Re: GG: Gould and the Western Society

["K. Berry" <kb@cs.umb.edu>]

    his moral fixation (he repeatedly referred to himself as "the
    last Puritan";

Yes, he had moral opinions.  Does that imply a ``fixation''?  I'm not
sure.  I don't remember lots of self-references as the Last Puritan,
either, although who knows.

    the discrepancy between word and action (he called himself a
    socialist but played the market); 

I suspect ``socialist'' just meant not too interested in big inhuman
corporations and making tons of money.  And I doubt he considered
playing the market meant he was a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist;
everything I've read (not that much) implies it was more or less just a
fun game.  He certainly didn't play the market obsessively, or try to
make millions doing it.

    his isolation and preference for communicating by
    using the phone and not face to face

Yes, part of his ``eccentricity'', I suppose.  I think there are lots of
such people in the world.  I myself prefer modes other than face-to-face
conversation.  I know people who have great difficulty with
communicating at all.  The amazing thing is that GG communicated so
wonderfully ... through his writing and of course his music.
And there are plenty of anecdotes of face-to-face meetings for work or
not (Menuhin, Monsaingeon, etc., etc.)...

    his drug abuse; 

It would be interesting to get some facts on this.
Certainly the interview with Margaret Pacsu (I think?) in 32 short
films, and whatever has been published, indicate the drug taking had no
particular effect.  Hard as that is to believe.

    his fear of strong emotions and preference for
    rationality.

?

    Gould to be very much a part of
    a western, capitalistic culture. 

Yes, true enough, Canada/North America/international music are certainly
part of that.

    PS. I plan to call my paper "Glenn Gould: essensen av en g=E5ta" (in
    english= : "Glenn Gould: Essence of an Enigma") after the tancovered
    book with blank

Sounds like an interesting project.  Good luck!

All the best,
K