-denial to the fullness of desire. I used to wonder, I still wonder at this bond that unites man with the world, this double image in which my heart can intervene and dictate its happiness up to the precise limit where the world can either fulfill or destroy it. Florence! One of the few places in Europe where I have understood that at the heart of my revolt consent is dormant. In its sky mingled with tears and sunlight, I learned to consent to the earth and be consumed in the dark flame of its celebrations. I felt. . .but what word can I use? What excess? How can one consecrate the harmony of love and revolt? The earth! In this great temple deserted by the gods, all my idols have feet of clay.” - Albert Camus, ‘Lyrical and Critical Essays’ (1967) [p. 103 - 105]

#camus #albert camus #lyrical and critical essays #desert #truth #earth #absurdism #manson #charles manson

[beguines]

The world is beautiful, and outside it there is no salvation.

Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays, trans. Ellen Conroy Kennedy

#albert camus #lyrical and critical essays

[symphonyoflovenet]

Once you have had the chance to love intensely, your life is spent in search of the same light and the same ardor.

Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays

#Albert Camus #lit #literature #quotes #quote #text #life #inspiration #motivation #Lyrical and Critical Essays

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

But what is happiness except a simple harmony between man and the life he leads?

from Lyrical and Critical Essays by Albert Camus

#lyrical and critical essays #lyrical #lyrical essays #critical #critical essays #albert camus #camus #happiness #simple #harmony #the life we lead #the life we live #the lives we lead #the lives we live #absurd #existential

[fernvictor]

i need to have a long conversation with kyle of dbmk about how he would feel abt us discussing the band's older work in a video essay

#we have a rllyyyy good video essay idea that is somewhat critical but is mainly an exploration of lyrical themes #but considering the way dbmk has scrubbed some of their old image (which tbf has Nothing to do with how theyve evolved) #i would like to know what information he does. not want permanently associated with the band #i specify kyle bc the stuff i'm thinking about most irt older stuff with this is pre-colton aka anything to do with the abyss (album) #i would want colton to be there for any collapse-era discussions

[septembersghost]

Yesterday I listened to fine line from top to bottom to celebrate her birthday and I am once again pissed at grammys for snubbing her. Like FL was one of the best albums in 2019-20 and it deserved a nomination for AOTY(we know nothing could beat folklore but FL deserved to be on the list). I don't know how it only got 1 Grammy like........a lot of people found solace in her and she deserved big 4 nominations .

our vibes are so aligned, i listened to it from top to bottom yesterday too! many of the songs are really never out of rotation, but it had been a bit since i'd listened to the album all the way through, and yet again i was struck by what a brilliant record it is. just perfectly crafted from top to bottom; depicts a whole emotional journey; meaningful/insightful lyricism along with the complete bops; rich, quirky, interesting instrumentation/production (the glockenspiel in golden! the submarine and the bass in adore you! the horns in ws! the gospel choir in lights up! the harmonies in cherry! the piano line in falling! the cello in tbsl and when he blows out the match! the dulcimer he learned to play for canyon moon! i could go on!); impeccable vocals. my mom and i were talking about falling and how affecting it still is last week (and how beautiful, especially on headphones), and honestly it's true of fine line as a whole. to begin with golden, which is actual sunshine captured in music, to close with fine line being such a powerful track, both aching and cathartic. the way we'll be alright ended up carrying so many of us.

something i noticed looking at some posts/tweets for fine line yesterday was exactly what you said - so many people found solace in that record, it's like it created a safe, comforting place for us to go and spend some time when the world was heavy. as much as i can't imagine getting through 2020 without folklore, i can't without fine line either (and fine line was already really important to me, even at the end of 2019, the events of 2020 just added depth to that). folklore is a masterpiece and changed the trajectory of taylor's career in some ways, and it's so defining as a piece of art and culture, but that doesn't lessen fine line's worth! i genuinely love hs3 and find it a joy to listen to, but there's something so special and meaningful in fine line. i totally agree it merited more recognition. as his career grows, i wonder if it will be re-evaluated with time, like red has been for taylor (even before red tv). (it's a little wild that its grammy award came for arguably the weakest song on the record, even though it was the most popular. and i am by no means against watermelon sugar, i love it, but! the album is much more than that). the grammys are inexplicable and very political at times, and there's not necessarily rhyme or reason to what they decide is "deserving," as cool as it is to see our faves be nominated/win, the ultimate arbiters of how valuable any music is comes down to what it meant and continues to mean to us. that's the thing i think harry is aware of too, and why he celebrates it with us (the album is yours, i am yours; i love you every day, but especially today; pink and blue forever!), because he realizes how dear it is and that it was a real light amidst a lot of uncertainty and darkness. i'll never forget that.

