Sprzedawca pornografii i przemocy: Lou Reed w świecie Lulu

In the article ”The Broker of Pornography and Violence: Lou Reed in Lulu’s World”, Sławomir Kuźnicki analyses the literary and cultural layers of Lulu, the album published by Lou Reed in collaboration with Metallica, based on Frank Wedekind’s two modernist dramas: Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandora’s Box (1904). The rock poet treats the plot of the two plays very loosely and it becomes the means through which he enters the area of disturbing perversion and graphic pornography. This strategy, then, is typical for him: drawing on the primal instincts of human sexuality, he penetrates these experiences that – although frequently marginalized – are the foundations of our culture. Consequently, Reed seems to follow Susan Sontag’s diagnosis according to which the goal of pornographic literature is to disorient and to disturb mental balance. In the case of Lulu, this strategy of cultural disorientation is also implemented via the generic form of the record. This form mainly stems from Reed’s decision to cooperate with Metallica, i.e. a band whose conservative and rather sustainable music stands in contrast to the former artist's transgressive arts. In other words, on many levels it demonstrates Reed’s strategies of crossing the borders between what is commonly accepted and what is rejected because of its non-normative quality. It results in multilayered kinkiness that outreaches the literary frames of the project and makes it possible to view Lulu as a piece of art that is both uncompromising and visionary.