i imagined my death too often and too many times.
I stood in my own funeral, like a ghost. I whispered to each and everyone who attended the ceremony(hopefully there will be someone): you are one of the beneficiaries on my will, after you get my money, go to gamble away all my possessions, like some Native American tribes do.
Then I want to have my body flattened, dried and pressed into paper, so it could be made into a book of poems. 作一本人皮书,人肉为纸。
I whispered, a violent whisper, whisper of death.
- posted on 12/07/2009
medieval, medi-evil
古怪教授Eric是我女友的丈夫,他是一位中世纪文献考据专家。昨天,我们三个在intelligentsia,他给我们看他同事的一本天书。他这两天头疼因为要给这笨书写个书评发表在专业期刊上。为了让我们明白他的工作,他讲了整个古代经卷镌刻的过程。因为镌刻或者写在羊皮上的文献都是经过工人一遍遍抄录的,难免有误差,所以多少代之后,原著的本来面目早就模糊不清。他的工作就是从这些疏漏、错误中还原原著的本来面目。他形容起来,这个工作简直就跟侦探一样刺激。
其实,他最让我羡慕的就是能触摸到美国所有的私人收藏博物馆图书馆,能触摸到那些最古的古籍,羡慕死我了。
中世纪这个词很玄,我想起的时候就是medi-evil,我对这个时期的西方历史所知甚少,它只让我联想起惨绝人寰的酷刑、宗教法庭跟黑死病。今天查看历史,才知道这些:
“泥金装饰手抄本、格里高利圣咏和哥特式建筑是中世纪文化的代表。中世纪历史上先后出现了卡洛林文艺复兴和奥托文艺复兴。”
天下无奇不有,我怎么就认识这些奇特的人呢?Talking about law of attraction!
中世纪! 多让人浮想联翩的时代。 - Re: Bring me Magicposted on 12/07/2009
张力 tension
苏联导演爱森斯坦的电影理论里有一个说法:内容与形式必须对立冲突。很玄虚的张力对应的英文是tension。冲突,对抗,绷紧的肌肉,剑拔弩张的气氛。内容/形式,衣服/身体,皮肤/血肉,身体对抗衣装,灵魂与肌肤开战,弹拨竖琴两端,高低弦音震荡,两极电火。
平庸的作品是无法引起tension的,平庸的人物,平庸的sex,平庸的剧情,当然让人睡觉。
tension,精神病的源头。 - posted on 12/08/2009
Odd ways of staying alive
The telephone bill was unpaid. the net of economic difficulties was closing in ... I did thirty pages of erotica.
----Anais Nin
The writing business 里有一章是讲作家写情色小说的轶事。Nin在三四十年代写作情色故事的酬薪是一页纸一美元。当年有一家专门写情色故事的血汗工厂叫作corporate design(瞧这名字起的!). 刚上网去查,这家公司早已经不存在了,这个肉工厂曾经是美国唯一的一家能付全职作家工作的写作班子。曾有个叫 Roy Campbell的写作者在14个星期的雇佣期内完成了130部色情作品,平均一个星期两本书。14个星期后,他写残掉了,一看见sex这个字就恶心,以至于后来他再也无法写sex。看来,即便是情色故事,也该是女人的活计。有个色情故事女写手一个星期写了三部小说。她说到:it was fun and improved my writing. I relaxed, my imagination loosened up, and i discovered a lot about myself. You don't hold back when writing porn. You let your fantasies run wild, and you don't care, because it isn't serious- the more outrageous the situation the better. The job tightened my prose. It was demanding and specific-good for my technically.
其他的名作家比如福楼拜,通过写色情故事来unblock。写情色故事跟写电视连续剧差不多。预设好的模型、公式、人物、结构,往里面填字而已。
nin是一个被主流文学评论低估的女作家,反而海明威那样的性无能者/胆小鬼/撒谎者/混球一个获得了那么高的荣誉。这个女人也侠义,在巴黎资助米勒完成创作,这个矮小娇弱的女人说出的话非常uplifting and inspirational,比如:
Ordinary life does not interest me. I seek only the high moments. I am in accord with the surrealists, searching for the marvelous.
