![]() The Soviet songs of my childhood were replete with images of clouds, the sky, or even flight. Perhaps the best way to harness illusions is by creating your own. To cope with this ambivalence, I started making art. Hopeful yet often uneasy about what’s to come, they made me interrogate my future-and my childhood-in ways that were revealing and even frightening. While enveloping me in the fog of whimsy and illusion, Soviet songs also showed me how to notice of the work of mythmaking, the snares of narrative, the “ardor of art.” The songs taught me to dream while distrusting the hopefulness of dreams. These songs were also making me self-aware. Even now, I see the flood of irony in our culture as a certain anxiety about emotional engagement funny that the Soviet songs’ simple lyrics seem more emotionally mature to me that a lot of mainstream fiction published in The New Yorker. The earnestness with which they approached the pains of childhood, as well as the equally painful idea that childhood is bound to end-stayed with me through adulthood. ![]() But illusion does more than stimulate the imagination it can also stimulate emotional development as the child dares to imagine a better existence or learn to face her fears. To harbor illusions is to hope, to dream, to construct imaginary landscapes and characters. After all, “illusion” comes from illudere which means to “play with”-so every kind of illusion can become a playground for imagination. ![]() Remembering my childhood now that I have a child of my own, I realize that it’s not so bad for childhood to be a land of illusion, ideological and otherwise. So I attribute at least half of my preteen sensibility to growing up on Soviet songs that embarked on flights of fancy, made an idol of hope, and regaled its young audiences with a strange perspective on time. My family was not always idealistic or romantic, especially not in New York in the early ‘90s when they were too busy looking for a job or navigating the Byzantine rules of the pluperfect in English. I was the kind of imaginative child who could spin an entire tale from an oblong stain on the kitchen table. I grew up in an artistic family where emotions flew high. From the early ‘80s to the early ‘90s, my childhood was formed by the images, atmosphere, and allusiveness of Soviet songs. I was a breathless romantic who wanted to be surprised by a knight on a white horse. Besides, Christianity was a forbidden fruit in Soviet Russia so I had to worship in secret. I sympathized with being misunderstood, and latched on. My great-aunt lured me to Evangelical Christianity with the strangeness of Gospel stories where Jesus always ended up angry at his disciples’ failure to understand. He played us some of his songs and discussed the lyrics with the class.At 10 I wanted to be an artist, practiced a hysterical form of Christianity, talked to trees, and turned a sunset at a local park into a visionary experience. ![]() We were also graced by a visit from Berlin-based Liedermacher Wolfgang Müller-Molenar, who spent an hour and half zooming in from Germany to chat with students. Class translation of Nura's brand new release: " Auf der Suche" (April 2021).Mechanics of translation: "Crocodile Gena's Birthday Song" (Russian: 1967, German: 1987, English: 2021).Class translation (literal and verse) of the Cabaret hit, "Der Revoluzzer" (Erich Mühsam, 1907).You can get a taste of some of the songs we discussed and student translations on the class website: LIEDERCIRCUS '21. The song lyrics we discussed also gave us a way to practice the science and art of translation. We learned about the cultural impact of popular music and musicians, from Folk Songs to Diskurs rock, from Kinderlieder to German Rap. Much of the course material w as chosen by students, as they discovered and shared German songs they love. In this conversation and translation course, we practiced German by listening to and talking about music. Looking for some good German tunes to practice your language skills while rocking out? Check out these playlists from students in German 307 (spring 2021)! Warning: you're likely to catch an Ohrwurm! Transcultural Approaches to Europe Lecture.
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