TRP and Gore Vidal

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

Thanks to all rejoinders on the Gore Vidal question.  My own positiion 
is close to John Burgess's. I'm not so down on Vidal, and I think a lot 
of his nastiness is partly a pose; he does often speak courageously. 

It's interesting that the question of whether TRP is--POMO--or not 
quickly enters our discussion zone, but I suspect there is no answer to 
that question satisfying to us all.  Actually, the more interesting 
thing is how such terms as modern/postmodern, such binaries, take on a 
life of their own, come to lead our discourse rather than assist it.  
Shall we have a show of e-hands?  How many think TRP is--modern?  How 
many think he's crossed over to that other side?  Certainly the question 
can't be resolved by a simple search for some 
chimerical--moral--presence, can it?  What are the grounds for our 
assessment?

In the e-groove,

john m.