The Palimpsest

The Zine
By
Rajneesh Manhas
 BOOKS WITH GREAT OPENINGS imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his
release to live in London with his daughter
The title is self-explanatory. This is the start
Lucie, whom he had never met. Set against
of a series where I will be sharing openings
the conditions that led up to the French
of texts I cherish with two books per edition.
Revolution and the Reign of Terror, the
I’m sure there are texts out there I have yet
opening paragraphs carry the gist of what will
to discover with a multitude of
happen in the story.
interpretations. I hope I can discover more.
The translations I’m using may also vary A paradox of this opening lies in its
from yours. I will try my best not to include vagueness, fostering its universal application
any spoilers if I’m mentioning any novels. and making it timeless. The opposing forces
of the novel and the relationship between the
Starting with A Tale of Two Cities
past and the present are established here. The
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of latter, I feel, is overlooked. We like to think
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of ourselves, or maybe I have disconnected
of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it from the past or try to disavow any links with
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the
the past. There is a quote I like to use; if you
season of Light, it was the season of
Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was know me enough, you know how obsessed I
the winter of despair, we had everything am with it. I was introduced to it by my
before us, we had nothing before us, we were professor in class.
all going direct to Heaven, we were all going
direct the other way—in short, the period “The tradition of all dead generations
was so far like the present period, that some weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the
of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being living.” (Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of
received, for good or for evil, in the Louis Bonaparte)
superlative degree of comparison only.”
Before writing this, I wanted to know what Be it racism, caste hierarchies, patriarchy,
others had to say about the opening lines, so exploitation, customs, practices and several
like any other sensible person, I went to other social mores are all traditions of the
Reddit, where I found a person comparing dead generations connecting the past and the
these lines to life on social media. He wrote, present.
“Someday you find something so insightful
that you feel amazed, and someday you find
something so stupid that it makes you
wonder about the level of human stupidity.”
That post also made me wonder about the
level of human stupidity, but that’s for some
other day. For now, a little background
before I start blathering about the opening.
The story is set in the cities of London and
Paris against the backdrop of the French
Revolution (late 18th century). It deals with
major themes of duality, revolution, and
Artwork by Stuti
resurrection through the story of the French
Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long
The Myth of Sisyphus

“There is but one truly serious philosophical

problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether
life is or is not worth living amounts to
answering the fundamental question of
philosophy. All the rest— whether or not the
world has three dimensions, whether the
mind has nine or twelve categories—comes
afterwards.”

