The main focus points in Greil Marcus’ “Lipstick Traces” include Dada, the Sex Pistols, and the Situationist International. By making these his primary subjects, the author travels back to earlier analogous and proleptic movements and events. He analyzes the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Catharists, the Ranters, the French Commune, the Lollards, and John of Layden. Marcus says, “I wanted to shape the story, so that every fragment, every voice, would speak in judgment of every other” (Marcus, p. 23), to stir a sense of argument on fashion claiming that his pistol was his mouth piece. The reason behind Marcus choice of drawing these movements and others into his book about the secret history of the twentieth century feeds, is his interest in apocalypse and revolution.
Marcus also analyses the limitless desires of these twentieth-century movements that mock the alienating control of the official culture and aim at restoring the personal emotional autonomy of every citizen He writes about the front man who could not sing, but the narrator comments, “we weren’t particularly interested in that because we were still learning to play at the time” (Marcus, p.62). He reveals the historical secrets that did not occur elsewhere or beyond the imagination of people, but that which happens within the periphery of their apparitions.
Even though Sex Pistols play a significant role throughout the book, “Lipstick Traces” is not merely about the familiar and common voice that was discovered and disseminated through diverse means over the years, and not only about music. From the start to the end of the book, Marcus takes an open, speculative and generous tone which offers his audience an interpretation that encourages them to have further imagination and thought into the subject matter instead of just accepting or refuting what he purports. Regardless of the abstruseness of his chosen subjects, the author manages to adopt a language that is not defensive. What is unique about Marcus methodology is that he does not offer the answers to the questions he poses but incites the reader's imagination to answer those questions independently. For instance, he uses McLaren who have slogans such as, “I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires” (Marcus, p.51). These slogans used throughout the text demonstrates conciseness of Marcus self-interpretative ideas.
Work Cited
Marcus, Greil. Lipstick traces. A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, Twentieth Anniversary Edition: Harvard University Press, 2009.
