Cut-Throat's Pre-emptive Round Up of 2015

Work, independent research and life has made writing here tricky and, I fear with the new year nearing, my posting will only get more sporadic. January-February time is doctoral funding season and work has already begun with my supervisor on my own applications; accordingly I figured that it was worthwhile doing a pre-emptive round up in case I don't have time for it come hectic December. Perhaps I could have pushed this back another month or so but then again this may make for a good ear-marking of the 2000 view milestone that I just hit: I have no idea whether 2000 views in the first 8 months is good or bad in terms of blogs but it feels sufficiently significant.

Procedurally, the process for this post will involve picking one fiction and one non-fiction book alongside one album to stage as particular highlights of the year. None of these works came out in 2015 but they are nonetheless the highlight of my own personal exploration in culture this year. So, moving beyond the fanfare...

Fiction Pick of the Year

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

Welsh, for a long time, has sat on the shelf in my mind labelled "must get round to him someday" and it was a pleasure to finally read him. Trainspotting is a landmark of contemporary Scottish culture which is one of the reasons I wanted to read it: when I lived in Sweden there were a surprising number of people with a strange interest in it; though generally they had seen the film rather than waded through the Scottish accent that characterises the prose. I get the feeling that their fascination was spawned by a morbid curiosity as to how a culture could produce and love a work so notoriously self-loathing.

However, the reputation that Welsh has garnered makes the actual content of the book all the more surprising. In places it is strikingly human and demonstrates a sympathy and keen eye for the foibles, roots and pathologies of its characters. Renton, the narrator focused on in the film but who is one of many in the book, has a clear rebellious streak that occasionally bleeds over into a churlish teenage nihilism but even at his worst has interesting things to say. It's a rather trite cliche but the film really isn't as good as the book; or at least it isn't as in depth. There are startlingly jarring moments such as the feminist-esque parable "The Elusive Mr Hunt" which show a more careful eye for social interaction than that which was allowed onto the silver-screen. I enjoyed it thoroughly and it has thrown my previous perceptions of the author.

Non-Fiction Pick of the Year

The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth

For the past couple of months I have been experimenting more and more with writing guides; this one is far more of a style book than it is a grammar guide. As Forsyth points out, good grammar isn't necessarily always good writing. Academically, Steven Pinker's "The Sense of Style" - itself a brilliant use of descriptive linguistics to create a field manual in good, readable grammar - has probably been more helpful but The Elements of Eloquence is just so much more fun.

The emphasis is very much on having fun with the English language, its rhythms, sounds and various effects. It may not have clued me in on how to perfect my past and present tenses or navigate the various pratfalls of plurals but it certainly re-ignited the fire in my belly for constructing some good memorable prose.  

Album Pick of the Year

Knowledge is Power by Akala

 I have remarked on this blog a number of times about my quest to search out and enjoy new music this year. In light of such talk I think it's only fair to include an album of the year in my round up. One particular genre, which has lead me to reconsider poetry, is hip-hop. I started watching battle rap about a year and a half ago and was blown away at, sexism and homophobia aside, just how witty a lot the rappers were. 

Akala however, I found through the Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle: Boyle invited Akala on to a programme of his in order to talk about racism in the U.K. As you might have guessed Akala is a "conscientious rapper" with a lot his themes and lyrics drawing from the speeches and writings of Malcom X. In particular he has a desire to speak truth to the powerless rather than wasting his breath on the powerful. In this album his focus seems to be on inspiring working class youth, particularly non-white working class youth, to engage in political, social and personal activities that benefit themselves and their communities rather than the owners of capital. Interestingly Akala interprets the role of the modern conscious MC through the tradition of the African Griot, a curator of cultural knowledge, and this no doubt feeds into his role as part of the hip-hop Shakespeare company. I could go on and on, but both the depth of his subject matter and his lyricism when discussing it has made this album a real stand out.

Closing Remarks

As remarked in the title and introduction this is a pre-emptive list. It is only as definitive in so far as I don't update it later in the year, though much of my work will be focused on political philosophy for the next few months and I don't anticipate reading much fiction anytime soon.

Resolutions 2015: Half Time Review

The cold post-winter of January is long behind me; nevertheless I am chained to its pact. Welcome to my half time review!

#1  Mo' Reading, Less Problems

A couple of months back I started reading Voltaire and realised, a bit late some would say, that you can often find two canons in one book. Continental philosophy often blurs genre lines with continental literature and this is both to its credit and detriment: the works tend to have greater cultural impact on account of their drama but sacrifice the veracity of their arguments in the process.

I have chosen to use the word "drama" rather than "readability" because while certain continentals can write fantastic fiction, their prose occasionally falls apart when writing straight laced philosophy.


For instance, in The Myth of Sisyphus Camu, for no discernible reason, behaves like the Oprah Winfrey of punctuation and hands every second word its own sub-clause despite being an otherwise very restrained and readable fiction writer.

Regardless, we are half way through the year of 2015 and I feel considerably more comfortable about my relationship with western literature. The journey is by no means at an end but I think I have good reason to hope that this year will end in satisfaction. If I continue the efforts I have made so far, I shouldn't have to play catch-up much longer.   

#2 Bad news for my cholesterol - I'm a lover not a fighter.

My health has deteriorated, slightly. My running has become infrequent and my diet unpredictable. There are two reasons for this, the first feeds into the second. I have made a number of romantic connections and I have also become more blasé with regards to my health. Consequently, I have spent more time getting drunk in bed with strange people than my doctor would of hypothetically recommended: evening runs and low fat yogurt have been replaced with rum, brie and cable ties.