#harry styles #fine line #i have thoughts about this but i don't want to derail the discussion in the reply itself so i shall tag essay it: #when stevie called fine line his rumours...yeah. and to me fine line is his red. the mastery of it. the depth of emotional highs and lows. #the gorgeous production. the fusion of many genres. #fine line crosses from sparkling pop with r&b influence to 70s rock inspiration to laurel canyon singer songwriter #it captures many different facets of love and self reflection and confessionals #it maps out a story from euphoric to heartbroken to healing #and then hs3 serves as his 1989 pivot. much more pure glistening pop less incisive but more palatable lyrics #massive breakout hit that's absolutely everywhere. new heights of popularity that sadly come with a bit of a downside #a bunch of awards and accolades and critical acclaim in the wake of the previous more intimate record being somewhat overlooked #the mirrors between that are so interesting to me #(adore you is his most perfect pop song like style is taylor's though which is why they match together so flawlessly) #anyway yes anon it's such a gem and i cherish it always #also love how you called fine line 'she' here that's so true she's my confidante she's my sunshine she's one of my best friends #she's so golden she's my strawberry lipstick state of mind my sunflower my sky never looked so blue my sunshine my temptress #she lives in daydreams with me #anonymous #letterbox

[bomnun]

the act of criticizing someone’s writing in a to them foreign language isn’t xenophobic in itself either. saying that something doesn’t make sense or that it sounds off doesn’t necessarily mean you’re only criticizing their language skills… and on top of that I do think that if you’re trying to market your music overseas maybe having a native speaker or someone with a higher language knowledge check the lyrics isn’t a terrible idea ?

#this is really not just about () #they’re the group that made me have this train of thought because their fans claim that any criticism of their lyricism is xenophobic #they can certainly afford to find someone to proofread their stuff #but they just want us to ‘think outside the box and we’ll like it’ #and that main line in nude like it makes sense #it’s coherent but I don’t understand WHY they’re saying it #especially the last part #and I think both nude and tomboy have lyrics that don’t quite connect? #it could be my lacking korean understanding of course #because reading multiple translations and explanations doesn’t make up for not knowing the language in itself #but the execution is very confusing … like I do very much understand what they were trying to do #but I don’t think it fully carries across #people spend way too much brainpower making up what the lyrics are actually about and adding layers that I don’t think were meant to exist #like ive seen essays on the ‘now I draw a luxury nude’ like which doesn’t really connect to the rest of the song at all #it sounds very randomly thrown in #the ideas presented in the essays aren’t particularly referenced in the video either #so people really seem to have made it up out of thin air #okay I went off topic and now I can’t see what I wrote in these tags #but I stand by the fact that people have a right to have opinions on non native speakers english lyrics ??? especially if they’re trying to #market the music to English speakers ??? #also if I’m going to throw in another example I think useog practicing English pronunciation through google translate isn’t great… they need #better English resources

[acknowledgetheabsurd]

"A woman you leave behind to go to the movies, an old man to whom you have stopped listening, a death that redeems nothing, and then, on the other hand, the whole radiance of the world. What difference does it make if you accept everything? Here are three destinies, different and yet alike. Death for us all, but his own death to each. After all, the sun still warms our bones for us."

Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays (Irony)

Photo Credit: literarianist

#albert camus #camus #absurd #absurdism #camus book cover #lyrical and critical essays #resistance rebellion and death #woman #man #death #world #destiny #sun #bones

[quotessentially]

From Albert Camus’s “The Minotaur” in Lyrical and Critical Essays

#quote #quotes #Albert Camus #Lyrical and Critical Essays #words #books #philosophy

[philosophybitmaps]

#philosophy #quotes #Albert Camus #Lyrical and Critical Essays #Camus #life #world #absurdity #experiences #rebellion #revolt #humanity

[gerardpilled]

I want to say thanks for acknowledging and being critical of racism done by MCR band members and racism in the scene in general. I just recently got into MCR a year ago on a deeper scale and I have found many things off putting and kind of yikes. It's nice seeing someone who is critical of what the band members have done in the past and not excusing them and addressing that it was an issue as a whole. I used to be very hateful towards Lindsey but now I realize that it would be hypocritical (I still do not like MSI just due to it not being my taste in music and I don't care for that shock value type lyrics). I was wondering if you know any resources that talk more about racism in the scene? It's something I'd like to know more about

Oh it’s no problem! Thank you for thanking me, but I don’t see myself as doing anything special. I was raised in an environment where I was fortunate enough to be around people and friends who have made me aware of implicit racism -from my self and others- since an early age. Hearing “well, that’s cause you’re white” is a playful joke but it also made me aware of stuff! Just from what I’ve seen in recent years, the shortcomings of white people who are the focus of fandom are often ignored. There’s nothing wrong with pointing out a racist thing your fave said or did because it doesn’t necessarily make them A Racist™️ (sometimes it can). It also helps people recognize the issues before they get worse. POC aren’t a monolith - there are plenty of things disagreed on amongst any community - but there are definitely over arching sentiments.

Anyway, I’m basically just reiterating a bunch of talking points made by poc on here. As for further reading, I feel like the best sources for me have been mutuals’ posts. First hand stories. Being receptive when people share how certain things make them feel. Racism in this particular scene is also sort of a new and emerging topic as the people who lived through the heart of it are just now reaching authorship age. I look forward to seeing what comes out in the next few years.

