WARNING: This episode contains dystopian and post-apocalyptic spoilers. Nothing too earth- shattering, though, we promise.
Dystopia: “a not good place”
Post-Apocalyptic: after a cataclysmic event.
An example of a 1950s PSA:
THE WASTE LAND
by T.S. Eliot
We asked you about your experience with this modernist text on our Facebook page. Here’s some of the responses:
“Fun, actually.”
“Dense. I read it for class, and I knew I’d never be able to read it just for “funzies””
“first reading: confusing. second reading: a struggle (plus you think Eliot is just showing off) third reading: you are hit with the realization that you are an uninformed “academic” fourth reading (married with discussion): the best thing. coincidentally you will start informing your peers that we are in fact, “living in the waste land””
“Confusing. I can’t ever figure out why it is considered such a great poem. It has some good imagery, and Eliot is good with his words, but the overall effect is that of a collage. And I hate collages.”
“Like walking around in Edmonton.”
“Like wandering/being pulled through an apocalypse while inebriated”
“”how f**king brilliant!” I think I might’ve cried when I first read it? Maybe because I might’ve been responding (without knowing it at the time) to Pound’s indelible influence on the text? who knows? who knows?”
” Like if the fairies lost and died in Fern Gully”
Here’s the entirety of The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot read by Jeremy Irons. Scar, reading this pseudo-post-apocalyptic poem. Seems fitting:
Have you seen this poster around Windsor? Literature influencing the way we interpret the world. Nice.
The climactic discussion at the end of Brave New World was influenced by The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Here’s a page of Dostoyevsky’s notes from Chapter 5 of his manuscript:
All the people at this party
They’ve got a lot of style
They’ve got stamps of many countries
They’ve got passport smiles
Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the centre
Giving to get something
Photo beauty gets attention
Then her eye paint’s running down
She’s got a rose in her teeth
And a lampshade crown
One minute she’s so happy
Then she’s crying on someone’s knee
Saying laughing and crying
You know it’s the same release
I told you when I met you
I was crazy
Cry for us all beauty
Cry for Eddie in the corner
Thinking he’s nobody
And Jack behind his joker
And stone-cold Grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don’t understand
I feel like I’m sleeping
Can you wake me
You seem to have a broader sensibility
I’m just living on nerves and feelings
With a weak and a lazy mind
And coming to peoples parties
Fumbling deaf dumb and blind
I wish I had more sense of humor
Keeping the sadness at bay
Throwing the lightness on these things
Laughing it all away
Laughing it alI away
Laughing it all away
Shakin’ like the Devil when she lets me go
Got a new place and how it’s so much better.
Falling over myself, the televisions on,
I turn it off and smile.
Oh, Jennifer, you know I always tried.
Before you say goodbyeLeave the bourbon on the shelf.
And I’ll drink it by myself.
And I love you endlessly,
Darling don’t you see I’m not satisfied
Until I hold you tight.
Give me one more chance tonight
And I swear I’ll make it right.
But you ain’t got time for this
And that wreckin’ bell is ringin’
And I’m not satisfied
Until I hold youJennifer, tell me where I stand
And who’s that other boy holdin’ your hand?
Oh, Jennifer, you know I’ve always tried.
Before you say goodbyeLeave the bourbon on the shelf.
And I’ll drink it by myself.
And I never liked your hair or those people that you lie with
And I’m not satisfied
Until I hold you tight
And I love you endlessly,
Darling don’t you see I can’t be satisfied
Until I hold you tight.Leave the bourbon on the shelf.
And I’ll drink it by myself.
And I love you endlessly,
Darling don’t you see
I’m not satisfied.
Margaret Atwood incorporated printed lyrics for hymns in Year of the Flood. The first book in her post-apocalyptic trilogy,Oryx and Crake, features these delightfully green glow in the dark rabbits.
[2Pac:]
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Oooohhh, oooohhh [2Pac:]
Nuttin to lose…
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Oahhhh, oahhhahh [2Pac:]
I got nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Oh-hahhh [2Pac:]
Stuck in the game
Me against the world baby[Verse 1: 2Pac]
Can you picture my prophecy?
Stress in the city, the cops is hot for me
The projects is full of bullets, the bodies is droppin
There ain’t no stoppin me
Constantly movin while makin millions
Witnessin killings, leavin dead bodies in abandoned buildings
Can’t raise the children cause they’re illin
Addicted to killin and the appeal from the cap peelin
Without feelin, but will they last or be blasted?