I had always believed in Andre Breton's freedom, to write as one thinks, in the order and disorder in which one feels in thinks, to follow sensations and absurd correlations of events and images, to trust to the new realms they lead one into. "The cult of the marvelous."
Also the cult of the unconscious leadership, the cult of mystery, the evasion of false logic. The cult of the unconscious as proclaimed by Rimbaud. It is not madness. It is an effort to transcend the rigidities and the patterns made by the rational mind.
Life shrinks or expands according to one's courage.
Life is so fluid that one can only hope to capture the living moment, to capture it alive and fresh ... without destroying that moment.
Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.
她的这些话比那些心灵鸡汤者们有力,也许她当年该写点这些,恐怕比写色情故事赚钱。 - posted on 12/10/2009
求婚失败的国王
十五世纪的瑞典国王Eric XIV虽然有丰富的知识,会用拉丁文写情书,却是个不幸的国王。他耗费很多年向英国女王伊丽莎白一世求婚,但每一次都以失败告终。他想出了很多蠢笨的办法来向伊丽莎白示好,包括行刺女王的男宠等,不仅如此,他的求婚好像全都不顺利。Eric also made unsuccessful marriage proposals to, among others, Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) and Mary I of Scotland (1542–87), as well as Renata of Lorraine (1544–1602), Anna of Saxony (1544–77) and Christine of Hesse (1543–1604)
这些挫折使他最后发了疯,王位被异母兄弟John霸占后,被毒死在监狱里。 - Re: Bring me Magicposted on 12/10/2009
玛雅多写,写到王家,总还是有数不清的故事。我现在还没把一战中欧洲各王室间的
谱系弄清。总觉得一战比二战重要,是王家清理世界人口,也是王家没落的开始。
在这一线下,我也不怕说些离谱的话。 - posted on 12/10/2009
谢鼓励。
John在一碗豌豆汤里下的毒药。豌豆,好像比其他豆精贵,豆子里的贵族,还有那个豌豆公主。豌豆的口感比其他豆子细滑,豌豆泥、豌豆汤都比其他豆的细腻。
精神病比较眷顾王室皇家、豪门大院。国王,执政者不能读太多的书,尤其是诗歌。读书让人心思柔软,想入非非,他们该省下时间练习杀人骗人害人,练习权谋。Eric懂星象,会拉丁,没见过面就写一大堆拉丁文情书给伊丽莎白卖弄学问,哎,这书呆子啊,就别当国王了吧。他求婚失败也没恼羞成怒,去跟英国开仗,却去把无名火发泄到丹麦人身上,他在位的时候基本上就是跟丹麦人打架。
这个长着满头焦黄稻草头发的倒霉蛋跟他兄弟John两人互相判对方叛国,逮起来放监狱里,他还是心软,没杀了他兄弟,结果反被兄弟毒死。 - posted on 12/10/2009
历史上不可思议的人物事情太多,讲也讲不过来, 比如萨特Jean-Paul Sartre,他的身高才5.25英尺,是个完全的半残人。
萨特“主义”弯弯绕,我看不懂,他的小说没新意,结构松散,故意说让人不懂的话。比加缪差很多,但并不妨碍这位半残废比加缪有更多的情人,更多的名誉,可能就因为他写得多吧。 他跟加缪打架,也多半是因为嫉妒加缪的外表。
你能看懂他说些什么吗?We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own.
当然他也说过简洁会心的:Hell is the other.
波伏娃为了保住自己的地位,不惜为萨特当皮条客,与萨特的其他女友相好。波伏娃的相貌不差,可就是喜欢上了这个疯子。
身材矮小足以让任何男人自卑,可高得顶天立地可能会让人更加自卑, 除非有好命当姚明。我面试过一位中国东北老乡,在简历中看不出他的身高。他进门,就得弯下腰,大概有6.7尺左右。我用通常人们的话对他说:你真高啊,一定会打篮球的。他一听,就拉下脸来,满面怒容:我是来面试销售的。他后来告诉我他的自卑,他说他整天恨不得是个矮子,高人比矮人还自卑还难过的,虽然相貌不错,但他一直找不到对象。
矮子起码能找到工作,可这哥们儿连工作都难找,他整天低着头,好像个罪人一样,尽管说话办事服服帖帖,可你说哪个老板要找个这么高的高人当下手?除非那个老板跟他一样是高人。
- posted on 12/10/2009
伊丽莎白一世可是吊着欧洲很多王家的胃口,还有许多宠臣。说她嫁给了英国,也不
错,就是Virgin Queen肯定不确,要说,她不能上而让血腥玛丽上,也是因为她是
Bastard。
但话又说回来,玛丽*斯图亚特也就是吃了爱情亏,她乞不接受教训?
