Choice Reviews Online· 2013
How soon is now?: medieval texts, amateur readers, and the queerness of time
- 463citations
- 2013year
Short summary
This article uses The Smiths' 1984 song 'How Soon Is Now?' as a lens to explore the temporal anxieties and desires present in medieval texts and their reception by amateur readers.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- The article uses The Smiths' song 'How Soon Is Now?' to frame a discussion on temporal anxieties in medieval texts.
- It explores the 'queerness of time' as a concept relevant to both medieval literature and its modern readership.
- The analysis connects the song's themes of impatience and longing to the reception of medieval texts by amateur readers.
- Morrissey's melancholic and desirous lyrical persona is presented as a parallel to medieval literary expressions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
How Soon Is Now? i take my title from the 1984 song by the legendary Manchester band The Smiths.If you know only one Smiths song, this is probably the one: it's instantly recognizable to anyone who lived through '80s club days or listens now to that soundtrack in the current '80s revival.The song's massive, quivering guitar sound and its length (over six and a half minutes) make it different from the band's other briefer and more melodic songs, but its lyrics and vocals are classic Smiths, featuring the lovelorn, melancholy persona of the lead singer, Morrissey.As so often in the Smiths songbook, he poses a question with a particularly desirous urgency: "When you say it's gonna happen now, / Well, when exactly do you mean?" Evoking the impatience, frustration, and desperation engendered by yet another lonely night at a dance club, Morrissey wails, "See, I've already waited too long, / And all my hope is gone.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Choice Reviews Online, 2013 · DOI ↗
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Field: History
HistoryArts and Humanities