Hard headed bastard
Maybe he’ll listen in his casket – the aftermath
More bodies being buried – I’m losing my homies in a hurry
They’re relocating to the cemetery
Got me worried, stressin, my vision’s blurried
The question is will I live? No one in the world loves me
I’m headed for danger, don’t trust strangers
Put one in the chamber whenever I’m feelin this anger
Don’t wanna make excuses, cause this is how it is
What’s the use unless we’re shootin no one notices the youth
It’s just me against the world baby[Girl:]
Me against the world [2Pac:]
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Ooooh yeah, ooo-hooo [2Pac:]
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Me against the world [2Pac:]
Cause it’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Hey! [2Pac:]
Me against the world [Girl:]
Ooooh yeah [2Pac:]
I got nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
I got nothing to lose[Verse 2: Dramacydal]
Could somebody help me? I’m out here all by myself
See ladies in stores, Baby Capone’s, livin wealthy
Pictures of my birth on this Earth is what I’m dreamin
Seein Daddy’s semen, full of crooked demons, already crazy
And screamin I guess them nightmares as a child
Had me scared, but left me prepared for a while
Is there another route? For a crooked Outlaw
Veteran, a villain, a young thug, who one day shall fallEveryday there’s mo’ death, and plus I’m dough-less
I’m seein mo’ reasons for me to proceed with thievin
Scheme on the scheming and leave they peeps grieving
Cause ain’t no bucks to stack up, my nuts is backed up
I’m bout to act up, go load the Mac up, now watch me klacka
Tried makin fat cuts, but yo it ain’t workin
And Evil’s lurking, I can see him smirking
When I gets to pervin, so what?
Go put some work in, and make my mail, makin sales
Risking 25 with a ‘L’, but oh well[Girl:]
Me against the world [2Pac:]
With nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Ooh yeah… oooh-ooooh [2Pac:]
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Me against the world [2Pac:]
I got nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Oahhhohh [2Pac:]
Ha ha
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Ha-ahh, HA-AHH! [2Pac:]
With nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Me against the world, hoahhh [2Pac:]
Me against the world
I got nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Ha-hahh (hehe) heyy![Verse 3: 2Pac]
With all this extra stressin
The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath
When will I finally get to rest? Through this suppression
They punish the people that’s askin questions
And those that possess, steal from the ones without possessions
The message I stress: to make it stop study your lessons
Don’t settle for less – even a genius asks-es questions
Be grateful for blessings
Don’t ever change, keep your essence
The power is in the people and politics we address
Always do your best, don’t let the pressure make you panic
And when you get stranded
And things don’t go the way you planned it
Dreamin of riches, in a position of makin a difference
Politicians and hypocrites, they don’t wanna listen
If I’m insane, it’s the fame made a brother change
It wasn’t nuttin like the game
It’s just me against the world[Girl:]
Me against the world [2Pac:]
Nuttin to lose
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Me against the world [2Pac:]
Got me stuck in the game
It’s just me against the world [Girl:]
Oahahhhh [2Pac:]
I’d be ashamed to lose
It’s just me against the world baby [Girl:]
Me against the world[Outro: 2Pac]
Heh, hahahahahahah
That’s right
I know it seem hard sometimes but uhh
Remember one thing
Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that
So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out
Keep your head up, and handle it[Girl:]
Me against the world [x3]
“Heroin” by The Velvet Underground is another example of spoken lyrics accompanied by music.
A song influenced by film:
“The Union Forever” by The White Stripes (with accompanying Citizen Kane footage)
It can’t be love
for there is no true love
It can’t be love
for there is no true loveSure I’m C.F.K. [Charles Foster Kane-Citizen Kane]
but you gotta love me
the cost no man can say
but you gotta love meWell I’m sorry but I’m not
interested in gold mines, oil wells, shipping or real estate
what would I liked to have been?
everything you hatecause It can’t be love
for there is no true love
It can’t be love
for there is no true loveThere is a man
a certain man
and for the poor you may be sure
that he’ll do all he can
who is this one?
who’s favourite son?
just by his action has the traction
magnets on the run
who likes to smoke
enjoys a joke
and wouldn’t get a bit
upset if he were really broke
with wealth and fame
he’s still the same
I’ll bet you five you’re not alive
If you don’t know his nameYou said the union forever
You said the union forever
You cried the union forever
but that was untrue girlcause It can’t be love
for there is no true love
It can’t be love
for there is no true love
Diamond Dogs features tracks Bowie originally wrote for a 1984-based musical. Big Brother is watching you.
J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins have done really well in their respective genres: young adult, fantasy, and dystopian fiction. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series have both been adapted into film, and continue to enchant and engage readers of all ages.
Jayne Self:
The HMS Malignant inspired Jayne’s award winning novel, Murder in Hum Harbour, as well as the name for Malignant Cove!
Some writers who have influenced Jayne: NJ Linquest, Linda Hall, Denise O’Leary, Dorthy Donne, Diana Gabaldon
“Write Canada is Canada’s largest annual Christian writers’ conference. Join 200 authors, journalists, columnists, bloggers, and poets and hone your craft at this three-day conference. June 11-13, 2015.” (from the Write Canada website)
Can you imagine having to type up a 20-page paper and, in order to rearrange sections of text, having to actually take a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue and manually cut and paste your document together?
Before personal computers, typewriters were used to type up letters, finish last-minute assignments, and put together the great novels of the 20th century. So, in honor of all those students and profs, writers and editors, who spent long hours re-working their writings, we’ve titled this typewriter-centric episode Cut & Paste.
Leonard Cohen is one of the Canadian greats. Famous for his troubling of the sacred and the profane through sexual and religious imagery, Cohen’s lyrics are celebrated in tandem with his gravelly and raw musical accompaniment.
A Windsor radio program hosted by Peter Brinn and Brittni Carey. You can catch us Mondays at 4:30pm on CJAM 99.1 FM in Windsor-Detroit. Our podcast is also available on our website, along with blog posts on what we’re reading, local events, and literary musings. We love dystopian fiction, typewriters, and Margaret Atwood.
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