记得歌剧Robert Devereux(也是唐尼采蒂的)终场,伊丽莎白一世拿着他的保命戒,
一哭不起,宠臣断头,王贵还讲爱情、诺与义,便宣布:
James will be the King。(玛丽*斯图亚特之子,钦定圣经者)
斯图亚特王朝,正应着玛丽*斯图亚特临刑前的那句:
My end is my beginning......
- posted on 12/10/2009
maya wrote:
历史上不可思议的人物事情太多,讲也讲不过来, 比如萨特Jean-Paul Sartre,他的身高才5.25英尺,是个完全的半残人。
萨特“主义”弯弯绕,我看不懂,他的小说没新意,结构松散,故意说让人不懂的话。比加缪差很多,但并不妨碍这位半残废比加缪有更多的情人,更多的名誉,可能就因为他写得多吧。 他跟加缪打架,也多半是因为嫉妒加缪的外表。
卡缪是很好,尤其是异乡人,后半部分的行云流水,绝了!
鼠疫就罗索一些。记得看他的简历,他很在意别人说他写字挣银子,真了不起。当
然沙特还拒绝诺贝尔呢。卡缪提及的哲学问题,在一战二战当下,确实是最严肃的
命题。
你能看懂他说些什么吗?We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own.
当然他也说过简洁会心的:Hell is the other.
波伏娃为了保住自己的地方,不惜为萨特当皮条客,与萨特的其他女友相好。波伏娃的相貌非常好,可就是喜欢上了这个疯子。
身材矮小足以让任何男人自卑,可高得顶天立地可能会让人更加自卑。我面试过一位中国东北老乡,在简历中看不出他的身高。他进门,就得弯下腰,大概有6.7尺左右。我用通常人们的话对他说:你真高啊,一定会打篮球的。他一听,就拉下脸来,满面怒容:我是来面试销售的。他后来告诉我他的自卑,他说他整天恨不得是个矮子,高人比矮人还自卑还难过的,虽然相貌不错,但他一直找不到对象。
我大学时也有一位东北哥们,身材高大,舞跳得好,还国标呢。可是找女友很自卑,
总是跟我说,他脸上太多酒刺,总是对镜卡酒刺而自卑。
唉!
- posted on 12/10/2009
引诱王尔德堕落的罪恶天使Lord Alfred Douglas其实是个挺不错的诗人。昨天整理书架翻书,又看见他的这首诗的末行:Of all sweet passions Shame is the loveliest..... I am shame that walks with Love.
他可不仅仅是个花花公子,太岁少爷呢。再懒惰再浮华也是受大师熏陶过的。
In Praise of Shame
by Lord Alfred Douglas
Last night unto my bed bethought there came
Our lady of strange dreams, and from an urn
She poured live fire, so that mine eyes did burn
At the sight of it. Anon the floating fame
Took many shapes, and one cried: "I am shame
That walks with Love, I am most wise to turn
Cold lips and limbs to fire; therefore discern
And see my loveliness, and praise my name."
And afterwords, in radiant garments dressed
With sound of flutes and laughing of glad lips,
A pomp of all the passions passed along
All the night through; till the white phantom ships
Of dawn sailed in. Whereat I said this song,
"Of all sweet passions Shame is the loveliest."
