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flowerytale · 4 months

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Susan Sontag, from As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks 1964-1980

#susan sontag #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh: journals and notebooks 1964-1980 #typo #typography #fragments #this is so me coded #*

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theoptia · 1 year

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Susan Sontag, from As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980; February 17th, 1970

Text ID: I don't feel guilt at being unsociable, though I may sometimes regret it because my loneliness is painful. But when I move into the world, it feels like a moral fall—like seeking love in a whorehouse.

#susan sontag #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh: journals and notebooks 1964-1980 #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh #quote #journal #diary #french literature #lit #miscellanea #yeah.

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marttapav · 2 months

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requests from tiktok 🫂

#artists on tumblr #art #art journal #digital illustration #rdr2 #doodle #red dead redemption 2 #sketch #rdr2 sketches #josiah trelawny #susan grimshaw #tilly jackson #jack marston #molly o'shea

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depressedraisin · 3 months

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notes on "mr. snarl"

hello, hello, hello welcome to the mr. snarl is high camp discourse. i've been readin' and thinkin' and drivin' myself nuts over this, so i'll be blabberin' on for a good minute. bear with me.

before we dive into any discussion of camp, we ofcourse need to understand what camp is in the first place. camp as an idea is nearly impossible to neatly put down in a few words or a sentence. it has no definition as of such. camp is loud. camp is ostentatious. camp is exaggerated. camp is 'too much'. camp is gay. camp is ironic. camp is cheeky. drag is camp. marlene dietrich is camp. baroque art is camp. cher is camp. mommie dearest (1981) is camp. the rocky horror picture show (1975) is camp. dostoevsky is camp.

the girlies who get camp get it, those who don't, don't.

however we do have susan sontag's 1964 seminal essay 'notes on "camp"' from where most of our contemporary ideas and understanding of 'camp' comes from. in her essay, sontag noted 58 points on what camp is or might be. for our purposes in this post, we'll go by those. because it is the camp bible of course. and i am a pretentious bitch.

now before we get to the meat of the matter, a quick detour to discuss the many faces of alex turner.

alex's personas have now come to as closely associated to his image as an artist and public figure as blonde wigs are with dolly parton, i suppose. it even has its own section in alex's wiki page. he is one those performers to whom the "eras" concept can truly and perfectly apply. he is a different man on stage with every new album, each 'era' is unique from the other and distinctly defined. a new 'era' for alex is not only a change of a haircut or a new pallette, it is a total revamping of his mannerisms and performance style and public image. be it mr. schwarz (the car era), mark (tbhc era) or oliver tate sr. (early sias era), each one of his personas is another way in which he represents the themes of that album. understanding a persona is integral to understanding the album.

and alex admits to as such. each Performer is a fractured reflection of his own self, and of the album.

but. but. i do not think that he has always made use of the Performer, or atleast, tried to make perceivable distinctions between them. in the first three-four years of his career- during WPSIATWIN and FWN, he presented as just Some Guy. just another normal bloke from sheffield. which, you could argue, was the persona that fit the context of those albums, but i would say that he was probably not putting that much thought into it at the time. it isn't until TAOTU that we see alex using his on-stage fashion to project a certain kind of image that ties in with the music he's playing. (do i think it's miles' handiwork? yes.). the lil suits and ties and beatles-mop cuts, y'know.

the first distinct Performer appears during the Humbug era. the soft-spoken, brooding, fawn-mannered poet who is probably hiding a bagful of secrets and hang-ups behind those layers of brown curls- let's call her him aly. then we have the bright-eyed, puppy-smiled, deep-voiced loverboy of the early SIAS era. i propose to call him oliver tate sr. (after the guy from submarine (2010) obviously). then mr. snarl- we'll get to him later. the loud and theatrical and slutty and deliciously gay EYCTE era persona. then the melancholic space poet mark of TBH&C and finally the suave auteur of The Car- mr. schwarz.

mr. snarl is the one who has garnered the most fascination and endured the most in popular imagination. dare i say, AM-era alex turner is a lowkey late 2010s pop culture icon. it is very easy to understand why- the quiff, the leather jackets, the perpetual sunglasses, the biker boots, the LA drawl tinging his sheffield accent, the devil-may-care wantoness. the girlies on tiktok and pinterest aren't obsessed with him for nothing.

so, what makes mr. snarl camp? what am i yapping on about?

let's get back to sontag.

camp is artificial. camp is ironic. mr. snarl is too. he is a character. he is a mask. *cue the bourne identity and body paint*. 'artificial' does not imply fake or dishonest. we should be careful not to be quick in putting any value judgement onto this artificiality- the aritifice is a quality of camp. you can't appreciate camp, if you snigger at the artificial.

2. camp is character. mr. snarl is a character if there ever was one. extremely defined, visually and behaviourally- you see a performance and can immediately recognise the moment mr. snarl is peeking through. he is also very intensely one thing- very intensely masculine, very intensely rockabilly, very intensely rock god. he is 'instant character' as sontag puts it, which is why perhaps he so immediately and so firmly gripped our collective imagination.

