Art and politics
Never the twain shall meet without causing issues!
Recently I have been re-reading some of the great books that I devoured in my youth. I re-read two by Henry Miller, “Tropic of Capricorn,” (1939) and “Nexus,” (1959) which is the final volume of the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy. (The first two volumes are “Sexus” and “Plexus.”)
In Nexus, Miller was mentioning some of his literary heroes and he dropped the name of Knut Hamsun, the Norwegian novelist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. That was a name I had not thought of in almost 50 years, but in my 20s I was a huge Hamsun fan.
I recently started re-reading his 1890 classic, “Hunger,” which is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Hamsun’s portrayal of being a literally starving artist on the streets of Kristiania (Oslo), is one of the most stunning portrayals of a borderline psychotic personality.
The techniques he pioneered in that psychological study, such as interior monologues and stream of consciousness, have been credited with founding the modern novel. In a long life, however, Hamsun outlived his popularity in his native Norway. Because of his dislike of Great Britain, he backed Hitler during the 2nd World War.
Hamsun not only traveled to Germany to meet with Hitler, but he also backed a pro-German occupation government under Vidkun Quisling, the leader whose very name came to mean traitor. After the war, Hamsun was charged with Treason, but due to old age and illness he was never sent to jail.
All of this brings up the question, do we have to like or agree with an artist’s political views to appreciate their artistry? It would perhaps be better if artists kept out of politics and didn’t opine on issues of the day, but I guess they have as much right to make idiots of themselves as the next guy– take Bruce Springsteen!
“The Boss” ticked off a lot of his fans recently when he made some negative comments about President Trump while on tour in England. I guess he didn’t learn from the example of the Dixie Chicks who did the same thing in a London concert 20 years ago and became so unpopular they had to change the name of their group!
A well-known leftist, everybody expects Bruce to do that sort of thing while performing in America, however, a lot of people didn’t think it was appropriate to bad mouth the country while in a foreign land. I agree, although I was never that much of a Springsteen fan to begin with.
What about performers from other lands who come to our shores and denounce our government? Generally they get a pass because we really don’t care what some outsider thinks of us. I can remember seeing Elvis Costello years ago when he came to Rochester during the George W. Bush administration. He gave a great show, but couldn’t help slipping in some criticism of the President and the Iraq War between songs.
Personally that didn't bother me. I think Elvis is a great talent who has written and performs some great songs. I don’t have to agree with his foreign policy to enjoy him. I also enjoy the music of Eminem and Willie Nelson, who apparently have never met a Democrat candidate they didn’t want to endorse. Who cares? If I had to only listen to music from Conservative artists it would be a pretty dull world!
And speaking of saying dumb things, Neil Young, another of the heroes of my youth, may have set the all-time record for stupidity with his comments about “vaccine misinformation.” He actually requested to have his music removed from Spotify because they also carried the show of vaccine sceptic Joe Rogan.
That boycott didn’t have much effect, or last very long, but I forgave him because, after all, he is Canadian–must be something in the water up there!