Day 1
Samuel R. Delany,
Aye, and Gomorrah…
Alright, this is an interesting challenge! Let's go to school!
Clarence Clarity - No Now
Taking the excerpt with no context, the situation reads like a struggle between some cosmic, awesome being beyond human comprehension and someone who has spent their life worshipping this deity. Maybe someone having some sort of crisis of faith?
I admit I'm not religious myself, but I do often find fiction that deals with themes and questions regarding potential higher powers fascinating. A lot of it comes from the idea that whatever God is being discussed - a supernatural, all-knowing entity - is said to punish those who "sin", but nobody is exactly sure of what that entails. Is hedonism itself worthy of damnation? It would seem we are created with an innate desire for euphoric sensations, while simultaneously taught it's wrong to indulge in such things. It's especially tricky in regards to sex - the thing that humanity requires to exist. Are you supposed to enjoy the acting of making love, or is such enjoyment sinful as well? What is the difference between when a God creates life and two mortals do the same thing? Are we just the playthings of a cruel puppetmaster who likes watching us self-destruct? If we're created in the image of a perfect God, then why are we all so flawed? So many questions and contradicting ideas, it's no wonder that eventually, some individuals who have tried to live life according to a strict dogma, will experience feelings and thoughts that make them question what they think they know about our relationship with whatever cosmic force might be out there.
I think a lot of the themes I've mentioned are addressed beautifully on Clarence Clarity's larger than life debut album
No Now. I obviously really love this record and consider it one of the most formative albums in regards to my personal musical journey. But that's only looking at it on a surface level, and my admiration of this record grew much deeper when I began to sit down and really analyze it's lyrics. Throughout the album, Clarence seems to be playing the role of the kind of omniscient, magnificent deity I mentioned before - or at least, someone who believes themselves to be one. However, it becomes clear that this character does not at all resemble the average idea of the divine - they are narcissistic, perverted, self-indulgent and it's clear their view of Earth is that it's little more than a giant, round septic tank.
As the ideas of superheroes have become more ingrained in modern fiction, several writers have had fun with the thesis, "What if Superman was evil?" I think
No Now is just another spin on this concept - what if the God you've spent your whole life praying turns out to be the biggest sinner of them all? How would you react? Would you be angry, sad? Or would you just have to laugh, realizing that the code you lived your life by was ultimately meaningless? It's a very nihilistic thought, but it's questions like these that feed our fear of the unknown, our wariness of the other side. What if it's not what we were promised? How will we ever know?
Existential diatribes aside, thanks to
@Hemotep for hosting this month, I'm going to try my best to keep up! Sorry for the long first post, but I figured it would be appropriate to go a bit deeper with my analysis than usual since you've clearly put a lot of thought and effort into this month's challenge and waxing philosophical is fun sometimes
look forward to the upcoming days!
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