My Impossible Soul

Tom Drayton is Senior Lecturer in Theatre at The University of East London, UK.Joshua Kalin Busman is Associate Professor of Music and Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA.Maren Haynes Marchesini holds a PhD in ethnomusicology and studies Christian music, ritual, ethics, and identity formation in contexts ranging from American megachurches to progressive and post-Christian organizations.Greg Dember is an independent researcher and co-founder of the popular culture website, What Is Metamodern?. He is the author of Say Hello to Metamodernism: Understanding Today’s Culture of Ironesty, Felt Experience and Empathic Reflexivity (2024).

My Impossible Soul interweaves cultural theory and philosophy, fan accounts, music journalism, and personal musical experiences to create a fabric that is, in-keeping with metamodernism, both carefully interlaced yet thoughtfully frayed. Through examining the work of Sufjan Stevens, the authors present a compelling case for a metamodern mode of hearing and reading music.”

• List of Figures and TablesAcknowledgements“Words are Futile Devices”: An Introduction Tom Drayton (The University of East London, UK) & Greg Dember (independent scholar)PART I: FAITH1. “I Heard a Voice in My Mind”: Sacred Self-Protagonizing and the Oscillations of American EvangelicalsJoshua K. Busman (University of North Carolina at Pembroke, USA)2. A Metamodern Analysis of Spirituality Through Music in Sufjan Stevens’ Cover of Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells” Libby Myers (Griffith University, Australia)PART II: LOVE3. “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”: Sufjan Stevens - in Search of (Queer) Faith Ka Ki Samuel Wan (Robert Menzies College, Australia)4. “Saying It Out Loud Is Hard”: Sufjan Stevens, Queer Interpretation and Fan ReceptionHeather Salus (independent scholar)5. “Make Me an Offer I Cannot Refuse:” New Sincerity and the Hermeneutics of Platitude in Sufjan Stevens’ The AscensionParia Rahmani (University of North Texas, USA)PART III: AMERICANA6. America, My Beloved: “A Picture of the Scenery” in Sufjan Stevens’ National MythologyTanya Jones (Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Australia)7. “Christmas in July”: A Musicological Analysis of Metamodernist Impulses in Sufjan Stevens’ Christmas CollectionsDaniel White (University of Huddersfield, UK)8. Sufjan Stevens and the Metamodern HolidayMichael Blouin (Milligan University, USA)PART IV: DEATH9. The Persistence of the “Murdering Ghost”: Sufjan Stevens and the Hauntology of (Im)Possibilities Debakanya Haldar (University of Florida, USA)10. Genuflecting Ghost: Sufjan Stevens’ Javelin as Metamodern Mystical Memento MoriJoel Mayward (George Fox University, USA)11. Sufjan Stevens’ Impossible Soul: Metamodern Intimacy, Polysubjectivity, and Plausible DeniabilityMaren Haynes Marchesini (independent scholar)About the ContributorsIndex