Author: jkordy

Quote

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?”

— George Bernard Shaw

The Dog Stars – Peter Heller

peter_heller_the_dog_stars

Of all the post-apocalyptic narratives out there this one is my favorite (although Daybreak is really good). There are no zombies here. Just the everyday reality of what would happen once the immediate threat disappears – and you’ve somehow survived.

The writing style seems to give people a lot of trouble, I think these are the same people who’ve never read a poem or for whom a minimalist painting somehow is a threat to their worldview. Either that or they are grammar nazis. But who is to say that every sentence needs a period or needs to be grammatically correct in a novel?

I think the writing style was one of my favorite parts of the book. Stream of consciousness style. Done really well I thought. Full of distractions, half thoughts, other people’s voices, memories… You get to really enter the mind of the character – who happens to be a pilot, own a dog, and share his somewhat miserable life (are their lives really any more miserable post-apocalypse then before?) with someone whose moral standards are a bit different from his own (but are they wrong or is survival the only thing that matters?).

These questions and others are presented as part of the, one could say mundane, existence of Hig. I guess all these zombie and other disaster movies try to show us that we are only a thin line away from utter chaos and reversion to an animalistic survival instinct and that societal niceties are the first to go – and this book shows those beautifully – but this book is also an amazing meditation on loss and longing under the circumstances. And really it’s the little things – amazing descriptions of flying, and gardening, fishing, the little pleasures in life – the only things left really – once everything else is gone – that really gave me joy and kept the pages turning.

Thank you Peter Heller, and thanks K for a great birthday read.

Quote

“No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time, it’s just that others are behind the times.”

—Martha Graham

On Liveness

I was reminded of and keep being reminded of the qualitative and fundamental differences between something that is being experienced live vs. recorded, digitized or otherwise preserved the other night while at a concert and listening to Philip Glass.

There is just no comparison. While listening to a recording – I lack the urgency, immediacy, fallibility, and frailty of the live thing. I can turn it off, pause it. Live – I must focus, because it is fleeting.

In liveness I am complicit in the performance – I am integral – part of the pact of performing. Some of these apply, when I go see a pre-recorded film at the theater – this is why it is sometimes more enjoyable to see film there. But with a live performance not only are you part of the audience, but you are also part of the performance as a whole. Your actions can be acted upon by the performers. You can bring down the house of cards, break the pact, but you are compelled not to and you do not.

As an audience member you might disagree – but as a performer we all know how fundamental to the performance the audience is.