In After the Bomb, composers not only critique personal and political values but also

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1 In After the Bomb, composers not only critique personal and political values but also manipulate textual forms and features in response to their times. Evaluate this statement through an analysis of at least two core texts and texts of your own choosing. The literature constructed in the post bomb period reflects the era s moral anxiety and ethical decay due to the loss of tradition and idealism as humanity saw the world fracture. Consequently, the works of many composers emerged in defiant response to conservative morals of political compliance to irrational forces and obedience to an omniscient God that characterised the personal and political values during the Cold War. John Le Carre s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1973) subverts the traditional spy novel by characterising protagonist Alec Leamas as the opposite to the stereotypical spy, through which he portrays the dehumanisation inflicted upon the individual by totalitarian government systems. Likewise, Florian von Donnersmarck directs his film The Lives of Others (2006) through varying camera shots in response to moral corruption within Cold War politics, which resulted in nihilistic philosophical approaches towards life. Samuel Beckett constructs his tragicomic play Waiting for Godot (1953) within an Absurdist framework to critique the lack of willingness to challenge religious authority and perceived truths. Similarly, Allen Ginsberg writes his poem America (1956) with the use of anaphoric rhetoric to further Beckett s incredulity towards the emerging disillusionment with the Christian metanarrative. Through their varying depictions of repetitive inertia and loss of human principles, composers seek to challenge common ways of thinking in After the Bomb through the manipulation of textual form and language. Although both Spy and The Lives of Others portray the nihilism of individuals who are entrapped within the politics of the Cold War through language and textual form, Spy illustrates the inevitable disempowerment of individuals, whereas The Lives of Others also seeks to highlight the individual s innate capacity to challenge the amoral government bureaucracy. Spy encapsulates the paranoia inflicted on the individual by a morally regressive political system during the 1960s through the novel s narrative treatment of espionage and moral dilemma. Following

2 the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, Le Carre engages with the synonymy of pragmatism on both sides of the symbolic divide, revealing the dehumanising nature of Cold War politics due to the prioritisation of political expediency over the expendable individual. The impact of espionage on the individual is introduced through the characterisation of Leamas as a burnt-out, and nihilistic individual. Leamas is a product of the bleak world around him, reinforced through his comment I don t believe in anything, not even destruction or anarchy. I m sick, sick of killing. I hate it, I hate it. The cynical tone coupled with the diction of destruction and anarchy exemplifies the moral conflict he comes to embrace that betrayal and espionage is necessary to preserve their country. Le Carre exemplifies that the ideal of the country and motives of patriotic prosperity are the impetus for espionage to take place. The dogmatic belief of the ends justifying the means, heightened Leamas sense of hopelessness, marked by the ontological comment This is a war fought with a waste of innocent life. But it is nothing, nothing at all, where the repetition of nothing critiques the integrity of the political institutions with questionable morals. This rise in nihilistic thinking emerges from the Cold War s insidious bureaucratic administration and ruthless moral relativism, which is captured through Control s description of Riemeck s death as quite a heavy rate of expenditure. Moreover, Le Carre inverts the spy genre by deliberating his story in a more intimate portrait of a man: This is a war, Leamas replied, it s graphic and unpleasant because it s fought on a tiny scale, at close range... This metaphorical war is a microcosm of the bleak world Leamas inhabits, wherein individual losses are collateral to a heartless ideological victory. Ultimately, it is Le Carre s manipulation of the spy genre that drives his critique of the complacency towards the lack of morality and ethics during the Cold War. Similarly, The Lives of Others responds to the advancement of espionage tactics during the Cold War which instilled fear and an increasing disregard for individual rights through the deliberately chosen dialogue and camera shots. Due to the imposed Perestroika and Glasnost policy to reform the Communist Party during the 1980s, individuals were entrapped under totalitarian control as the Eastern government feared that their citizens would betray their Socialist faith. This is reinforced through the character Christa-Maria who could not control her fate because of her enslavement to a

