biting kneecaps

... about people who take literary analysis a tad too seriously.

I was wandering around leonardcohenfiles.com this morning and ran across an essay on The Future and figured I'd read it.

I got to this part:

Although rape is usually an extremely negative image that implies the violent exploitation of one human being by another, it also suggests unity. Sexual union, even a forced one, is a fusion in which two become one.

and stopped taking this as anything but lunacy. Excuse me? Rape suggests unity? Oh, yes, and so does murder, I guess. Especially if you toss in some cannibalism into the mix for the true "two become one".

Maybe it's just me, but rape implies disunity, despite some vague similarities to other acts, rape creates two creatures filled with resentment, horror and dismay. Not unity.

But, then, of course, she goes on to say:

The line that recurs most frequently throughout this song is, "I've seen the future baby, it is murder." This line seems extremely negative, and in fact, sets the tone for the entire song. But is murder really such a bad thing? According to the Buddhist tradition, the primal distinction between self and other is responsible for all evil and sorrow. This distinction, however, is illusory. It is only upon eradicating the concept of self, which is in fact a kind of murder, that Nirvana becomes possible.

So, yeah, I guess she sees murder as pretty nifty, too. "Let me kill you, because I need to reach Nirvana..."

And, yes, perhaps I'm taking this essay too seriously... but I don't espouse truly inane ideas like rape suggests unity, or that murder isn't such a bad thing...