[Jandek] has anybody analyzed the lyrics in a scholarly manner?
Jonathan 23
bad_dreams at elvis.com
Fri Apr 28 01:52:41 PDT 2006
There is no reason why you couldn't treat the proliferation of
schizophrenic/psychotic symptoms in Jandek's lyrics as a structural
peculiarity of the text itself; one does not need necessarily infer
that the singer himself is psychotic, simply because psychotic
structures are inherent in the lyrics. I've just done a rather long
thesis on the work of Antonin Artaud, utilizing Lacanian textual
psychoanalysis, to locate the function of language, the shifting of
signifiers, the manifesting of symptomatic formation in relation to the
Other of language, in the Artaudian text.
By the same token, I imagine that one could take the Jandekian lyrical
oevre and analyze it using the same methods. Starting with those bodily
deformations, I'd say that one would have a good chance of uncovering
some anamorphotic gaze distortion, always relevant to a discussion of
"anxiety" and "sublimation," both which appear prevalant in the
Jandekian text. In fact, and I'm just free associating here, it might
be interesting to try to situate Jandek between modernism qua
surrealism (the off-kilter imagery, mythico-religious proliferations,
ego discontinuity, the 'enigmatic' image proffered by the artist
himself) and modernism qua transference, as embodied by the white man's
appropriation and transmogrification of the african-american blues idiom.
Somebody should write this up, but not me. I'm taking the summer off from all this academic bullshit.
{23}
>------- Original Message -------
>From : stacey graham[mailto:staceygraham at gmail.com]
>Sent : 4/27/2006 4:13:10 PM
>To : jandek at mylist.net
>Cc :
>Subject : RE : [Jandek] has anybody analyzed the lyrics in a scholarly manner?
>
>Anybody done/seen a scholarly analysis or thesis on the lyrical
>content of Jandek's body of work? There seem to be lyrical themes
>that float up through the murk over and over.
>
>Myself, I hope I'm wrong but my subconscious has somehow given me the
>impression that he likes nudity (especially in the afternoons) and
>that there may or may not have been an inappropriate "incident" with a
>younger girl. The body distortions (extra limbs, knives stuck in
>faces, painted teeth) seem to me to be appropriations of shizophrenic
>behaviour to baffle listeners.
>
>Please don't flame me for this, these are just some images that got
>caught in my head as the songs drifted through. I am in no way
>qualified to analyze this stuff, just wondering if anybody has. Also,
>who knows if the lyrics are even autobiographical in any way?
>
>--
>Stacey Graham
>Minneapolis MN USA
>http://aflowercallednowhere.blogspot.com
>
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