Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Three Uses of Smoking

I. Brechtian Alienation
Audiences should be encouraged to smoke as "it is hopeless to 'carry away' any man who is smoking and accordingly pretty well occupied with himself."Kasia Boddy, quoting Brecht

II. Calendar Memory
The family admires Zeno's remarkable memory for birthdays and anniversaries, not knowing that every one of them has been an occasion for his resolutions; they think it is his good nature. Making everything that happens in your life a pretext for resolving to stop smoking is not bad if it serves to endear you to your family.Richard Klein, referring to Italo Svevo

III. Good Behavior
It’s only when you quit that you discover what your fascination with smoking has all along been about: the everyday development and maintenance of moral life. Through the filter of a cigarette, the smoker orients himself to the outside world. It’s his very personal way of relating the outside world, the world of events, to the inside one, that of desire. And it is for this reason that, when the cigarette is taken away, the smoker’s moral life seems impoverished.David Orland, via Blackadder

No comments:

Post a Comment