Nick Cave Red Hand Files

LP entry: Choose one of the letters from Cave’s Red Hand Files and write about your reactions to it, perhaps using the GQs from the Nick Cave document. You could also look for thematic connections between it and the literary works you’ve studied.

My Choice: Issue #149

I have called these texts (the answers primarily) “letters”. Do you agree with this classification? In what ways are these texts like letters, in what ways are they unusual as letters?
The answers are very much structured like letters, even if the questions are rarely. Starting with the phrase "Dear [name]" and ending with something like "Love, Nick" really makes the structure feel similar to a letter. As for things that set it apart from most letters, I might say the content of what's being discussed, but some of the best essays and works have started off as letters. By all respects I would consider this a letter, though I may well be wrong in doing so, I do not claim to be an authority on letter writing, I've only taken a course on it for Flex Week.

How would you describe the tone of either the questions or the answers?
The questions seem to vary, some being more casual, some being awestruck or praising and some being crass or rude. Cave's responses seem to generally be appreciative, thoughtful, and considerate as he takes some of the most mundane or rude questions and tries to gain or share some insight through his answers.

How do these texts contribute to your impression of Nick Cave? Do they reflect his identity?
They have informed my view of Nick Cave, he appears very genuine in these texts and shows a real want to reach out and connect with people. The texts seem to reflect his identity quite well(although I'm no expert) and he seems to try to put some of himself into each reply he writes.

Cave is a performing artist. Is he performing in these texts?
No, I think these texts are partly a response to his role as a performing artist. Like I mentioned, he seems to really genuinely want to connect with people who follow his work and this is a medium in which he's under the same pressure to perform as in, for example, a concert, not that that stopped him from going on his "In Conversation" tour either.

Do any of the letters you read deal with any of the same themes as any of the literary works you have studied this year?

 Yeah, Nick Cave seems to like talking about the human condition and our relation to the world around us, which means that he's definitely had some overlap with some of the works we've gone through. Nick Cave and the Sorrow of War(Not a Harry Potter title I swear) both deal with sorrow and loss, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and Nick Cave both examine the nature and boundaries of art and literature. Over 149 letters Nick Cave has covered a lot of ground in his responses.