Camus doesn’t ease the reader into his Rajneesh’s Runes

argument but directly delves into it. The way By Pravarnitha Meejuri
he begins with the question of life’s meaning The first time I found out Rajneesh was great
and asserts that everything should come at drawing was by accident while trying to
afterwards, was what made me want to read prove I had decent drawing skills. But that's
the book. The essay is a difficult read, and I not what I wanted to write about. I will now
have yet to complete or fully grasp it. The delve into an unnecessary throwback, which
core idea is about “the absurd” or "l’absurde” was when I discovered his peculiar doodles
(I know nothing about French), the conflict that covered the corners of his pages when
between our desire to find meaning and the he would take notes in class. Now, I call this
indifference or nonchalance of the universe. a discovery because those pictures were
Sisyphus serves as a metaphor here. meant to show how pretty his handwriting is.
Condemned by the gods to roll a massive Which, in all honesty, was beautiful too, but
boulder up a hill only for it to roll back, somehow those rune-like shapes caught my
doomed to repeat this task for eternity. He attention, after pressing about it for longer
emphasises the acceptance of the absurd and than I would admit because I was met with a
living anyway, as Sisyphus does with his confused person on the other side of the line
famous last lines: “One must imagine Sisyphus not really grasping at what could be so special
happy.” about the weird shapes he drew while
listening to his class, I ended up succeeding
I lay me down again to sleep
in finding more pictures. Now, don’t get me
Another soul must be redeemed wrong, I know he is great at drawing, and like
Hidden behind a thousand eyes
A hostage heart, a scrap of light
most kids, his hobby fizzled out because of
The naked priest, the introvert the horrors of reality and adulthood, but
The millionaire, conspirator
Misshapen form, rotten wheat
these doodles remained the remnants of his
Like war porn, a constant feed early childhood, and the artist stubbed out.
Gethsemane By Car Seat Headrest One may question what is so fascinating
about these so-called doodles, but for me,
being able to naturally come up with
Managed permission
consistently identical patterns that are just
uniquely yours is rare.
But Art is supposed to be beautiful and well
thought out. One might argue the same, so I
present my curation of quotes from artists
who sure as hell can draw better than all of
us. So, unless an art legend is reading this, I
will stand my ground.
Let’s start with Zdzisław Beksiński, a Polish
painter. Now, as hard as his name is to
pronounce, his paintings go even harder.
Most people associate his artwork with his
possible trauma from being Polish during the The doodles probably never made sense to
reign of “the failed painter”, but he believes me like they did to the person who made
otherwise, calling them optimistic. He made them. But that's the fun part about art. You
a truly surrealist move by deciding not to get to decide what you want to see in it.
name any of his paintings. They are all called Maybe you see precisely what he intended to
“untitled” do, or perhaps you don't. Perspectives
“Meaning is meaningless to me. I do not care for matter, but you will never just have one.
symbolism and I paint what I paint without
meditating on a story.” - Zdzisław Beksiński. P.S. This doesn't mean I support the
If you know Picasso, you should know increasingly ridiculous contemporary and
Georges Braque. Unfortunately, we as a modern artists that are popping up currently.
society rely heavily on popular media to
decide who is important. Georges Braque,
the less controversial, ended up enlisting in
World War 1 instead of choosing to spend
his time harassing and objectifying women.
“In art, there is only one thing that counts: the bit
that cannot be explained.”
- Georges Braque
Lucian Freud is a British painter and
European in his soul. Just like his co-
continental peers, he doesn't shy away from
nudity and the grotesque. He is known for his
daringly unconventional nude portraits of
people. He, for one, doesn't shy away from
depicting what is weird and ugly according to
society.
“The longer you look at an object, the more abstract
it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.”
- Lucian Freud
Edgar Degas is a French painter who
believed an artist should lead a lonely life and
hated the Jews. I do not think these two
statements correlate with each other. He was How Ize of the World by The Strokes is
an argumentative man regarded as one of the a critique of modern society and maybe
founders of Impressionism. He blatantly capitalism (not arguing strongly for this
rejected it, calling himself a realist, and his case)
friends found him utterly insufferable. So, if
this man talks about art in ways that are more Ize of the World is the twelfth track of the
liberal than your ideology of how it should album First Impressions of Earth. Let’s start
be, maybe it's time you reconsider your life with the title of the track; Julian’s use of ‘-ize’
choices.
words for instance, fertilize, stabilize,
“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness,
and some fantasy. When you always make your deodorize, scrutinize, modernize, terrorize,
meaning perfectly plain, you end up boring people.” desensitize, organize, advertise, monopolize,
- Edgar Degas idolize, scandalize, neutralize and much more
I end my argument by finally quoting the is present throughout the track.
queer American icon for pop culture and art.
“If it doesn't make sense, it’s art.” The Lyrics, “Sometimes it feels like the
- Andy Warhol world is falling asleep
How do you wake someone up from inside human life to function and control. This can
a dream?” be extended further to say that the idea of
Julian Casablancas in an interview with Dr. modernisation is being criticised here.
Henry Giroux when asked by the professor, Modernisation is often seen as progress, and
“What kind of burden is placed on young over the years, the global north has imposed
people to be able to address a moment in its idea of modernisation and progress on the
history in which they find themselves which global south. The use of the word “stabilize”
is enormously oppressive and doesn’t serve suggests the goal of health care is not to save
their interest” answered, “The burden is that lives but to keep the pulse stable for
they don’t understand the burden, you grow profitability. This is true, especially in the
up, I grow up believing this thing you know American context, where for instance, the
everything you’re saying is the opposite, you price of insulin can be as high as $250 to $400
grow up thinking oh, democracy, we solved or more per vial.
all those problems, those are old problems,
and we fixed it. And frankly, it’s hard to face The closing serves as both a warning and a
that, it’s depressing, you know it’s like I don’t conclusion; these notions do not lead to the
know if you saw The Matrix, but it’s like the so-called enlightenment or progress but to
blue pill, red pill, it’s like, do you really wanna compliance. The human experience is
know what’s going on? It’s kinda like no I distilled into quantifiable outcomes. The final
don’t but now that I know I can’t help it. line, “generations to desensitize” highlights
That’s the struggle, whether or not you that all these well-disguised societal
understand that there is a struggle going on.” operations contribute to a broader agenda of
emotional numbing and systemic gain at the
expense of individual meaning. The chorus
dismantles the illusion of society as a
benevolent force, replacing it with a sobering
view of these structures as a tool for
institutional benefit, serving the interests of
the ruling class. (Thank God I did not use the
word bourgeoisie here.)

