2. When Kanye started his latest set of antics, I drew an analogy between him & other artists with odious politics (Ezra Pound, Céline, Emile Nolde, Brecht, Wyndham Lewis. etc.)
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3. The usual response of academic critics to this sort of stuff (Dostoevsky's anti-Semitism, Marinetti's fascism) is some version of formalism emphasizing that life & art are separate.
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4. And it's true aesthetics & politics can be at odds. Hazlitt: "Lord Byron, who in his politics is a liberal, in his genius is haughty and aristocratic: Walter Scott, who is an aristocrat in principle, is popular in his writings"
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5. Earlier this week, I explored possibility of a modified formalist response to Kanye: appreciating that the music speaks in a different voice than his public buffoonery.https://newrepublic.com/article/148168/kanye-west-the-ezra-pound-rap …
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6. Arguing with myself, I'd say the Pound analogy doesn't go far enough. What if Pound & Céline had also been Jewish as well as anti-Semites? That could complicate things much more, introducing an element of betrayal as well as bigotry.
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7. I don't think there are any easy answers to this. I very much admire friends of Kanye
@johnlegend who aren't giving up on him but trying to reason with him. But I also can't blame anyone who does bail out.Show this thread
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He's just doing what his buddy Trump always does. Say the craziest shit you can think of for ratings.
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I was ready to give up on Kanye before last week, but with this new low, it's past time.
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Imma let you finish, but, how is it a surprise Yeezy is erratic, narcissistic and always starved for publicity?
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