Yeah, a desire to rebel against all kinds of authority would probably be the reason I started too. There is; however, one aspect of the 'desire' to smoke on which we haven't really touched. Unfortunately, it's not a very palatable one either. Could the act of smoking be a subconscious desire to be closer to death? Depression and mental illness seem to have a link with nicotine dependency. A line from The Smiths' song 'What She Said' has always stuck in my mind because of its bleak ferocity; 'What she said: "I smoke because i'm hoping for an early death and I need to cling to something."' The depression/smoking question; however, seems to be a chicken and egg one.
From another angle, a brush with death can certainly provoke profound emotions. People often seem to say they have found a new lease of life after a near-death experience and fans of extreme sports regularly chase this feeling by putting themselves in peril. There is a quote which goes something like (help me out people) "It's when we are closest to death we feel most alive." I definitely think there is something in that.
Y'know what? You're beginning to scare me Mr G Quirk. Firstly, I notice that your favourite music
ReplyDeleteis pretty much my favourite music (I'm a huge Scott fan too) and then you go and post the above complete with THAT Smiths line – I was thinking of doing the exact same thing. I demand that you be burnt at the stake immediately :P)
I definitely think that the desire to be closer to death is one of the reasons that people smoke (a small percentage probably but still) or should that be continue (italics) to smoke. My take on it is that ultimately it's almost like a potential deliverance from life. It's a way of committing a lingering suicide.
I occasionally have this effect on people, Mr C Bryan. Hence the numerous restraining orders placed on me. It's great to meet someone with taste around these parts. I think Scott Walker's first 4 (and to a lesser degree 5) solo albums are a bit like heroin; once you've fallen in love with them, nothing else will ever quite hit the spot. I consider them to be the epitome of popular music. Shall we stick to Graham and Chris(topher) from now on?
ReplyDeletep.s Where is your 'Alps Essays' title from?
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ReplyDeleteAlps essays because my dad took me to see the Eiger in Switzerland when I was 14 and I've been in love with big mountains ever since - hence the essays element. I literally could write essay after essay about them.
ReplyDeleteAs for Scott, it used to be 3, then it was 4, now it's 3 again. Although, as with your good self I pretty much devour everything by him as regularly as possible.
Which being bad group are you in?? Now there's a loaded question :P)
Rather annoying that you can't edit a post - you have to remove it instead...
There's more than one? I'm in Thursday 6-8 lecture. My subject is English. I would probably plump for 4 if i had to, with 3 a very close second. I see you're a fan of Brel and Gainsbourg too. Good man.
ReplyDeleteWell there's the 6-7 lecture and then MX101 or whatever it is, or the computers first and then the 7-8 lecture. I went to the 6pm lecture last week, but I think you can chop and change. I'm going as a clown this week :P)
ReplyDeleteI love Brel - Amsterdam! :P)
lecture is 6-8 from now on i think. blog session 5-6 if you want to go to that.
ReplyDeleteBeing as you're doing English, do you go to the reading as a writer module on Mondays?
ReplyDeleteno, currently i'm doing being bad, a film studies module, French and a literature module. Only at uni on Thursdays and Fridays.
ReplyDeleteI take it you've seen this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEYWGQMqC74
What did you think of it?