What I have right now:

My Chemical Relaxer - a short autobiographical story about growing up Black and emo

News story about how the current state of hardcore is looking much more diverse

Sing It Zine - zine made by fanartists a few years ago!! It’s great, I bought a digital copy myself. It’s filled with art and short essays about how it felt to grow up in a scene that often ignored non white people. Also a bunch of tumblr users participated, so it offers a great follow list if you’re interested.

If anyone else has any suggestions, add them in a reblog, or send them and I’ll do it!

[midnightsslut]

So was taylor really cancelled in 2016 or was it more that she wasn't as popular as she was/would like to be?

oh she was absolutely canceled. buckle up because I have a lot of thoughts on this djsjsj.

if you were around in the fandom at all, you knew. things were BAD. that level of hate towards a celebrity is honestly rare these days. i would say the only thing that comes close in recent memory is like… idk, it’s actually hard to think of any because it was a combination of a few factors. it’s not that the general public decided to quietly boycott her and stop consuming her music. it’s that there were viral tweets hating on her pretty much every week. if she did anything in 2016-18, it was met with an absolutely asinine amount of criticism. twitter had a field day with things as innocent as her september cover and her post about having a good year in 2017. a lot of celebrities decided to distance themselves and take kanye’s side. there were numerous articles written about how she was finally going down and should apologize for being problematic. people were famously convinced the tour would flop and absolutely celebrated it. people literally told her she was dead. it’s genuinely difficult to explain the scope of this hate train to people who weren’t around at the time, especially because the news cycle is very different now. people get over news stories a lot quicker than they used to.

now, the main argument people use to prove that she wasn’t canceled is the first-week sales of reputation, which is sort of funny to me because all the coverage in 2017 focused on how its performance was lackluster compared to 1989. of course it still sold well compared to other artists’ albums in the first week, because there was still hype around her comeback, and most importantly, she has a huge fan base. none of the singles had longevity except delicate, which fans genuinely worked their asses off to campaign for. the radio did not play her singles like it used to, though this is due to other factors as well. sure, rep was not actually a flop, but it was nowhere near how TS6, the follow-up to one of the biggest pop eras of the decade, could’ve performed without the cancellation. it also got the worst reviews of her career, most of which generally didn’t focus on the music or the lyricism and were just mad at her as a person. yes, this sounds dramatic, considering the fact that it still got a lot of glowing reviews. the media made sure to focus on a lot of the negative stuff, although they were surprised that critics generally seemed to like it.

what’s funny is that, when she spoke about the kanye controversy in interviews in 2019, no one told her she wasn’t ‘really’ canceled, because a lot of people still hated her. they just told her to get over it. the level of hate was nowhere near pre-rep tour levels anymore, but she was still one of the most criticized celebrities, and it was widely believed that her peak had passed (people love to write revisionist history about the lover album and its performance that does not actually reflect the numbers, but that’s another story). now that more time has passed, and she’s even higher than she was pre-2016, people want to convince her that she’s actually wrong.

it’s almost insane to me to chalk up that level of hate to anything other than a cancellation. seeing articles like ‘was taylor swift REALLY canceled?’ and essays on why that’s just in her head will infuriate ANYONE who was online and didn’t hate her. none of the articles I linked here really convey the scope of that hate. taylor really played the long game and came out the other side of it, but she WAS canceled.

#yes this is long but I’ve been wanting to say this so thank you for asking lmao

[autumnalmess]

I hope you all know that this is the best version of Les mis ever recorded and I will not be taking criticism on that point.

I don't care that it's in french, get yourselves on Duolingo if you've got a problem with it.

In this essay I will ⤵️

I hope you're all appreciating the chord changing to a major on the line "je prefer quitter ce monde" in Javerts suicide that symbolises his resolution because not only does it send instant chills but it makes it SO MUCH SADDER because he's completely resigned himself to his fate.

The whole album is incredible musically and has so many elements added in that aren't in any of the English versions. And all of the Amis voices are super sexy so it's a win win situation. (Esp enjolras 😫). De plus, no one has a weird voice so you don't have to put up with anyone's strange singing

Also there's a buildup in 'Seul devant ces tables vides' (empty chairs at empty tables) like I've never heard before it's insane.

ALSO the way that fantine sings j'avais rêvé is so tender and she just sounds so broken it's SO GOOD.

ALSO so obviously the English is not directly translated from the french so you get a lot of variation in lyrics and I could talk for days about this but one thing I'll point out is that in drink with me, Marius says 'j'attends, comme le délivrance, la balle qui m'est destinée' (I await, like deliverance, the bullet intended for me), which is insane because it gets across a side of Marius we see in the book of his absolute resignation to death that we hardly ever see in the English musical. And then instead of WOULD you cry if I were to fall, he goes will you cry. Which is super sad

I could talk about this album for YEARS

Anyway go listen to it if you haven't

#les miserables #the best version #let me know if you want to hear any more of my thoughts #i could talk about this for years #français #à la volonté du peuples #victor hugo #les mis #i can now sing most of it in french x #its what Victor hugo would have wanted #enjolras #enjoltaire