Etienne Gonna Get Me

Lauren wasn’t in class today, so we broke up into tiny groups to keep talking about Maus. I have to thank the patience of my group in listening to my diatribe about the book sort of encapsulated below–but I think that we also got quite a lot of good discussion out of it, too, which I hadn’t really thought about. Most clearly, in trying to think about pre-Holocaust Vladek and Anja, I forgot that there is, in some way, no such thing. As we’ve learned, trauma changes a person forever–in both directions, since the person cannot look back on the pre-traumatic time without foreknowledge of the trauma–any pre-occupation/Holocaust stories Vladek may tell are inherently tainted/informed by the fact that he survived the Holocaust. Then the double trauma (double as in added) of Anja’s suicide also informs/taints all the stories. I don’t know why I overlooked this before–but it does sort of put things into a better perspective for me.

Our group also spent a lot of time talking about the representation of people as animals–I maintain that it’s extremely complex, but leads to a very bad lazy interpretation (that is, that identity is more or less inescapable, immutable, and starkly contrastable). The book, despite my criticisms here, is much more nuanced than that, and deserves more attention than what may be suggested in an off-hand manner.

Right now, instead of writing mein vierte Aufsatz, I’m listening to the newest Saint Etienne album, Finisterre. I initially accepted the album rather coldly–a little too electro, and the hip-hop stylings of Wildflower on “Soft Like Me” was grating. But, then, I didn’t really like Stereolab’s Sound-Dust at first, either. But then I changed my mind. Once Finisterre went on loop in the ol’ Discman, though (and it is an ol’ Discman–it’s on its last legs after only 18 months of service), I grew hooked. Saint Etienne remain a completely rewarding group–and any criticisms I’ve ever read (negative) have seemed to not as much miss the point as not dig deeply enough. A lot of people say they’re “too cool,” “too ironic.” I don’t buy that at all–Sarah Cracknell bleeds emotion and sadness when she wants to. It’s not for nothing that the band ends up occupying a substantial portion of most mix CDs I’ve sent to SOs over the years.

Where the band gets cool is in their weird coopting of suburban mythology–which they do all over the place on Finisterre. But it’s almost an earnest wish for the same mythology to relate to reality–they want suburban ennui to be important and interesting, even though it cannot be. Additionally, the band is still all things to all people–I maintain that every person would find at least one Et song they really like. That’s not a claim I’d make for many bands. (Unless you’re Pete, who has some weird aversion to any and all female vocalists–but it’s not like Saint Etienne don’t have a smattering of great instrumentals)

This is all of vital importance now, since the band is playing a show at the Double Door within 24 hours. Like my friends who went and saw Guns ‘n’ Roses for the first time of their lives on Monday, I have this giddy excitement about seeing a band I’ve followed for years finally in the flesh. Who knows how eager I’ll be to sing along, or if I’ll dress like an English football hooligan, but boy am I excited!

(In cicero news: Sam changed the town song to the riff of the ‘Mats’ “Bastards of Young.” I’m ok with this… for now…)