A powerful new book
about the interplay between American Democracy and American Music...
"We
have an opportunity to restructure the world toward freedom."
-- President George
W. Bush, preparing for his September 20, 2001 speech to
Congress
"Freedom is the recognition that no
single person, no single authority of government has a monopoly on the
truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that
every one of us put on this world has been put here for a reason and
has something to offer."
In The
Mighty Quinn: The Cultural Relevance of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes,
one of the greatest popular artists of the 20th century is put in
combination with two of the most vital scientific figures of the 20th
century in pursuit of the most vital popular issue of the 20th century
- human freedom.
(To a question posed by a
journalist: "Do you think you have a purpose and a mission?")
"Henry Miller said it: The role
of an artist is to inoculate the world with disillusionment."
This book promotes freedom and
democracy through the pursuit of two parallel themes. The first is
drawn from a critique by Paul Williams, in which he noted "a
purposefulness and a freedom from purpose" in Dylan's basement tapes.
As the book develops, encountering the work of Kurt Godel and Otto
Rank, the second version of the theme emerges: "A pessimism of the
intellect and an optimism of the will." The work of both Rank and
Godel reflect this second statement of the theme (a reversal in the
order of Williams' rendition), but both provide essential support for
one particular aspect - Rank for the will, Godel for the intellect.
Otto Rank's recognition of
irrationality opposed the dogmatic rationalism in psychological
thought with a compelling theory of the dynamism of the human will.
His limitative vision of "Psychology" did for his discipline what such
theories in other sciences (such as Einstein's and Heisenberg's) did
for theirs, and his understanding of art and the artist is the center
of this book. Rank's concept of "the renunciation of artistic
ideology," which Dylan enacts in the basement tapes, produces what Greil Marcus (in his book about the basement tapes entitled
Invisible Republic) calls "a one-of-a-kind democratic artist."
Perhaps the most beautiful of the
limitative theories mentioned above is Kurt Godel's "Incompleteness
Theorem." In its December 17, 2001 issue, Time magazine numbered
among "Ideas that shook the world" Godel's Theorem, which "drove a
stake through the heart of formalism." In the words of Ernest
Nagel and James R. Newman in their book Godel's Proof: "He presented
mathematicians with the astounding and melancholy conclusion that the
axiomatic method has certain inherent limitations.... It is an
occasion, not for dejection, but for a renewed appreciation of the
powers of creative reason."
Pessimism of the intellect means a
renunciation of formalism, a freedom from purpose, an ideological
disillusionment. This world of so much sectarian strife was recently
surprised by evidence of the advance of democracy in Northern
Ireland. Many years ago, Gerry Adams noted the possible usefulness of
the second statement of this theme (which was authored by Antonio
Gramsci) in the then just beginning peace process. This book is a
restatement of the case for freedom and the power of democracy to
overcome terror and tyranny.
Pessimism of the intellect and
optimism of the will is the recognition that no single person, no
single authority of government has a monopoly on the truth, but that
every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us has
been put here for a reason and has something to offer.
Bob Dylan's basement tape song
"Quinn The Eskimo" concerns a hero figure, a bringer of joy, a
formalist dreamboat, a representative of ideological certainty whose
charisma crosses species bounds... well, where "no-one can get any
sleep, there's someone on ev'rybodies toes/when Quinn the Eskimo gets
here, ev'rybody's gonna wanna doze." Gentle mockery, mostly - but
there is one stinger: "Just tell me where it hurts ya, honey, and
I'll tell you who to call."
In 1974, Roger McGuinn released a
song which excoriated the supposed leaders of his generation - John
Lennon and Mick Jagger joining Dylan, who alone gets to respond (he
blows it). McQuinn's song, "I'm So Restless," laments an unsatisfied
search for certainty. One of the standout basement tape songs, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," has a final verse which runs: "Genghis Khan
could not keep all his kings supplied with sleep/ We'll climb that
hill, no matter how steep, when we come up to it." Dylan assures us
here that restlessness within the ranks of those who would tyrannize
(think ''Et tu, Brute" or the post D-Day assassination attempt against
Hitler) will provide a line of defense for democracy and freedom.
To inoculate the world with
disillusionment is to restructure the world toward freedom.
"The greatest blessing of our
democracy is freedom. But in the last analysis, our only freedom is
the freedom to discipline ourselves." -- Bernard Baruch
"Man's capacity for justice makes
democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy
necessary." --Reinhold Niebuhr
Illustrations, left to right: A
record of the voting at the Second Constitutional convention, Otto
Rank and Kurt Godel
