Cultural Seeds: Essays on the Work of Nick Cave: Essays on the Work of Nick Cave (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series)

Nick Cave is now widely recognized as a songwriter, musician, novelist, screenwriter, curator, critic, actor and performer. From the band, The Boys Next Door (1976-1980), to the spoken-word recording, "The Secret Life of the Love Song" (1998), to the recently acclaimed screenplay of "The Proposition" (2005) and the "Grinderman" project (2008), Cave's career spans thirty years and has produced a comprehensive (and sometimes controversial) body of work that has shaped contemporary alternative culture. Despite intense media interest in Cave, there have been remarkably few comprehensive appraisals of his work, its significance and its impact on understandings of popular culture. In addressing this absence, the present volume is both timely and necessary. "Cultural Seeds" brings together an international range of scholars and practitioners, each of whom is uniquely placed to comment on an aspect of Cave's career. The essays collected here not only generate new ways of seeing and understanding Cave's contributions to contemporary culture, but set up a dialog between fields all-too-often separated in the academy and in the media. Topics include Cave and the Presley myth; the aberrant masculinity projected by The Birthday Party; the post colonial Australian-ness of his humor; his interventions in film and his erotics of the sacred. These essays offer compelling insights and provocative arguments about the fluidity of contemporary artistic practice. Nick Cave is now widely recognized as a songwriter, musician, novelist, screenwriter, curator, critic, actor and performer. From the band, The Boys Next Door (1976-1980), to the spoken-word recording, The Secret Life of the Love Song (1998), to the recently acclaimed screenplay of The Proposition (2005) and the Grinderman project (2008), Cave's career spans thirty years and has produced a comprehensive (and sometimes controversial) body of work that has shaped contemporary alternative culture. Despite intense media interest in Cave, there have been remarkably few comprehensive appraisals of his work, its significance and its impact on understandings of popular culture. In addressing this absence, the present volume is both timely and necessary. Cultural Seeds brings together an international range of scholars and practitioners, each of whom is uniquely placed to comment on an aspect of Cave's career. The essays collected here not only generate new ways of seeing and understanding Cave's contributions to contemporary culture, but set up a dialogue between fields all-too-often separated in the academy and in the media. Topics include Cave and the Presley myth; the aberrant masculinity projected by The Birthday Party; the postcolonial Australian-ness of his humour; his interventions in film and his erotics of the sacred. These essays offer compelling insights and provocative arguments about the fluidity of contemporary artistic practice. Contents......Page 6 Notes on Contributors......Page 8 General Editor’s Preface......Page 12 Acknowledgements......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 PART I Cultural Contexts......Page 26 1 The Light Within: The Twenty-first-Century Love Songs of Nick Cave......Page 28 2 Planting Seeds......Page 46 3 Nick Cave and the Australian Language of Laughter......Page 62 4 Nick Cave, Dance Performance and the Production and Consumption of Masculinity......Page 80 PART II Intersections......Page 96 5 An Audience for Antagonism: Nick Cave and Doomed Celebrity......Page 98 6 And the Ass Saw the Angel: A Novel of Fragment and Excess......Page 112 7 Red Right Hand: Nick Cave and the Cinema......Page 124 8 Grinderman: All Stripped Down......Page 138 PART III The Sacred......Page 152 9 From Mutiny to Calling upon the Author: Cave’s Religion......Page 154 10 Oedipus Wrecks: Cave and the Presley Myth......Page 168 11 Fleshed Sacred: The Carnal Theologies of Nick Cave......Page 182 12 The Moose and Nick Cave: Melancholy, Creativity and Love Songs......Page 202 Index......Page 218 The Light Within : The Twenty-first-century Love Songs Of Nick Cave / Jillian Burt -- Planting Seeds / Clinton Walker -- Nick Cave And The Austrailian Language Of Laughter / Karen Welberry -- Nick Cave, Dance Performance And The Production And Consumption Of Masculinity / Laknath Jayasinghe -- An Audience For Antagonism : Nick Cave And Doomed Celebrity / Chris Bilton -- And The Ass Saw The Angel : A Novel Of Fragment And Excess / Carol Hart -- Red Right Hand : Nick Cave And The Cinema / Adrian Danks -- Grinderman : All Stripped Down / Angela Jones -- From Mutiny To Calling Upon The Author : Cave's Religion / Robert Eaglestone -- Oedipus Wrecks : Cave And The Presley Myth / Nathan Wiseman-trowse -- Fleshed Sacred : The Carnal Theologies Of Nick Cave / Lyn Mccredden -- The Moose And Nick Cave : Melancholy, Creativity And Love Songs / Tanya Dalziell. Edited By Karen Welberry And Tanya Dalziell. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cultural contexts. The light within : the 21st century love songs of Nick Cave / Jillian Burt ; Planting seeds / Clinton Walker ; Nick Cave and the Australian language of laughter / Karen Welberry ; Nick Cave, dance performance and the production of masculinity / Laknath Jayasinghe Intersections. An audience for antagonism / Chris Bilton ; And the ass saw the angel : a novel of fragment and excess / Carol Hart ; Red right hand : the cinema and Nick Cave / Adrian Danks ; Grinderman : all stripped down / Angela Jones The sacred. From mutiny to calling upon the author : Cave's religion / Robert Eaglestone ; Oedipus wrecks : Cave and the Presley myth / Nathan Wiseman-Trowse ; Fleshed sacred : the carnal theologies of Nick Cave / Lyn McCredden ; The moose and Nick Cave : melancholy, creativity and love songs / Tanya Dalziell.