D– This is something Chris made available online in honor of Cesar's memory. Thought you might be interested to watch it.
M–
D– I was unfortunate not to know Cesar as much as either of you did, but Christian's piece left me with all kinds of warm. I think, as a literature teacher, most word-based expressions leave me quite cold, even the "literary" ones (especially those I myself have written). I'm grateful for anything that throbs with heart and has been tended with skill.
The part I liked was the idea of the droning background sound as Cesar's laughter synthetically stretched out to 12 minutes. In lesser hands, such an idea would blossom into nothing more than morbid. But because it was rendered the way it was, I read it as the operating principle of the art, an analogue to how human memory works when it tries its damnedest (through song, poetry, Taj Mahals, etc.) to capture the final moments of a friend or beloved.
It's Eurydice enough for me.
M–
D– It's stasis, as you pointed out. Stasis as paralysis, I think (with that Beckett biting the tail), but perhaps also as an ideal. A way of keeping a loss intact.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one, M–. The laughter lines were mentioned at around the beginning. Four minutes into the clip, if I remember right. Hope you catch it. A line will ask about the sound, and another line will reply.
M–