“Your eyeballs won’t change, it’s the muscles

around your eyes”, a little biological fact for
you right there.

“An egg to fertilize

A pulse to stabilize
A body to deodorize
A life to scrutinize
A child to criticize
Young adults to modernize!
Citizens to terrorize
Generations to desensitize”
The chorus presents a sequence of objectives
ranging from biological imperatives to
institutional systems like healthcare, hygiene, “How disappointed would D.I.D.I.P.P. be
media and surveillance, authoritarian control, To see such power in our hands all wasted
sharing a common thread: the reduction of on greed?”
D.I.D.I.P.P. stands for Dead Idealistic Desperate made within preconditioned systems of
Inventor Pioneer Philosophers. The band revealed meaning and value. Contemporary control is
the acronym’s meaning in the accompanying not exercised through oppression but
booklet of the physical album. To be fair, I through managed permission. Freedom in
do think the philosophers and inventors of such a context is performative.
the past would be disappointed in the current
state of the world. Surprised? I’m not sure. “A desk to organize
A product to advertise
A market to monopolize
Movie stars to idolize
Leaders to scandalize
Enemies to neutralize
No time to apologize
Fury to tranquilize!
Weapons to synchronize
Cities to vapori-”

The second chorus flows in the same pattern

as the first one. Each line escalates in
intensity from a desk to organize to global-
scale destruction. The rhythm itself mimics a
ticking mechanism like gears in a system,
echoing the industrial precision of late
“Am I prisoner to instincts, or do my capitalism. Several lines point directly to the
thoughts just live infrastructure of consumer capitalism. “A
As free and detached as boats to the dock? product to advertise” and “a market to
Just like the music was born and detached monopolize” highlight how economic
from your heart systems are built on endless cycles of
Is your free time to free minds or for falling production, branding and accumulation.
apart?” Monopolisation becomes the endpoint,
ignoring diversity or choice, a critique that
Julian draws on the image of docked boats to recalls Marxist critiques of capital, where
explore the illusion of free will and the competition eventually collapses into
concept of illusory autonomy. Just as the concentrated control. “Movie stars to
boats seem free, beneath the surface lies idolize” and “leaders to scandalize” reflect
restraint; each boat is quietly tethered, unable the spectacle driven society described by Guy
to drift too far from the shore, the illusion of Debord where public figures are
motion without true freedom. Like boats, commodities, distractions and symbols. We
we’re given space to move, but only within don’t just consume products, we consume
the limits allowed by social norms, economic people, turning fame and outrage into
systems and unseen forces of control. This interchangeable currencies. These figures
illusion of freedom mirrors what post- serve as both icons and scapegoats, their
structuralist theorists like Michel Foucault image cycles fuelling attention economies
and Louis Althusser describe. Today, power while obscuring structural issues.
no longer functions through overt coercion,
but through the internalization of norms, “Enemies to neutralize” and “Weapons to
routines and roles (soft power). Under synchronize” signal the militarization of
consumer capitalism, individuals are policy and normalization of violence which
encouraged to see themselves as autonomous becomes especially relevant considering the
agents, free to choose, express themselves, current political situation of the world (I
buy what they want, but their choices are sound like Jaden Smith) with the United
States bombing Iran and the Israel Palestine
conflict. In post-structural terms, this is
where power becomes biopolitical, no longer
just ruling over people but regulating
populations, emotions (“fury to tranquilize”)
and even the right to exist (“cities to
vaporize”)
FIN.

Movie/Show Suggestion (just

Unfinished dream by Pravarnitha Meejuri
in case you want to consume
content)

Trainspotting (1996)

Texhnolyze (2003)

Songs on repeat this week

Dance Me to the End of Love by
Leonard Cohen
Beach Life-in-Death by Car Seat
Headrest
Blitzkrieg Bop by Ramones

Album Suggestions

Now in Technicolour by Mauj

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

And another album my mother made me listen

to: Sajda by Jagjit Singh and Lata Mangeshkar