Internet Perfidity (Fiction and history in M&D)

[Peter Giordano]

I said:
>> . . . There is a body of literature (history) which holds old facts
>> up to the light and draws a new and different conclusion, uncovers
>> new facts, or presents all the facts possible in great detail . . .
Andrew replies:
>And then there is that body of literature which invents all the facts
>all over again, or reinvents some old ones which got lost along the
>way and throws them into the broth to see how they ignite. Facts are
>cultural. Just try saying one and see how the very way you (are forced
>to) frame it reveals everything about your culture and nothing about
>the world. Let's take some of the most basic ones like 2 + 2 = 4 or
>water = H2O. It's text, scribbles, an arrangement of marks. It means
>something only in so far as we use it to signify. Without us it's not
>even a pattern (not even fit to grace wallpaper unless we provide that
>measure of fitness). True we record, communicate and employ these
>facts for good reasons, but acknowledge we are now in the realm of
>politics. Now go back to history and apply the same lesson to
>historical fact, to your historical record (e.g. who `discovered'
>America?).
I say:
1) I'm sorry for reproducing all of the above but in this particular case
it makes sense to me
2) It occurs to me that I'm not sure what "reinventing history" means -
Perhaps we mean "to refocus" - For example, the lovely poem JULY 4, 1864 by
Richard Wilbur tells two stories at once: the trip of Reverend Charles
Dodgeson (sp) and Alice Liddle down a lazy river in England (the Genesis of
ALICE IN WONDERLAND a forerunner of Pynchon's work) and the Battle of
Gettysburg, thus we think about both facts in a completely different way
I would hate for "reinvent" to mean "Make up"
3) Andrew suggests that the text 2 + 2 = 4 is subjective - Yes, the text is
subjective but are the facts behind the text subjective?   Aren't the facts
just the facts but isn't our effort to explain those facts or our need to
store those facts via words or picutures or evidence subjective?
4) Who discovered America?  Assuming the above means who was the first
person from Europe to set foot on American soil (the generally accepted
interpretation of the above) I'm sure nobody knows but that doesn't mean
that there wasn't a first European to do so

Peter Giordano
Williams College
Williamstown, MA