Daffy Duck and the Upanishads

[Andrew Dinn]

Richard Romeo wrote:

> >>Somehting me and couple of writer friends were discussing over Guinness
> >>earlier this week:  I made the claim that what makes Pynchon and writers
> >>of that ilk so great are the pop culture references along with major so
> >>called hi-brow stuff. . . . etc.

to which Skip Wolfe replied:

> Do you think it's that the "pop" elements of our culture (in the U.S., at 
> least, and increasingly in other western countries) are such a pervasive and 
> influential part of our cultural climate that  serious writers writing about 
> the current world would find them hard to ignore?

Perhaps, although in Pynchon's case - and perhaps the same holds true
for many other modern writers - I think the inclusion of pop `crap'
serves some other purposes.

One is to reject snobbish claims for high-brow culture by showing that
insights are insights whichever region of the brow furrows in gleaning
them from the dross. And if you *are* prospecting for nuggets there is
no point going to Fort Knox where all the gold has been classified,
stamped and locked away from the pollutions of common handling. You
are most likely to find gold or some other, overlooked precious
material just lying in the gutter.

Another is to point to the difference between old traditions and new
ones. Modern myths suffer from the same problem as modern literature,
modern anything. They have not been weeded by Oblivion. Most of them
*are* crap.  Yet they are taken as seriously as the old long-standing
myths which (some of them) provide a far richer and far more healthy
psychic sustenance. What makes this particularly interesting in recent
times is that people have far more opportunity for election when it
comes to accomodating mythology into their lives - not only that but
often they are aware of the fact that they can, as it were, choose
what to make significant. The fact that most people choose crap - be
it bizarre, anodyne, submissive, shallow, misinformed, titillating,
gross, crude, polluted or offensive - provides a strong imperative to
any novelist to sift, dissect and display this crap whether intending
to expose or to confirm the lack of vital signs.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.