3. camp is exaggerated. camp is style. do i even need to elaborate on this? Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian said it much better than i could- alex ironically "played with the role" of being a rockstar but simultaneously "can't help but be a real rock star." so, to put it in sontagian terms, he is not a rockstar but a "rock star"

the 2014 brit awards speech is the peak of this ironic, exaggerated performance i think. (i'm still waiting for someone to do a drag performance based on it).

4. but to me, what makes mr. snarl camp is his performance of gender. now let's get one thing clear- camp is not effeminate or queer behaviour. it is the "spirit of extravagance", so any kind of extravagant and ironic presentation of gender can be under the purview of camp.

this performance of gender is not the david bowie or marc bolan or brian molko kind, no. this performance of gender is much subtle, much more nuanced- he wasn't playing around with rigid definitions of gender or crossing gender lines. he wasn't trying to say something with it necessarily. i doubt even, if it was a purposeful thing that he was thinking of back then.

but mr. snarl is a performance of gender. it is a performance of masculinity. and the thing that makes it so very interesting is that it was a cis, straight man doing it.

[if y'all are interested, another interesting example is dolly parton + her persona + her performance of exaggerated femininity. for more on that i'll point you towards be kind rewind's video essay on her.]

mr. snarl was an image of a very certain kind of masculinity. 1950s, elvis presley, rockabilly, greasers, james dean- these are some of the pop culture touchstones that come to mind when we think of mr. snarl. he is also decidedly american. a "fictional character from america" as alex later put it. was this whole persona thing an effort to conquer america then? perhaps...but eh. there is no way i can conclusively say that. it certainly helped that cause. AM the album was very us-american in essence-- it drew from hiphop and r&b after all. the soundscape of the arctic monkeys was very much rooted in its northern british indie roots, and AM was the first one that was clearly not. and mr. snarl was just a visual reflection of that. [for more on how the arctic monkeys conquered the us]

mr. snarl was a certain kind of masculine in a way alex turner personas haven't been previously or since. he has always presented as conventionally masculine. even the humbug persona- him being my girlfriend notwithstanding- is not much different from the aesthetics of say, ray davies or mick jagger or george harrison back in the 60s and 70s. the slightly effeminate dramaticism of eycte is not exactly gender-bending as such.

but mr. snarl was hypermasculine. masculinity has had an interesting place in his lyrics up until they- they are both critical ('brianstorm' 'a certain romance') and fascinated ('jeweller's hand' 'catapult') of more aggressive masculine characteristics. (he does use a lot of very sexual but not necessarily erotic language to describe said masculinity- but that's another can of worms.) mr. snarl was in a way, alex being those characters from those songs he was writing about. mr. snarl also very aggressively straight. straight with a capital s. his songs in AM still had the self-abasing and submissive undertones to the narrator that love songs from humbug and sias, but much toned down. he was out there shouting out his girlfriend on stage. and who can forget the "ladiessssssss!" moment. he had models hanging off him in photoshoots.

you probably saw these photos and thought- "what the fuck?!" with a cackle. that is exactly what makes mr. snarl camp. the irony, the ridiculousness of it all.

5. i don't think alex was trying to be or do camp. camp is best when it is not intentional. i can even confidently wager alex would not take it as a compliment if i showed him this essay. a lot of very "serious" people look down upon camp as something lowbrow and tacky and unserious. but it isn't. i would go ahead and classify mr. snarl under naive camp- he is trying to be straightlaced and serious, but failing grandly, which makes it deliciously camp.

so. mr. snarl was an exaggerated representation of masculinity. in a sense, mr. snarl was basically drag. alex turner being "Alex Turner".

#alex turner #arctic monkeys #the last shadow puppets #camp #susan sontag #i spent wayyyy to much time on this #journal of alex turner studies

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peachesnabsinthe · 1 year

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Jungle Sunset 🌄🌿💦

#marijuana #medical marijuana #cannabis #cw marijuana #cw cannabis #blazy susan #personal #online journal #digital diary #journal #personal post #diaryposting #stoner #weedporn #jungle sunset

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hiyutekivigil · 8 months

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#hiyutekivigil #susan sontag #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh #journal #notebook #notes #mountain #mountain photography #nature photography #photography #quotes #words #literature #academia #academia aesthetic #dead poets society #dead poets society aesthetic

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tendermimi · 10 months

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— Susan Sontag, As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh

#susan sontag #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh #diaries #journals #writings #excerpts #quotes #prose #summer

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dk-thrive · 1 year

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Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptacle for one’s private, secret thoughts—like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could do to any person; I create myself.

Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; October 27, 2009)

#Susan Sontag #journal #diary

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scarfacemarston · 2 years

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Tilly’s letter

This is further proof as to why I think Tilly was the closest friend to Abigail and Jack. Wish we had even more of their friendship. Tilly was clearly her rock and it’s obvious once again that everyone in the gang loved her. I love how she reintroduces herself. She deserves all the happiness in the world. Sometimes I get teary eyed thinking of Tilly and how wonderful she is. It sucks how so many ignore her.

Transcript: Dear Abigail and John, I hope you’re both well. It’s me, Tilly. Tilly Jackson as I was and Tilly Pierre as I now am. I’m a married woman and more than that I am a mother. I have given birth to a beautiful little girl and so far she is doing well. My husband is a lawyer from Haiti and I live in a fancy house in town. I’m very genteel and we even have servants. How you would laugh at me if you could see me. I feel like the biggest fraud alive, but my husband, who is a very understanding man, tells me everyone is a fraud and we are all the same underneath, and I know he speaks the truth. I miss you both and I was so happy to learn you are well and I hope Jack is, too. He must be so big by now. I miss him and I think it was that time I spent being an aunt to him that made me want to be a mother myself. You were quite right, Abigail, it is the greatest feeling alive. In spite of my happy life and my immense good fortune a part of me misses the old day something rotten. Silly old Miss Grimshaw and angry Mr. Pearson, and kindly Hosea, who was like a father to me, and you both and poor dear Arthur and all them bastards, and Karen who was a sister to me, and who I miss every day. I still see my darling Mary-Beth, who is now a lady novelist which both surprised me and did not surprise me at all, if that makes any sense. I just wanted to share my happy news with you for you are my family, only one I really got, aside from my husband and baby girl. Yours, Tilly

#rdr 2 #tilly jackson #john marston #abigail marston #abigail roberts #jack marston #hosea matthews #susan grimshaw #simon pearson #karen jones #mary-beth gaskill #journal entries #letters

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susanyung · 1 year

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✧˚ · .Tis the holiday season! Shop Update! ✧˚ · . Shop Link: susanyung.com/store I have decided to update my online store for all things merry and bright! I’ve been traveling with these goodies with me throughout this year’s craft fair and convention scene so it is time to share them online as well! :D I have never been more prouder of these prints, stickers, washi tape and notepad! I’ve decided this year to invest a little bit more in the quality of things and they all turned out looking really nice! Especially the prints, I invested in a printer that just does all the colors perfectly and makes all my prints look like you have just bought an original painting! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, hopefully you can find some gifts from this post and please share it with your friends! Would love to see all these go to a new home!!

#illustration #artists on tumblr #digital art #digital painting #plein air #gouache #gouache painting #holiday #holiday gifts #gift guide #stickers #stationery #washi tape #planner #journaling #decoration #susan yung #small business

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cricket-approved · 5 months

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collage layouts on my journals. (top is 2023 / bottom is 2022)

#*cricket noises*#collage #art nouveau #susan sontag #andy warhol #van gogh #claude monet #odilon redon #journal

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flowerytale · 2 years

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Susan Sontag, from “Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963″

#susan sontag #reborn: journals and notebooks 1947-1963 #typo #typography #quote #quotes #fragments #lit #literature #poetry #*

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theoptia · 1 year

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Susan Sontag, from As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980; February 17th, 1970

Text ID: I’m chasing myself (I have been for years).

#susan sontag #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh: journals and notebooks 1964-1980 #as consciousness is harnessed to flesh #quote #journal #diary #french literature #lit #miscellanea #mhm.

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garadinervi · 2 months

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Susan Greene (Art Forces), I Witness Silwan – أَنَا شَاهِدٌ عَلَى سِلْوَان: Who is Watching Whom?, «Jerusalem Quarterly», Issue 82, Summer 2020, pp. 154-167 (pdf here) [Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut]

I Witness Silwan – أَنَا شَاهِدٌ عَلَى سِلْوَان

(image: Eyes of Rachel Corrie, (vinyl print with acrylic), by Denny Sternstein)

#graphic design #art #photography #journal #i witness silwan #art forces #susan greene #denny sternstein #rachel corrie #the rachel corrie foundation for peace & justice #jerusalem quarterly #institute for palestine studies #2010s #2020s

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sugachim1310 · 5 months

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"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵…. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦."

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

#susan pevensie #chronicals of narnia #narnia #narnia aesthetic #moodboard #journal #my journal #collage

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essayisms · 2 years

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Spring Journal: Fictionalizing Reality

In 1916, Robert Walser—an unsung Swiss writer who influenced everyone from Franz Kafka to Susan Sontag—wrote a short story about a young couple called The Italian Novella. The story was made up of only 708 words and no one even bothered to translate it into English until 2009. And yet, despite the brevity and relative obscurity of this story, with it, Walser was able to lay out a philosophy of being that is still applicable today.

#spring journal #essays #academia #literature #litblr #english literature #robert walser #literary magazine #by Sean Mallanray #susan sontag #franz kafka #reading #books #booklr

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