- Re: Bring me Magicposted on 12/12/2009
我认识的矮男人都不自卑啊。男性矮,脑子灵,长得精炼,体力集中,重心低,稳重。
老了也没地方发福去,骨头不够长啊,心脏负担小,长寿。
年轻时找朋友,我就不考虑个子高的,就是给他织毛衣毛裤,还得多织两天。
另外,个子高的男性像漂亮女性一样,自我感觉良好,特讨厌。
maya wrote:
身材矮小足以让任何男人自卑,可高得顶天立地可能会让人更加自卑,
- Re: Bring me Magicposted on 12/13/2009
你们不说,我还从没意识到男人的身高对他的魅力有什么影响呢。。。主要是我没有和矮个子的男人打过交道。
我的朋友都不矮,一米九的也有。哦,想起来了,我喜欢打篮球。
不喜欢萨特和波伏娃这一对。尤其不喜欢萨特。
昨天看到《时间的玫瑰》里说,洛尔迦和达利曾是情人。晕。洛尔迦原来在我心里能拿9分的,一下子跌停板了。
关键是达利多丑啊,就该配个丑女人呢。凭啥占有我们的洛尔迦呢。
- Re: Bring me Magicposted on 12/16/2009
小曼不喜欢达利,可达利不难看的,我从前的男友都是他的伪造盗版。 - Re: Bring me Magicposted on 12/16/2009
土干姐实在,给男人织毛衣毛裤是一个很大的付出,相当于男人为女人搭建房子。完全母性,完全的付出,希望他们不嫌弃。
年轻时找朋友,我就不考虑个子高的,就是给他织毛衣毛裤,还得多织两天。
另外,个子高的男性像漂亮女性一样,自我感觉良好,特讨厌。
maya wrote:
身材矮小足以让任何男人自卑,可高得顶天立地可能会让人更加自卑,
- posted on 12/17/2009
今天是贝多芬的诞辰纪念日。想起一个故事。 大家知道贝多芬因为偷窥被逮捕的事情吗?他一生找不到爱情,只能偷看别人的享乐,悲痛。
Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most finest composers of all time, was known as a "peeping tom" and when arrested would shout, "You can't arrest me for I am the Immortal Beethoven!" Upon searching his house police found feces spread all over the walls. Frequent alcoholism due to anxiety caused by deafness.
这是网上找来的一点:
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go," is one of the most famous lines from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. Derangement amongst the most greatest of thinkers certainly has not been overlooked. In fact, there is a distinct correlation between creativity and mental illness.
Aside from mental illness, the most creative of thinkers certainly have some odd notoriety, especially the composers. Robert Schumann, is a great composer of several piano and cello concertos. His unstable nature combined with a frenetic life "resulted in his admittance to a private asylum about two years before his death." One of France's treasures, Maurice Ravel, suffered from an emotional disorder until a serious auto accident in 1932 "seemed to initiate a continuous deterioration of his condition." Sergei Rachmaninoff, also known as the "Six-Foot Scowl", is notorious for being stifled in inspiration. "Following treatments by hypnosis he produced his second piano concerto in 1901" Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky, is most known for his beloved Swan Lake and The Nutcracker Suite. His death on November 6, 1893, for so long blamed on cholera, was caused apparently by self-administered arsenic. Gaetano Donizetti, a master of vocal effect and dramatic situation, developed a brain-tumor that "led to depression, paralysis, and periods of extreme insanity. He lived most of his later life in an asylum."
Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most finest composers of all time, was known as a "peeping tom" and when arrested would shout, "You can't arrest me for I am the Immortal Beethoven!" When the police later searched his house they found feces spread all over the wall. It is said that Beethoven experienced a feeling of complete resignation towards the world due to his loss of hearing.
Nicolo Paganini, the most notorious violin virtuoso ever, wrote much of his music for his own performances, music so difficult that "it was a common belief that he had entered into a pact with the devil" Eric Satie, one of the most eccentric composers from the Contemporary period, got himself ostracized from the army with self-induced bronchitis for standing outside, naked, in mid-winter. His odd superstitions kept himself from washing himself with soap and obsession with umbrellas left him with over two hundred of them left in his apartment after his death.
Gustav Mahler, was driven from Vienna in 1907, due to charges of absenteeism and anti-semitism. It has been said that the death of his eldest daughter and his own life-threatening heart condition produced an attitude of resignation and a turning inward. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, said to be the greatest prodigy in history, wrote works that are said to evolve into "darker themes of poignancy and isolation that grew more marked in the last five or six years of his short life." Insane jealousy from another musical counterpart, Antonio Salieri, led to rumors that Mozart's death was caused by murder. Carl Maria von Weber, the nephew of the great Ludwig van Beethoven, is notorious for shooting himself in the head, due to anxiety.
