turning away from reality
« in fact, it's nothing less than truth revealed »
Seth's skill and talent is not up for debate any longer. We must instead move on to the implication of what he is trying to say, the only way to engage with an artist of consequence.
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
Seth no TCJ e as críticas continuam harsh: da relação de um par de irmãos com um mundo em constante evolução e "Seth’s complicated self criticism of his own collector/nostalgia obsessions". Austin English não perdoa a Seth o seu retiro voluntário do mundo moderno, e segue-se mashup em acelerado:
Clyde Fans is an expression of Seth's mind, which would be thrilling if only it affirmed its stated love of the cardboard box in jubilant strokes. If this is a therapy of reigning in his own on-display wistful tendencies, the undertone of anger towards a certain kind of unacceptable
visualculture is surging forth. Why can't we allow the book to be a fantasy of the pleasing, sleepy side of failed commerce, a sentimental journey through the regrets of forgotten manufacturers? Because Clyde Fans states that it is not about nostalgia, not about sentiment. This is a book about nothing less than reality itself. There is Abe's 'masculine' reality: out in the real world 'making sales' and telling stories with 'the people.' And there is his brother Simon's reality, cooped up in his private room in the Clyde Fans factory. Clyde Fans is, at its core, a debate over which reality is correct, which is real.
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
Vendas ($$$) ou isolados no private room?
Readers will of course feel a pang of confusion over the obvious truth that is either obscured, omitted or simply not considered. To anyone with half a heart, neither of these situations approaches reality. The following Walter Benjamin passage, which I don't expect Seth or anyone to need to refute or even be aware of, must be employed in relation to Clyde Fans because in one sentence, the books plot is summarized and succinctly snuffed out: "The private individual, who in the office has to deal with reality, needs the domestic interior to sustain him in his illusions."
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
Pausa, parêntesis. Na realidade, AE aponta-lhe muitas outras ofensas cometidas. Como i) a sua verve direitista:
The men of business speak, justify, summarize, emote and offer self comfort, self validation. Everyone else is silent, literally without dialogue. It is clear who matters here, who is worth humanizing. The workers are there as props.
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
ii) Repetição —
The novel's title appears 11 times (including on the cover) before the story begins. There is quite a weight of expectation of what is expressed here. Earth shattering revelations should be in store. What happens after we read the words 'Clyde Fans' 11 times? Why was this choice made? The decision to repeat the title is nothing but a statement unrelated to the drama of the story: 'just in case you don't get it, this is serious stuff.'
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
...e iii) falta de paródia.
Yes, obviously a cozy space where you control everything feels more alluring than anywhere else, we all flirt with that illusion---the important part is not to commit to it, to grasp the cheat of it, or, perhaps most powerfully, be aware of it. Clyde Fans, instead, mistakes illusion for earned wisdom. This dissonance could be salvageable. We, the readers, might be able to find some 'reality' in Abe and Simon's debate if some laughter at this premise were inserted. We might find some poetry with these two, a noble attempt at understanding themselves. But there's no chuckling at or with either Simon or Abe.
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
Fim de parêntesis. Ora. Apesar de sensíveis ao pacatismo nostálgico do autor, fazemos eco da importância do be aware of da tendência de cair em cozy spaces de controlo e receitamos outras atitudes de aversão ao mundo moderno que não a retirada para uma sala dos fundos de um edifício abandonado (*) A "sala de fundos" e "edifício abandonado" são metáforas: adivinhem a que arte?. OS POSITIVOS: we-hold-no-tongue. Como o autor da crítica, lookin' forward a quebrarmos essa realidade fantasiosa-de-não-autênticidade.
I look forward to the next book. There, I hope to see Seth's conviction and skill crystalized into the 'beyond reality' metaphysical fantasy epic he sketches out here.
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
Clyde Fans offers a confrontation with reality from an artist whose stated desire is to live in a confined---and most importantly, safe---cardboard box. Clyde Fans offers a tortured sigh — mental isolation, imbedding within its pages bafflement towards any possible attack. A vision of life so deeply felt and believed by one voice that nothing more was needed than the artist's self-circulating reality. A dialogue, but with his own voice on both sides.
in “Turning Away From Reality: Seth’s Clyde Fans” 22 jul 2019
