Weekly Insónia: Self-Love (Translation)
(This article is a translation of the original Insónia Semanal: Amor Próprio published on March 26th, 2021)
Insónia Semanal brings together cultural suggestions on themes we find in art and in our lives; this week’s theme is self-love.
QUOTE
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
Mark Twain in What Is Man And Other Essays
BOOK
Werther — Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (1774)
Whenever I describe this work to someone, I identify it as a work of ultra-romanticism. It’s a love of a character so intense that it almost seems like an exaggeration. However, Werther is a figure we’ve all encountered in our lives, either literally or metaphorically. Someone who loves so passionately that his self-love also disappears for fear that there will only be some form of personal care if that love is fulfilled.
Johan Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the literary references of Romanticism, and there are many influences from Greek tragedies in this book, in which Werther’s tragic end is felt from a distance like a train coming down the track — it’s there in the distance, but we’re almost certain what it will be. Werther never feels any love or care for himself, and he seeks this in the love he feels for Carlota. In the absence of this, Werther ceases to exist.
MOVIE
Loving Vincent — Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman (2017)
First of all, we have to talk about the art of the film. “Loving Vincent” is an extremely beautiful film, highly experimental, and a dynamic and innovative work. A project like this ends up presenting a great challenge, both in artistic terms and in terms of funding, because it is the first to use oil painting as animation for the story.
In terms of story, “Loving Vincent” follows Armand, who wants to deliver a letter that Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother shortly before he died. However, Armand gets involved in the artist’s passages and ends up finding new stories and demystifying the Dutchman’s existence. It’s a journey through Van Gogh’s discovery of himself and how to live with his uncertainties and emotions, as well as his mental struggles.
RECORD
Magdalene — Fka Twigs (2019)
FKA Twigs is a British artist with a diverse, complex, and stylistically evolving musical repertoire. The album LP1, released in 2014, already showed an introspective and artistic ability to explore feelings of passion, love, and everything that includes attraction.
Magdalene is an even more careful production and, in that same sense, a more captivating listen. Outside of music, Tahliah Debrett Barnett (FKA Twigs) accused Shia LaBeouf of being abusive in his relationship with her, and Magdalene ends up exploring many of the insecurities and abuses that Twigs felt in that relationship. The difficulty of loving someone without the uncertainty of love being returned; the fear of investing everything just to get satisfaction. Magdalene is intense. Magdalene is complex. But Magdalene is the journey of an artist who grows as the album progresses.
ARTICLE
New York Times’ article series Modern Love
One of the best and most constant productions that the New York Times has done is the “Modern Love” column. It’s a series that has already been broadcast on television and deals with many of the questions we address in this Insónia Semanal. Questions that others have asked with answers that we have already sought elsewhere in life.
Good insomnia and until next week,
Pedro Barreiro
