Re: Well, she is rescued

[jmitchel@wheaton.edu (James Ryan Mitchell)]

Andisheh Mahdavi <amahdavi@husc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>I found the interview. It's January 26, 1992---the Classic Albums
>Interview for HoL on Radio 1 (BBC I assume?)
>
>Kate says about the Morning Fog:
>
>> Well, that's really meant to be the rescue of the whole situation, where
>> now suddenly out of all this darkness and weight comes light. You know,
>> the weightiness is gone and here's the morning, and it's meant to feel
>> very positive and bright and uplifting from the rest of dense, darkness
>> of the previous track. 
>
>Ah, well. Yet another Kate disappointment for me, with many more to come,
>I'm sure. I feel like a fool, wanting to think one thing of the song when
>clearly she thinks another. Thus to my ears all of the Ninth Wave is
>spoiled, because the drama's ending shapes the whole cycle for me. At
>least she had the wisdom--or the carelessness--to Leave it Open. 
>
>AM


I disagree entirely.  The Ninth Wave is a complex and ambiguous work of art. 
It isn't something so simple and stupid as to support only a single
interpretation.  As such, Kate's intended meaning is one possible
understanding of TNW.  As the artist's, it is a useful tool to apply to the
project of understanding the work, but when there is so much ambiguity at
hand, it can hardly be considered the definitive word on the matter.  

Of course there are limits.  I would hardly propose that TNW was about say...
just an evening of troubled dreams, what goes through ones mind as one is
proposing marriage, or as a polemic against the Jews.  I have little doubt
that those skilled in the proper techniques, if you can call them that, of
criticism, could support any of these claims if so motivated.  The artist's
intent, the context, both physically (the packaging) and culturally, give
valuable constraints to guide understanding,  but they do not and cannot
dictate any final meaning.

					James Mitchell

PS.  Gaffaweb looks great folks!