Carl Maria Composers are not the only ones with notorious mental illness. Poets such as: William Blake, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickenson, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath are one the "A-list" of candidates for manic depression. Among them are novelists: Emile Zola, Mary Shelley, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Visual artists also fall into this list such as: Michelangelo, Theodore Gericault, Edvard Munch, Paul Gaugin, Vincent VanGogh, Mark Rothco, and Georgia O'Keefe. Perhaps this correlation between great ones and mental illness is why Plato said, "untouched by the madness of the Muses" artists were always "eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman."
This question has also been pondered by Aristotle in his rhetorical question, "Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry, or the arts, are melancholic?" Is that fine line between genius and madness merely a figment of our imaginations? Or, could there possibly be a connection. Psychology is the study of observable behavior. Different branches of psychology attempt to describe the illnesses that have befallen many of these creative geniuses. Psychopathology is defined as, "illness that is revealed in impaired behavioral and psychological functioning or both." The term refers to a broad range of symptoms that involve "abnormalities in sensations, cognition, and emotional states."
A working assumption in the field is that psychological syndrome, or groups of symptoms, "are not merely predictable responses to a specific stressful event for instance, the death of a loved one- but rather a manifestation of a psychological or biological dysfunction in the person." Schizophrenia is another illness which affects millions of people. Symptoms of schizophrenia include incoherent speech, inappropriate emotional reactions, and disorganized behavior. Paranoid and schizotypal patients appear excessively odd or eccentric to others. In addition, patients with paranoid personality disorder show unwarranted suspicion, jealousy, and anger, and as a result, have recurring interpersonal conflicts. Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by, "marked indifference to social relationships and a unrestricted range of emotional expression."
Passive aggressive personality disorder involves non-compliance with social norms without openly defying them, yet resists influence indirectly by procrastination or intentional inefficiency. Bipolar disorder, otherwise known as manic depression, is defined as, periods of depression as well as periods of mania, or extreme mood elevations. During manic episodes the individual may show high levels of activity, talkativeness, and elation." Certain branches of psychology and sociology consider the association of music to mental processes and social change.
Confucius once said, "music is born of emotion." Although music is one of the most prominent elements in our culture, it is most indescribable. In attempts to trace the origin of music, the study of musicology has been coined to clarify the mystification. Perhaps the mystery behind the origin of music would account for the inability to describe it. Music may even predate human speech. It has been viewed as both literally and figuratively as "a form of language or speech less specific than the spoken word, but possessing subtler shades of meaning and more emotive force." Robert Schumann once noted, "Perhaps it is precisely the mystery of her origin which accounts for the charm of her beauty." Music has also been perceived as an inherently mystical or occult force able to unlock elemental truths or principles that cannot otherwise be translated into written or graphic form.
Music is also considered one of the most abstract and mathematical of the arts requiring not only the utmost concentration and articulation, yet divine expression. Expression is one of the traits characterized by creativity. Several studies have been conducted linking creativity and mental illness. Over the past few decades a swelling chorus of psychologist, psychiatrists, and even a few neuroscientists have begun to suggest that, "bipolar illness somehow enhances the ability to create art." It has also been said that tuburculosis produces periods of "hyperactivity and lassitude creating a mental exaltation that predisposes its victims to extraordinary insights." In 1986, R.D. Laing concluded that, "schizophrenics create some of the truest art because the mad are more closely in touch with their inner selves than are the sane." Although many are skeptical about the link between madness and greatness research has found some startling results.
Nancy Andreasen began looking to test the then current idea of a link between bipolar disorder and creativity. Andreasen, a Ph.D.. in English literature, initiated interviews with thirty faculty members at the prestigious University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and matched the faculty members with control subjects in nonartistic professions. She found that, 80 percent of the participating writers revealed they had suffered either depression or manic depression, compared with 30 percent of the control subjects. (Two of the writers even took their own lives.) "The bipolar connection" she recalls, just leaped out at me.