Perhaps it is my, long awaited, attainment of a functional social life that has turned my attentions away from the rather solipsistic activities of calorie counting and mid-night jogging but I think a more honest appraisal involves holding myself accountable for recent complacencies.  I will try harder.

#3  Itunes - another wage-sucking vampire is now draining my current account.

Last time I wrote one of these posts my reticence and inability to scout out new artists was the one problem I had yet to fix. This time round it is the one I have had the most success with - thank you online shopping. When Steve Jobs returns from his cryo-chamber in the year 3011 he will be a little bit richer thanks to me; I have yet to decide how I feel about this.

Huxley's Brave New World: A Hedonist's Response

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."
 
- John the Savage repudiating Mustapha Mond in Brave New World.


There is common comparison made between Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984. One that remarks that while Orwell described the authoritarianism of his time, Huxley predicted the "soft-power" at work today. Read in this way the core theme of Brave New World is similar to that of emanicpatory writers like Rousseau: humans are frequently complicit in their own enslavement. This comparison suffers however from a certain level of western-centrism and misses some of the finer details of the dystopia which Huxley created.


Firstly, and a similar point is levelled by Nadya Tolokonnikova against Slavoj Zizek, the notion that modern capitalism controls its subjects through pleasure ignores the sweat-house labour and dictatorial right wing governments that have arguably played a big role in shaping modern global capitalism. Secondly, in Brave New World there is no evidence that humanity willingly gave up its Bibles or poetry; such things are banned and an inescapable system of social conditioning is required to force these artefacts of ancient pleasure into obsolescence. The depravity of the new world's citizens is artificial it is not an organic product of Huxley's subjects and their desires. As a hedonist of sorts,  while I could cry that Huxley's society is the product of authoritarianism and not pleasure seeking humans, that would do Brave New World a dis-service: the book did give me cause to reflect on hedonism and the relationship between pleasure and authenticity.


 The first thing that struck me as of particular philosophical interest was "Soma". Soma is the fictional drug taken by the new world's inhabitants and it functions as a very trenchant iteration of Nozick's experience machine. Unlike Nozick's original machine, soma requires very little in terms of metaphysical "jump": one could liken it to heroin without the side effects. Furthermore soma highlights the escapist tendencies of Brave New World's inhabitants. By taking soma the characters leave the reality which they ostensibly cannot deal with and submit themselves to a realm of pleasure inaccessible to more sober minds. This idea of "pleasure as escapism" may present some problems for a hedonistic outlook and raises questions about the dialectic between "fake pleasure" and "real pleasure".  Are there pleasures that fail to be valuable because they have no relation to objects outside of the subjects experience? Are mind altering substances providing fake happiness or real happiness?  Is a drunk happy to see you or do they merely think that they are in a welcoming mood?


Currently, I see little reason to make a hard distinction between the pleasures that are accrued through synthetic chemical manipulation, such as alcohol or soma based pleasures, and the organic chemical manipulations achieved through sugar, salt or a caressing touch. Furthermore if the thing that scares us about Soma is that it "merely creates pleasure" then what is that missing ingredient that allows us to be satisfied even if we are not enjoying ourselves? Pain? The outlook of John the Savage is rather reminiscent of Seneca: the roman philosopher who believed that suffering and tribulation should be cherished as a source of meaning in an otherwise empty life.

I can empathise with the Senecan position: life would become very boring if one was absolved of all tragedy. This I do not think is necessarily a problem for hedonists as the hedonic treadmill ensures that we will never run out of tribulations to give purpose to our growth. It may be that the reason we want struggle is that it gives context to our successes. We want struggle and heartbreak not because we don't value pleasure but because struggle and heartbreak make our pleasure worthwhile. 

My response to those who raise up Huxley's Brave New World as a warning against hedonism is that its citizens are not really committed hedonists. They are cattle who have been forcefully deprived of a range of pleasures, primarily intellectual ones, and conditioned to accept passivity as a state of enduring desirability.

When it comes to the relationship between pleasure and eudemonia what Brave New World articulates is a critique of lazy infantilization posing as the good life. As I have argued before, empty gluttonous carnality is not the same thing as an ethical and well-disciplined regime of hedonism.

Goals for the Second Quarter

You know the drill, I hate these as much as anyone else does but it's my blog hence you will suffer through.

 

Here are three sub-resolutions, corresponding with my previously posted annual resolutions, that are intended to direct my energy into self-betterment threby challenging the status quo of self-destruction.  

#1 All Late Modern Fiction Makes Jack A Dull Boy.


While I do appreciate the ever expanding vistas that have been offered to me by loosening the rather tight leash that I normally keep my reading schedule on, as ever, I want more.  More contemporary work will be added to my diet along with some more European literature, preferably predating the 20th century.

#2 Fighting Machine

My cardio has gotten a lot better since the beginning of the new year and my diet is similarly in a much improved state. What I need now is an activity to  challenge me and provide some motivation so taking my cue from Dizzy Rascal and his immortal line "All I care about is sex and violence" I will join the local judo club.

I have not participated in any form of combat athletics for over two years now, I'm looking forward to making a return. As for the sex part, I'll just have to hope to get lucky more often.

#3 Dropping the Bass, in Favour of Something More Refined.

Basically this part of my resolution has been the one I have capitalised on the least. I figure this is because there is no clear method of progression. The method I now propose is looking over the Albums that I do own, online or physical, tracking down the artists recent work and looking through the sound-tracks of other media that I like for new bands and musicians. You have got to start with that which you already love.