I majored in literature so I know we humanists have this tendency to see literary references almost everywhere, even there where they are not. However, what I have just came across is astounding even to me.
I'm currently sick, so I spend a lot of time in front of my computer watching some videos on youtube etc. I was listening to some Lana del Rey song and I scrolled down to read the description and I saw this:
"Lizzy Grant reads and quotes a LOT from the poems of Walt Whitman. Whitman invented a humanist religion of self-realisation and self-actualisation. In an astonishing act of postmodern artistic vision, Lizzy invented Lana Del Rey, a chanteuse with a doomed desire for absolute love and a masochistic penchant for rich older men, and in Whitmanesque style, she brought Lana to life as one of the most exciting acts in music. Lana's neediness and despair connects with our world in financial decline and flux, and the public are feeling this connection. At Lovebox, I was utterly moved by an artist realising her vision beyond her wildest dreams. This is the end of the beginning of this story. Having met her at the Jazz Cafe, I can tell you Lizzy herself is sweet and guileless, a lovely person with time for everybody. The mystery of how much Lizzy is Lana, and how much Lana is Lizzy, will be chapter 2 of the most fascinating story in pop music today..."
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My first reaction was one I probably should not quote here, its toned-down version being OMFG. Honestly, I'm not a huge fun of Lana Del Rey/Lizzy Grant but I like a few of her songs, however, this was too much. I understand that today's world is not into intellecutual qualities and we have to deal with it in whatever way we can - but this sounds over-intelletualized, and a lot. Or rather, as if someone has just been to a few philosophy or literature classes and feels the need to show it off - hence these pseudointellectual ramblings.
I feel like I owe it to Walt Whitman -may he rest in peace- to say a few words on him rather than futher comment on this nonsense. In a way, what was written in the above quote makes sense as in Whitman's poems the real "me" is distinguished from another "not me" to what the aouthor of the quote might refer when saying "Lizzy invented Lana Del Rey, a chanteuse with a doomed desire for absolute love" - but calling it "an astonishing act of postmodern artistic vision" is way out of line. Would we say the same thing about the act of guys dressing up as drag queens and performing Barbra Streisand songs? No. But we should if we choose to call every single attempt of having a stage alter ego an "act of postmodern artistic vision".
If someone likes to indentify Lana with Whitman the better argument would be that they both seem to find an interest in American culture as the key theme. However, Whitman was probably more honest in his admiration for the United States, which for him was the greatest form "with veins full of poetical stuff"**. Del Rey, on the other hand seems to be at awe but at the same time seems to mock the iconic themes of American culture.
To Whitman, every man and woman were the constituents of real poems. Apart from America, other important themes in his poetry were death and sexuality. Which would make sense as according to Freud these aspects of life were closely linked and Whitman believed that "death was the meeting place of ecstasy and annihilation"*** (but this is a topic for another post).
In his most prolific poem "Song of Myself"", Whitman says: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself"**** and he keeps repeating his "I" throughout the poem - which is - as my American literature professor said- "a recognizable product of American oratorial tradition". This "I" really is a key to many important speeches in American culture: the famous Martin Luther King speech or the recent speech of Michelle Obama during the campaign (which clearly refers to the classic speeches). It's not only about repeating this "I" but about the iplementation of personal story, the story about "me" into the political or other speeches. And it clearly works in America. Whitman said that he had "(...) a feeling or ambition to articulate and faithfully express in literary or poetic form and uncompromisingly my own physical, emotional, moral, intellectual and aesthetic personality in the midst of and tallying the momentous spirit and facts of its immediate days and of current America, and to exploit that personality, identified with place and date, in a far more candid and comprehensive sense than any hitherto poem or book."***** I wish I could say he succeeded but I've read a few more comprehensive works than his :)
* youtube video Lana Del Rey - Without You - Lovebox Festival - Live in London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRZnJM703B4&feature=related
** Whitman, Walt - 1855 - Preface to Leaves of grass http://www.bartleby.com/39/45.html
*** Conn, Peter - 1990 - The Cambridge illustrated history of American literature, Guild Publishing London
**** Whitman, Walt -2006- "Song of Myself", Digireads.com Publishing
***** Whitman, Walt -1888- “A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads”
Pictures-source:
Whitman: americanpoets.com; Del Rey: adocin.net
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