Kay Redfield Jamison conducted another intricate study in 1989 using a large group of Oxford Britons including members of the royal academy, Booker Prize winners, and contributors to The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse. She states, In the general population, rates of bipolar illness hover at about 1%, and major depression affects between 5 and 15 percent of the population. In Jamison's sample, however, 38 percent of the artists had been treated for affective illness (including simple depression as well as bipolar illness), and for three quarters of that group the treatment had gone beyond talk therapy to lithium, anti-depressants, electroshock, or all three. Clearly, "intense emotional pain went hand in hand with creativity for even the most successful of these artists." A controversial book entitled The Price of Greatness, written by Arnold Ludwig, is said to resolve the Creativity and Madness controversy. Arnold and his colleagues analyzed twenty-two hundred biographies of one thousand and four eminent men and women. It was labeled as, an effort to learn what factors combine to produce the kind of "higher-order" creativity that makes historians sit up and take notice. Ludwig found that as a group, "creative artists displayed much higher levels of mental illness than did their creative counterparts in more structured occupations." As adolescents, 29 to 34 percent of aspiring artists exhibited psychiatric symptoms. When comparing this to the 3 to 9 percent of future acheivers in sciences, sports, and business, a distinct correlation can be seen between creativity and mental instability. The results in adult participants were more startling with rates of between 70 and77 percent for poets, music performers, and fiction writers; 59 to 68 percent for painters, composers, and non-fiction writers; and only 18 to 29 percent for eminent natural scientists, politicians, architects, and businesspeople. Two theories are presented. The first being that mental illness increases creativity. This theory is not well-liked because of its glorification of mental illness.
The second being that creative people find themselves, almost by default, in the arts rather than business or the sciences. Some clinicians have established that, all sorts of mental and physical problems- from depression to severe childhood illness- confer outsider status, and that feeling outside the mainstream can help motivate people to become artists. "It doesn't necessarily have to be madness" says psychiatrist Bob Klitzman of Columbia University.
"You can feel like an outsider because you're gay, or a woman, or a Southerner, or black. Anything that gives you the sense that the world you see isn't the world that others see can motivate you to want to tell your own story." Other explanations of mental illness which can make it sound appealing is the explanation that it causes, "a kind of restlessness, discomfort, need to express oneself." Bipolar illness is said to leave their patients "open to a great range of intensity to moods, which can then be translated into art." (82) Views like this can be destructive to the mentally ill. It gives them a reason not to get better. When a sufferer of bipolar disorder was interviewed she stated, "Sometimes I think God gave me the gift of creativity as a consolation prize, but I'm still suffering. I don't know where this disease came from, but I sure wish it would go away."
Although many wish to ameliorate the anguish of these individuals, we can still appreciate the contribution to the arts that they have made. Unfortunately, that is not much of a consolation. However, research has shown that there is a distinct connection between madness and greatness.
The connection between psychology and musicology is demonstrated by restating the definition of each and fitting them together like a puzzle. Each statement will have a comparative and contrasting piece of information having to do with music. One can decide for himself whether or not he sees a relevant connection. Psychopathology is illness that is revealed in impaired behavioral and psychological functioning or both, while branches of psychology and sociology consider broader issues in the relation of music to mental processes and social change. Psychopaths experience a broad range of symptoms such as abnormalities in sensations, cognition, and emotional states. Music is said to have been born of emotion, and to possess less specificity than language, but more emotive force. Would one consider a person getting "lost" in their music so much that they are transcended into another place an abnormality?
Some people are brought into different emotional states just by listening to music, rather than playing or conducting it. It is known that listening to climatic pieces of music can bring someone into a frenzied state of elation and excitement. Would one consider that an abnormal sensation? A working assumption in the field of psychology is that psychological syndrome, or groups of symptoms, are not merely predictable responses to a specific event, for instance the death of a loved one, but rather a manifestation of a psychological or biological dysfunction in the person. Oceans of music are known to reflect emotional crisis or loss of a stressful event. For instance, Beethoven's C minor mood was written mainly because of his poor emotional state due to his loss of hearing. The symptoms of schizophrenia include incoherent speech, inappropriate emotional reactions, and disorganized behavior. Music has been viewed both literally and figuratively as a form of language or speech. Although it is less specific, it is more intense. If music, viewed as speech, is erratic, confusing, or frustrating (or even incoherent), is it a symptom of schizophrenia? Paranoid patients appear excessively odd or eccentric to others. Patients show unwarranted suspicion, jealousy, and anger, and as a result, have recurring interpersonal conflicts.
