Monday, October 20, 2014

Alan Moore & Jerusalem

“The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun” - 1807(?), William Blake
(click to enlarge)

"In essence, eternalism proposes that space-time forms a block – ‘imagine it as a big glass football’, Moore suggests – where past and future are endlessly, immutably fixed, and where human lives are ‘like tiny filaments, embedded in that gigantic vast egg’. He gestures around him at the rubbish-strewn path, his patriarch’s beard waving in the wind. ‘What it’s saying is, everything is eternal,’ he tells me. ‘Every person, every dog turd, every flattened beer can – there’s usually some hypodermics and condoms and a couple of ripped-open handbags along here as well – nothing is lost. No person, no speck or molecule is lost. No event. It’s all there for ever. And if everywhere is eternal, then even the most benighted slum neighbourhood is the eternal city, isn’t it? William Blake’s eternal fourfold city. All of these damned and deprived areas, they are Jerusalem, and everybody in them is an eternal being, worthy of respect."

- Alan Moore from Everything and Moore, by Tim Martin, a recent Aeon Magazine article



"Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green & pleasant Land."

- excerpt from "And did those feet in ancient time" (aka "Jerusalem"), William Blake, published 1808



Alan Moore
This post is just a heads-up to an article I found today on Aeon Magazine (see quote above) about the writer, occultist, and comic book author (see bibliography),  Alan Moore. If you remember, it was an earlier interview with him that inspired the Trans-D post, The Magic of Art and the Art of Magic.

Apparently he's just finished a "million-word" novel - "Jerusalem" - a decade in the making, and set in his home-town of Northampton, England. According to the article, it is a "tribute to every eternal speck in his universe."

Interestingly, Moore's character in the novel is a female painter!      

One statement AM makes in the article particularly intrigues me:

"Art isn’t doing its job any more,’ he says at one point. ‘It’s not filled with the real and the marvellous. There’s no vision. There’s no William Blake."

I don't know... I figure there may be one or two William Blakes hiding out there... it's just that they're not yet famous... or, have been rendered mute and flameless by the latest pharmaceutical "cure" prescribed by an enforced head-doctor.


***


Regarding my own life's story... well, I'm currently going through the long and arduous process of finding and creating new digs in New Mexico. Yes, as I promised in my previous post, I did venture out again... alone, and in my car... arriving a little over a week ago.

When I've fully processed this, I'll be back with another post... But, meanwhile I'm changing the tunes on the sidebar to reflect my journey. The first is the Pink Floyd album (the entire album) that saved my sanity while driving through the surreal wastelands that comprise much of the midwest... and the second is a tune from an old gem that brought me into New Mexico during the dead of night: Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison. (Note: If you're a Van Morrison fan, this album is a must-have.) (Note two: As it so happens, in - more or less - the title tune (which follows "Streets of Arklow"), Van the Man specifically mentions "William Blake & the Eternals." I just love the odd little synchronistic references life seems to throw in our paths now and again.)

"We're goin' out in the West, down to the cathedrals
We're goin' out in the West, down to the beaches
And the Sisters of Mercy, behind the sun
Oh, behind the sun

And William Blake and the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece"

(YouTube link - YouTube full album link)



10 comments:

  1. Eternalism....ummmmm... immutable and static. Stasis of time in blocks. Each billionth of a second archived forever in the immensity of space/time. And you thought PNG files were cool!

    Pink Floyd is superb. You know....as he said, regarding art.....indeed that IS the problem - only it's not that there is no William Blake, but there is really no Pink Floyd. Context. As if any one artist can define art. I pshaw him. I eject spittle at his patent leather shoes and reject his arguments due to fundamental flaws.

    May all your moments (eternal and/or otherwise), be synchronistic!

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    1. Hmmm... let me guess, you ran out of wacky weed and are now experimenting with that strange, pungent vine growing behind the shed... ? Haven't I warned you about this sort of activity? KNOW YOUR PLANTS!

      ;-)

      Seriously, BG, thanks for dropping by!

      PS Personally, I have a problem with the idea of anything being "immutably fixed" at any point in space or time... but, I'm curious as hell to read Moore's take on being a female artist!

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    2. PPS But, you definitely have a point about Pink Floyd... which is not to say that there is NO Pink Floyd. Gilmore, Mason (& the ghost of Richard Wright) are releasing a new album in November. I just put up a bit of it on the sidebar.

      Now, if only Roger Waters could come back... and the ghost of Sid Barrett... maybe they could do a new concept album... about the life of William Blake! :-O

      More info: http://www.pinkfloyd.com/theendlessriver/listen

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    3. PPPS ...And may all your moments be synchronistic and pure.

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  2. It is not that there is no Pink Floyd, but that Pink Floyd is not what it was. Always happens...inevitable. I'll have to look for their new album -- they're one of my favorite bands.

    You know.....an Alan Parsons Project album "William Blake" would be AWESOME too. But they aren't them anymore either.

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    1. Thanks for reminding me about Alan Parsons Project! AP was a sound engineer for PF! Just dug up my favorite AP on YouTube: the tribute to Poe... Full album:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sJrz3NNDU

      ...and, just for you, BG:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVLUeXkzUjM

      :-)

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  3. Thank you.....and yes, I have that album ;)

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    1. You're welcome... though I kind of figured you did... ;-)

      Meanwhile, musically, I seem to have gone retrograde this week. It'll pass.

      Speaking of passing, I was sad to hear about Jack Bruce - one of the greats - but glad to have an excuse to put up two of my favorite Cream tunes. Once, again: Vale, Jack! Long live that voice!

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  4. You deserve an external life as rich as your internal one. Xox

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    1. I don't know if that's possible, sweets, but thank you for your beautiful comment. I don't know how I managed to miss it till now, but, if you see this one, ox to you as well. :-)

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