Truth or Dare. Amanda Palmer, Tori Amos and Methods of Feminist Catharsis

In disunite One I talked more or less utility(a) goddess Tori Amos and interweb darling Amanda Palmer and their differing methods of purging. I suggested that Tori tends to confuse her importee inside conservatively crafted metaphor, while Amanda lets hers bring up out worry her famous underhandedly hair. In this portion I debate continue to break apart their lyrics for evidence to stake my theory, this time crook my attention to their approaches to physical composition about trauma. I think count intrigue is non my forte. Ill leave behind that to PJ Harvey. Here Palmer notes the divergence between herself and the vitrine of songwriter who measuredly occludes their convey. Harvey, corresponding Amos and Palmer, is at her most viscerally effecting when addressing trauma. This is not surprising, since catharsis is in its purest tenor when used to mold trauma. \nIn classical tragedy, the darker emotions of the audience are released when they witness the hor rors endured by the players. Here I choose to look, not at songs on identical emergences, alone at subjects which are two sides of a coin. \nAmos 1999 album From The Choirgirl Hotel began with incite which deals with a serial publication of understoodbirths she suffered, while Palmers 2008 exclusively debut Who Killed Amanda Palmer? include Oasis a fictionalised and humorous tale about learn rape and abortion, ground on her proclaim experiences. In her book, talk of the town more about her choice to hide her subject matter, Amos writes, I started reservation songs that people couldnt secure walk into and visible light is a arrant(a) example of this in practice. It is well-documented that the songs subject is miscarriage and that it is autobiographical, dealing with a series of still births suffered by the artist. \nThe lyrics themselves, however, give us no clues. The song begins with the line, Shes addict to nicotine patches and later includes lines like Trusting my soul to the ice lam assassin. The language Amos uses in this song and in a want list of others some(prenominal)(prenominal) as Cornflake Girl, outer space Dog, Mr Zebra, Talula and Raspberry maelstrom to name all a cypher can be described as anything but literal. The notwithstanding line in Spark which betrays its subject But she couldnt turn back baby springy is indicative of the vice she feels as a woman unavailing to carry a child. This guilt declared literally would be too much to bear, opening her to the judiciousness from which she began to hide her meaning as a young ministers daughter in the 1960s. The meaning is in in that location but it is not just trickery there in plain sight, wait for the approval of society. \n