(ARTICLE) Seven Ways to 'Read' BTS as Classical Literature (Part 1 of 2)

a capture from one of BTS' short films

"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." - <Demian>

Sick of the same day, the repeating days

Grown-ups and my parents

keep instilling confined dreams to me

Number one future career is a government worker?

It’s not a forced dream, a ninth inning relief pitcher

Throw a fast ball at the waste of time that is night study sessions

Rebel against the hellish society,

dreams are a special pardon

Ask yourself about your dream profile

Become the main subject of your life

that has always been suppressed

- BTS 'No More Dream'

With shoes worth a couple hundred,

padded jacket worth a couple thousand

With a watch worth a couple hundred,

you feel good about yourself

Education goes over the hill and

the student identity goes over the hill too

The class system of the 21st century is divided into two

Those who have and those who haven’t

- BTS 'Spine Breaker'

Albert Camus

But I was sure about me, about everything, surer than he could ever be, sure of my life and sure of the death I had waiting for me. Yes, that was all I had. But at least I had as much of a hold on it as it had on me. I had been right, I was still right, I was always right. I had lived my life one way and I could just as well have lived it another. I had done this and I hadn't done that. I hadn't done this thing but I had done another. And so?

- Albert Camus, <The Stranger>

a capture from BTS' 'Blood Sweat Tears' music video

Please kill me softly

Please close my eyes with your hand

I can't refuse

I can't run away anymore

You're too sweet, too sweet

Because you're too sweet

- BTS 'Blood Sweat Tears'

"I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?"

- Herman Hesse, <Demian>

Herman Hesse

When the nine trainees shared a 17-pyung house

Seems like it was just yesterday, we grew up a lot

Good things were always other people’s things

We were always hoarse

from an uncertain future and worries

Seeing all the senior artists at the end of the year awards

Let’s not forget those things but put them away

This place smells like us

Let’s not forget this scent, wherever we are

We cried a lot and laughed a lot

but it was so beautiful

- BTS 'Move'

"I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself."

- Herman Hesse, <Demian>

My breath is getting shorter

I close my eyes every night from twisted reality

The music box of tragedy echoes

But in order to be free from this crime

It’s impossible to forget and give up

Because those lips were too sweet

I threw my future away because I was drunk on dating

When I woke up, I was surrounded by land mines

Surrounded by people’s stares that can’t be touched

- BTS, 'Intro: Boy Meets Evil'

It’s funny, you think anything is possible when you’re a kid

When you feel how hard it is to get through a day

Keep feeling like the “Control” beat, keep downloading it

Every single day is a repetition of Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V

I have a long way to go but why am I running in place?

I scream out of frustration but the empty air echoes

I hope tomorrow will be different from today

I’m just wishing

- BTS, 'Tomorrow'

Stendhal

"Now I am isolated in this underground prison, but I did not live my time on earth in isolation. I lived a life devoted to my duties. Right or wrong, I imposed upon myself the duty I determined..."

- Stendhal, <The Red and the Black>

I was bursting with ambition too, in the past. I do not wish to reproach myself for that now, for all I did then was follow the current of the times. Now I am living out the days that have been given to me. But if I were to say what base act I committed, it would be that in front of all the people watching, I became an person evil to myself."

- Stendhal, <The Red and the Black>