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“Up on your feet! This is no time to tire!”
my Master cried. “The man who lies asleep
will never waken fame, and his desire

and all his life drift past him like a dream,
and the traces of his memory fade from time
like smoke in air, or ripples on a stream.

Now, therefore, rise. Control your breath, and call
upon the strength of soul that wins all battles
unless it sink in the gross body’s fall.

There is a longer ladder yet to climb.” (XXIV, 46-55, pg. 190)

— Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, trans. John Ciardi (New York: New American Library, 2003).

“Thus tried, thou must thine indolence disown,”
The Maser said; “for seats of downy plume
And quilted couches lead not to renown;
Without acquiring which, who life consume,
Leave of themselves on earth such trace behind,
As froth on water; in the air, as fume.
Up therefore quick: with energy of mind
Conquer thy gasping: mind can never fail
Save when the cumbrous flesh its impulse bind.
A longer stair it needs thee yet to scale” (XXIV, lines unnumbered, pg. 94)

— Dante Alighieri, The Divina Commedia of Dante, trans. James Ford (London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1870).

“From sloth,” the master said, “thou needs must now
Escape, for never into fame men come
Lying on down, or coverlet below;
And who without it doth his life consume
Leaves of himself on earth no greater trace
Than smoke in air or in the water foam.
Therefore rise up! Conquer thy weariness
With spirit that conquereth in every fight,
If not too much the body’s weight oppress.
A longer stair way must be climbed.” (XXIV, 46-55, pgs. 180-81)

— Dante Alighieri, The Inferno of Dante, trans. Lacy Lockert (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1931).

‘Henceforward it behoves that thou brace thyself thus,’ said the Master; ‘for not by sitting on feathers does one come into fame, nor under quilts; without the which whoso consumes his life leaves such trace on earth of himself as smoke in air or its froth on water. And therefore lift up, conquer the task with the mind that wins every battle, if with its heavy body it throw not itself down. A longer stair has need to be ascended” (XXIV, lines unnumbered, pg. 286)

— Dante Alighieri, The Hell of Dante Alighieri, trans. Arthur John Butler (London: Macmillan and Co., 1894).

“Put off this sloth,” the master said, “for shame!
Sitting on feather-pillows, lying reclined
Beneath the blanket is no way to fame —

Fame, without which man’s life wastes out of mind,
Leaving on earth no more memorial
Than foam in water or smoke upon the wind.

Rise up; control thy panting breath, and call
The soul to aid, that wins in every fight,
Save the dull flesh should drag it to a fall.

More stairs remain to climb—a longer flight” (XXIV, 46-55, pg. 221)

— Dante Alighieri, Cantica I: Hell, The Comedy of Dante Alighieri, The Florentine, trans. Dorothy L. Sayers (Hammondsworth: Penguin Books, 1949).

“Henceforward,” said the Master, “of this guilt
sloth beware; not lying upon down
Is fame to be attained, nor under quilt;
And he who goes without it to his grave
Leaves of himself such vestige upon earth
As smoke in air, or foam upon the wave.
Rise up then; and thy panting breath refresh
Even with the spirit that in battle wins,
Unless dragged under by the grosser flesh.
A longer ladder is there yet to climb” (XXIV, 46-55, pg 106)

— Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, trans. Jefferson Butler Fletcher (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933).

“Now it behoves thee thus to free thyself from sloth,” said the Master: “for sitting on down, or under coverlet, men come not into fame;
without which whoso consumes his life, leaves such vestige of himself on earth, as smoke in air or foam in water;
and therefore, rise! conquer thy panting with thy soul, that conquers every battle, if with its heavy body it sinks not down.
A longer ladder must be climbed” (XXIV, lines unnumbered, pg. 132)

— Dante Alighieri, The Inferno, trans. John Aitken Carlyle, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (New York: The Modern Library UP, 1932).

“Now you must cast aside your laziness,”
my master said, “for he who rests on down
or under covers cannot come to fame;
and he who spends his life without renown
leaves such a vestige of himself on earth
as smoke bequeaths to air or foam to water.
Therefore, get up; defeat your breathlessness
with spirit that can win all battles if
the body’s heaviness does not deter it.
A longer ladder still is to be climbed …” (XXIV, 46-55)

— Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, trans. Allen Mandelbaum (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980).

Do You Prefer to Talk About Meaningful Issues? Radiohead’s Conceptual Aesthetic from Hail to the Thief to the Present

This essay explores the album artwork of Radiohead. In particular, I close read the band’s recent album art and its relation to the changing images populating their official web site. Created by Stanley Donwood—whom some call the band’s sixth member—and Tchock—a pseudonym for the band’s lead singer, Thom Yorke—these web images are developing in directions that complement and sometimes infiltrate the band’s album artwork. In short, the web imagery is not a supplement per se but what Derrida might call a dangerous supplement: artwork in its own right that perforates the boundaries of conventional album art, demoting the CD insert to one distribution method among many.
For example, eight painted maps comprised the CD insert art for the 2003 album Hail to the Thief. Using what he called “the colours of LA”—black, white, red, green, blue, orange, and yellow—Donwood painted aerial maps of cities including London, Grozny and Baghdad that mimicked capitalism’s deployment of language: seen from above, all space is strictly delimited by capitalized words and phrases like “RETIREMENT,” “LUBE,” and “BEEF.” Whether England, America or Iraq, each map juxtaposed words in vivid colors, regimenting and homogenizing each city via an oppressive sameness of style and color that parodies globalization’s reduction of difference. At the time of the album’s release, the band’s web site was updated with still images and Macromedia Flash movies that expanded on the paintings but also challenged them, converting them, for example, into flashing signs and unplayable games. Since this album, the band’s web site has become a virtual repository of visual ideas, many of which are direct critiques of America’s international military actions and England’s role in those actions.
In closing, the essay examines how the band’s visual influences—Jean Dubuffet’s critique of capitalism, Jenny Holzer’s axioms, Cy Twombly’s combination of gestural abstraction and text, and Takashi Murakami’s iconic figures—compete to form a consistent, conceptual aesthetic, one unique in the history of album art.

[ce dangereux supplément] ah, yes: but don’t forget this dangerous supplement as mentioned in Emile.

“Now needs thy best of man;” so spake my guide:
“For not on downy plumes, nor under shade
Of canopy reposing, fame is won;
Without which whosoe’er consumes his days,
Leaveth such vestige of himself on earth,
As smoke in air, or foam upon the wave.
Thou therefore rise: vanquish thy weariness
By the mind’s effort, in each struggle form’d
To vanquish, if she suffer not the weight
Of her corporeal frame to crush her down.
A longer ladder yet remains to scale.” (XXIV, lines unnumbered, pg. 177-78)

— Dante Alighieri,The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, trans. Henry F. Cary (New York: Crown Publishers, 1900).