A Portrait of the Kűnstler as
a Young Swivelhead: Nomi’s
Journey into Art in A
Complicated Kindness
Artistic References
1. Jackson Pollock (3)
• associated with the introduction of the Allover style of painting which avoids any
points of emphasis or identifiable parts
within the whole canvas and therefore
abandons the traditional idea of
composition in terms of relations among
parts. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/
– Sound familiar?
Artistic References
1. Jackson Pollock (3)
2. C.S. Lewis (74)
Narnia, of course . . .
But also The Screwtape Letters
• portrays a typical human life, with all its
temptations and failings, as seen from the
demon/devil's viewpoint.
• Wormwood and Screwtape live in a
peculiarly morally reversed world, where
individual benefit and greed are seen as
the greatest good,
• Can’t comprehend true human virtue
(Wikipedia)
-- any moral reversals in this novel?
Artistic References
1. Jackson Pollock (3)
2. C.S. Lewis (74)
3. Honoré de Balzac (77)
Balzac was an “author of the
human condition”
• He attempted to chronicle it in its French
entirety in a set of 100 novels and plays
entitled “The Human Comedy.”
• Balzac sought to present his characters as
real people, neither fully good nor fully evil,
but fully human. "To arrive at the truth
writers use whatever literary device seems
capable of giving the greatest intensity of
life to their characters.“ (Wikipedia)
Artistic References
1.
2.
3.
4.
Jackson Pollock (3)
C.S. Lewis (74)
Honoré de Balzac (77)
Paul Gauguin (several places)
Sought the exoticized other in what
he deemed a “primitive”culture
The European cultural elite discovering the art of
Africa, Micronesia, and Native Americans for the
first time were fascinated, intrigued and
educated by the newness, wildness and the
stark power embodied in the art of those faraway
places. Gauguin like Pablo Picasso in the early
days of the 20th century was inspired and
motivated by the raw power and simplicity of the
so_called Primitive art of those foreign cultures.
Mennonite Heritage Village: “Pioneer
Days”
Artistic References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Jackson Pollock (3)
C.S. Lewis (74)
Honoré de Balzac (77)
Paul Gauguin (several places)
Andrew Wyeth (“Christina’s World”)
Artistic References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Jackson Pollock (3)
C.S. Lewis (74)
Honoré de Balzac (77)
Paul Gauguin (several places)
Andrew Wyeth (“Christina’s World”)
Albert Camus
French author: Perhaps most
famous in the English world as an
existentialist thinker and creator of
the ultimate 20th C. “outsider,”
Meursault
• Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I
can't be sure. The telegram from the
Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED
AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP
SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter
doubtful; it could have been yesterday.
• From The Outsider/ L’etranger
• Meursault has an absolute honesty in that he
simply refuses to lie, either by speaking an untruth
but also by showing an unfelt emotion. This
ultimately leads to his own death, but also his
radical freedom.
One last one . . .
Artistic References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Jackson Pollock (3)
C.S. Lewis (74)
Honoré de Balzac (77)
Paul Gauguin (several places)
Albert Camus (99)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Underground Man
• Dostoevsky's narrator at once announces to us
how different he is from such traditional notions
of heroism. And the key metaphor declaring this
difference is his own: he is an underground
person. He does not live in the world where
actions matter. And he lives there by choice, a
willed refusal or inability to engage with other
people in any significant way. This choice does
not satisfy him, but (and this is the crucial
modern element) he has no intention of doing
anything about it. (Ian Johnston)
• Dostoevsky says that the Underground Man, though a
fictional character, is representative of certain people
who “not only may but must exist in our society, taking
under consideration the circumstances under which our
society has generally been formed.” The Underground
Man is extremely alienated from the society in which he
lives. He feels himself to be much more intelligent and
“conscious” than any of the people he meets. However,
he is aware that his consciousness often manifests itself
as a skepticism that prevents him from having
confidence in any of his actions. This skepticism cripples
him and keeps him from participating in “life” as other
people do. The Underground Man constantly analyzes
and second-guesses every thought and feeling he has.
He is therefore incapable of making decisions about
anything. (Sparknotes)
• Holly came from miami f.l.a.
Hitch-hiked her way across the u.s.a.
• Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, hey babe, take a walk on the
wild side
Said, hey honey, take a walk on the wild
side
• Candy came from out on the island,
In the backroom she was everybodys
darling,
• But she never lost her head
Even when she was given head - she said
Hey Babe, take a walk on the wild side,
Said hey honey, take a walk on the wild
side.
And the coloured girls go . . .