Jump off. You are a protected individual. Do not fear.
Henry MillerRead
What are our conductors giving us year after year? Only fresh corpses. Over these beautifully embalmed sonatas, toccatas, symphonies and operas the public dance the jitterbug. Night and day without let the radio drowns us in a hog-wash of the most nauseating, sentimental ditties. From the churches comes the melancholy dirge of the dead Christ, a music which is no more sacred than a rotten turnip.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Henry Miller critiques the state of music and art as being stagnant and superficial, failing to reflect true life.
In this quote, Henry Miller expresses his disappointment with the music being produced and consumed by society. He suggests that rather than offering substance or depth, contemporary music is akin to a 'fresh corpse'—something that has lost its vitality over time. The imagery he employs evokes a sense of disillusionment with art that fails to challenge or inspire, instead serving only as a backdrop for mindless entertainment. Miller's powerful words call for a re-evaluation of the artistic creations that dominate cultural life and urge a yearning for authenticity and real emotion in the arts.
Themes
MusicArtAuthenticityCritiqueCulture
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the importance of authenticity in artistic expression.
More from Henry Miller
All quotes →I saw through to the last sign and symbol, but I could not read her face. I could see only the eyes shining through, huge, fleshy-like luminous beasts, as though I were swimming behind them in the electric effluvia of her incandescent vision.
Henry MillerRead
The essential thing is to WANT to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.
Henry MillerRead
Great God! What have I turned into? What right have you people to clutter up my life, steal my time, probe my soul, suckle my thoughts, have me for your companion, confidant, and information bureau? What do you take me for? Am I an entertainer on salary, required every evening to play an intellectual farce under your stupid noses? Am I a slave, bought and paid for, to crawl on my belly in front of you idlers and lay at your feet all that I do and all that I know?
Henry MillerRead
We are swimming on the face of time and all else has drowned, is drowning, or will drown.
Henry MillerRead
To sing you must first open your mouth. You must have a pair of lungs, and a little knowledge of music. It is not necessary to have an accordion, or a guitar. The essential thing is to want to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.
Henry MillerRead
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