What Nails It by Greil Marcus
The Assumption of the Virgin by Titian Dguendel, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Thank you to Yale University Press and NetGalley for providing me with access to the latest book of essays by one of America’s preeminent cultural critics, Greil Marcus. I was very excited to find Marcus's book
What Nails It since I’ve read several of Marcus’s other books, and always appreciate his perspective on topics ranging from music to films to politics and history. Interestingly, this book is brief and contains 3 separate essays, all interrelated to the topic of art and criticism. I also found that based on some of the other books I’ve read, this was one of the more personal reflections, as the 3 essays all dealt with topics related to Marcus’s personal experiences. I also think that the middle essay, that focused on the Marcus’s discovery of the film critic Pauline Kael, presented the kind of shift in criticism that Marcus experienced as he moved from the college/academic critical perspective to the idiosyncratic and more self-expressive connections that Kael helped to make popular with her film criticisms. However, the first essay was also incredibly powerful. Marcus reflects on his father, who he never really knew. Sadly, Marcus, born Greil Griestly and named after his father, lost his father to WWII in a terrible Naval accident in the Pacific. It is an incredible story. Marcus makes an interesting connection with the opening scenes of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, sharing that the kind of wholesome portrait of America is not always what it seems, and while it didn’t seem like his father’s heroics during WWII were hidden, it did seem like the events of the ship’s sinking were covered up due to the incompetence of the ship’s commanding officer. This experience also left Marcus to wonder about his identity, but also recognizing that had his father never died in the war, he wouldn’t have his siblings and possibly his own family. I really enjoyed learning more about Pauline Kael and Marcus’s personal connection in the 2nd essay. I’ve heard a lot about her, and it’s kind of interesting to see that shift and recalibration about the possibilities of writing, criticism, and art that Marcus experienced moving from Berkeley to the editorial staff of Rolling Stone. His experience reading Kael’s writing allowed him to shift his conceptions of what criticism could be and how critics often bring in their own humanity and experiences to truly feel the art—not just objectively (and somewhat coldly) analyzing it from a distance. I’m not sure if there is some kind of separate term for this kind of criticism, but I understood what Marcus meant, especially when you spend 4 years (or more) learning about theorists and critics, trying to emulate their thinking and developing a kind of theoretical application that tries to apply scientific principles to art. Kael and Marcus seemed to delight in the emotions that art can evoke, and making this a key aspect of their criticism is important to remember what makes art so necessary in our lives. This shift in criticism also leads into the final essay that focuses on Marcus’s experience with Titian’s painting The Assumption of the Virgin in Venice. More than just an analysis or personal reflection on the painting itself, Marcus uses Titian’s work as a kind of springboard to reflect on all of the qualities that Titian’s works shares with other art, even those considered low art (music, comics, pop art, film). He also makes reference to the enduring quality of the Rolling Stones Let it Bleed, and how listening to this album at different points in his life, he is able to hear different elements of the art and experience different emotions each time. I loved how this essay tied up the other points he makes about the self and art, and how it’s important to not only analyze art, more it is even more necessary to feel and appreciate art, recognizing it’s power to move and challenge us, to help us experience new emotions or resurrect old emotions that we haven’t felt for some time. Whether it is film, painting, sculpture, or music, great art has the power to move us in unique ways—not just allowing us to feel, but also providing us with new thoughts and pathways to creativity. This was a short, but great read, and I look forward to re-visiting these essays soon.
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