There are several composers of note that are notorious for their eccentricity. One candidate for this illness could be, Antonio Salieri, for his insane jealousy and rancor for Mozart. It was a rumor that he even caused his death. Walter Carlos, now known as Wendy Carlos, is the inventor of the famous Moog synthesizer. Would his sex-change operation be considered an interpersonal conflict? Passive aggressive personality disorder, also known as anti-social, involves non-compliance with social norms without openly defying them, yet resists influence indirectly by procrastination or intentional inefficiency. Every composer who was original in Europe was considered ludicrous. If any composer propounded a new concept of music or composed a piece that was "too good to be true", they were viewed as being possessed by the devil. Sorabji, formerly Leon Dudley, decided to change his name to something utterly unpronounceable to hinder audiences to attend his concerts. He also would threaten legal action onto anyone who would dare to attempt his work. Erik Satie refused to wash with soap. The Bach family, consisting of seventy-six musical descendants, were all named Johann. Beethoven was a prominent follower of the Napoleon Bonaparte in a country which was strictly against him. Due to his loss of hearing he developed a sense of resignation towards the world. Bipolar disorder is characterized by periods of depression as well as periods of mania, or extreme mood elevations. Mozart, in his later life experienced periods of mournful isolation which was apparent in the darker themes of poignancy in his music. Although his emotional state was dark his music was still extremely erratic. Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by marked indifference to social relationships and restricted range of emotional expression. Perhaps Beethoven's avoidance of human contact would make him a candidate for this emotional disorder. Maybe Rachmaninoff's need for hypnosis treatments to compose his second piano concerto for this disorder. The earliest explanations for abnormal behavior were based on the beliefs of the supernatural. It was thought that an evil, supernatural being can control a person's body or mind. Music has been perceived as an inherently mystical or occult force, able to unlock elemental truths or principles that cannot be otherwise translated into written or graphic form. Paganini's music was so elaborate and difficult that it was often thought that he was possessed by the devil. Is there a connection between music and psychology? Is there a connection between creativity and madness? Although it is a matter of opinion or observation, a positive correlation does exist.
- posted on 12/17/2009
Here's a list of some notorious manic-depressives, and the "dirt" on some composers and musicians
Poets such as:
1. William Blake
2. John Keats
3. Percy Bysshe Shelley
4. Edgar Allen Poe
5. Emily Dickenson
6. Anne Sexton
7. Sylvia Plath
8. Virginia Woolf
Novelists-
9. Emile Zola
10. Mary Shelley
11. Leo Tolstoy
11. Maxim Gorky
12. Robert Louis Stevenson
Visual Artists
13. Michelangelo
14. Theodore Gericault
15. Edvard Munch
16. Paul Gaughin
17. Vincent van Gogh
18. Mark Rothco
Musicians
19. Robert Schumann- Career ended in his mid-twenties; an invention which was to improve the flexibility of his hands instead ruined them. His unstable nature combined with a frenetic life resulted in his admittance to a privated asylum about two years before his death.
20. Maurice Ravel- emotional disorder, serious auto accident initialized a decline in his condition
21. Sergei Rachmaninoff- due to lack of inspiration, he produced his second piano concerto under hypnosis
22. Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky- his death was caused by self-induced arsenic, to avoid a homosexually related scandal
23. Gaetano Donizetti- Brain tumor leading to depression, paralysis, and periods of extreme insanity
24. Ludwig van Beethoven- arrested for being a peeping tom, when arrested he would yell, "You can't arrest me for I am the Immortal Beethoven." Upon searching his house police found feces spread all over the walls. Frequent alcoholism due to anxiety caused by deafness.
25. Niccolo Paganini- his music was so difficult that it was claimed he had entered into a pact with the devil deformity of the hand allowing him to stretch virtually anywhere on the violin without moving his hand
26. Eric Satie- Obsession with umbrellas (0ver two-hundred) superstition kept him from washing with soap, ostracized from army for standing outside naked in mid-winter
27. Gustav Mahler- driven from country due to anti-semitism, attitude of resignation and turning inward
28. Arturo Toscanini- legendary tantrums thrown in rehearsals
29. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- While being harrassed by Salieri, notorious alcoholism and anxiety
30. Carl Maria von Beethoven- attempted suicide
31. Percy Grainger- liked to write music, naked
- RE: Bring me Magicposted on 03/24/2011
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