Welcome to the Wanderlust . . .
Esoteric Wanderlust is very much concerned with the travels of the mind. In this respect, any and every thing is possible. There are paths I naturally gravitate toward: literature and literary theory, history, film, music, pop culture, the American mythos and its disintegration, and religion. These subjects, I suspect, will dominate the discourse found in this virtual residence. However, as I say, any and everything is possible.
As the aphorism goes, every act is a political act. It follows that every work of art is one as well. For imbued in the work is something of the artist’s public and private concerns, her society’s norms, his sense of history, her belief-system and worldview. A reading or viewing of such a work is then only enhanced by the personal beliefs and life experiences the reader/viewer brings to the piece. At this point, art becomes performative, as well as political, and exists as a living entity. Whether reading a novel, considering the point of view asserted in a volume of history, ruminating on a painting or sculpture, viewing a film, or listening to music, you are actively engaged in the miraculous creation of life. This constitutes the wonder of art.
Borges argues that in writing one line of Shakespeare, one becomes Shakespeare. I believe this. I also believe in the romantic notion that all art is part of a continuous dialogue that has existed for as long as mankind has told stories. When I read Blood Meridian, I am McCarthy, who is Melville, who is Hawthorne, who is Austen, who is Cervantes, who is Shakespeare, who is Boccaccio. When I pen one line of poetry, I am Borges, who is Eliot, who is Yeats, who is Charlotte Smith, who is Petrarch, who is Chaucer, who is Dante, who is Virgil, who is Homer.
One continuous dialogue. Esoteric Wanderlust is thrilled to be a part of this conversation.
The world, so easily traversed in this era of digital transformation, stands before us as a seemingly endless labyrinth of knowledge and possibility. What shall we take from its pathways? What shall we offer in sacrifice? Esoteric Wanderlust, through the avenues listed above, as well as those not yet stumbled upon, seeks to travel this world, equipped with intellectual curiosity and the honest-to-goodness excitement that comes with navigating new courses, not certain of what lies beyond the next turn. Welcome to the wanderlust. It’s okay to get lost for a while.