3 morally regressive political system, where the medium shot of her facial expression of despair depicts her nihilism and defeat. The use of theatrical dictions and metaphor They decide how we act, what we play and who can direct during her emotional catharsis likens the Communist Party to the directors of a play and the citizens of East Berlin as performers. This image highlights the government s control over the citizens fate, leading to the eradication of individualism and the ability for free thought, wherein the extent of surveillance debased any hope for salvation. However, unlike Spy, The Lives of Others illustrates that individuals with a strong sense of moral resilience and knowledge have the capacity to challenge the government bureaucracy and abandon the widespread belief that life is meaningless. For instance, as the text of a Bertoit Brecht anthology is read, the scene created is nostalgic and blissful, leaving the protagonist Wiesler captivated. Consequently, von Donnersmarck portrays the gradual transformation of Wiesler from a pure Communist Stasi instrument to becoming more of an individual. However, whilst von Donnersmarck believes that the development of self-thought can be a means for uncovering the truth, Le Carre reinforces that the individual can never obtain freedom and is defined by their expendability within a society that renounces all ideals. These concerns are compounded by the symbolic death of Liz as the novels idealistic character, reflecting the unease of a realm where traditional ethical frameworks are void. Indeed, both Le Carre and von Donnersmarck depicts the rise in nihilism and despair of their time, expressing their concerns towards the amoral politics of governments where individuals lose autonomy and control over their lives. In the same way that Spy and The Lives of Others questioned the perceived infallibility and truthfulness of amoral government systems, both Waiting for Godot and America challenges the notion of the perceived truth of an omniscient God. While Waiting for Godot critiques humanity s irrational faith in spiritual intervention and the Christian metanarrative through the hybrid form of an absurdist critique, America responds to this lack of questioning towards figures of authority through biblical allusion and anaphoric rhetoric. Beckett s Absurdist play reveals the contextual loss of hope following the failure of the Christian metanarrative, and acts as an existentialist criticism of the individual society s complete faith in

4 religious authority. The dropping of the atomic bomb saw the compromise of morality and existentialist doubt regarding humanity s struggle for meaning in life. Abandoning the more classic three-act expository structure, Beckett s construction of the two-act play s Absurdist circularity strives to express the sense of the senselessness (Esslin), mirroring the paralysis of the state of society. Beckett portrays the uncertainty that pervaded this era through the characters of Vladimir and Estragon, who are shaped to be the embodiment of humanity in a condemned struggle to find truth in purpose of existence. Vladimir s dialogue universalises the existential experience, noting that all of mankind is us. Thus, Beckett reduces the omniscient God that encouraged compliance to previous ways of thinking to be a mythical metanarrative. The failure of the Christian metanarrative is most poignant through Beckett s subversion of Christian grace and suffering ideologies. This can be seen in the characters frantic pacing and emotional breakdowns in Didi and incoherent intellectual musings by Gogo. Subsequently, Beckett depicts that this blind hope and unwise belief is an illusion that the characters willingly blind themselves with. Estragon is representative of a modern man s relationship with God through which Beckett argues that the vain hope of external salvation through authority is futile. Therefore, Beckett reveals the contextual existentialism and trust in religious authority which resulted from the dropping of the bomb, inevitably leading to failures to escape from this nuclear threatened world. Similarly, Ginsberg s America expresses an existential criticism of religious faith in a post-bomb period which encompassed political unrest. Through the irregularity of the poem s meter and structure, Ginsberg reflects the declining religious attendance and questioning of traditional Christian doctrines in the immediate post-war years. At the same time, the fracturing of literary structure was a wilful movement of artists to reflect the fractured state of their world and beliefs. Ginsberg was a nonconformist who advocated the contextually emergent atheism, influenced by Sartre s existentialist existence precedes essence theory and communicates his frustrations at the optimistic Christian conception of the human condition. Ginsberg encourages the responders to adopt this perspective through the anaphoric rhetorical question of America, when will you be angelic how can I write a holy litany? wherein the reference to angels accentuates his belief in spiritual abandonment and

5 American impurity due to the 1950s-economic prosperity and materialism. This rejection of religion hints at humanity s utter loss of direction after WWII, highlighted in Ginsberg s allusions to the Edenic myth through cross-rhyme, angels saints/israel plain, resonating as an elegy for the innocence and hopelessness when confronted with nuclear devastation. Ginsberg abhors humanity s faith in divinity and the progress it promises through the poem s anaphoric and cyclical structure, America I ve America I ve suggesting a consequential spiritual vacuum. Similarly, Beckett explores this vacuum through his circular narrative structure and redundant dialogue Nothing to be done, as they wait for Godot. The very motif of nothing captures the bleakness of their conversation and future, where Beckett challenges the belief that God s arrival will bring salvation in a Cold War era where humanity lacked the moral capacity for survival. Like Ginsberg, Beckett further refutes religious beliefs and spirituality as a portal for hope when Vladimir asks about the Bible and its inconsistencies- They don t agree, and that s all there is to it. This symbolically highlights how the Bible is not a symbol of hope but rather unachievable reminiscence. Both texts act as a forewarning of the future, critiquing previous conservative ways of thinking and obedience towards religious structures and conventions. Through the various forms of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Lives of Others, Waiting for Godot and America, composers sought to critique personal and political values of their times, including compliance to truths claimed by bodies of authority, and irrational faith towards spiritual intervention. By subverting the responder s expectations and experimenting with traditional conventions, these composers respond to the post 1945 shift in global ways of thinking, revealing the uncertainty and futility experienced by individuals. Word count: 1758

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