PoMo rants (was Re: dfw ... nobel specks (mildly off topic))

[still lookin 4 the face i had b4 the world was made]

On Tue, 20 May 1997, Paul York wrote:
> I don't know, the word "postmodernist" really yanks my chain in an 
> unpleasant way.  The most interesting thing that can be said about it is 
> that no one seems to be in exact agreement as to what works or writers 
> fall under this heading.  At best, its yet one more way for academics to 
> categorize and compartmentalize their endeavors du jour, so that you end 
> up with conference roundtables on "Postmodern (Re)Visions" or papers 
> with titles like "Postmodern Love:  Television and Disconnection in 
> DeLillo and Pynchon."  At worst, its a badge of elitism, whereby works 
> are nominated to the ranks of "postmodern" by virtue of their 
> demonstration of (what academics see as) an intellectual rigor or 
> sophistication.  You know, the books that lots a people just don't seem 
> to be able to "get."  But, I pontificate...

Hail, Pope Paul!  :)  I agree.  What is it with that silly use of
punctuation--slashes, parentheses, etc.--that academics feel so clever about
using these days?  "(De)Constructing Derrida," "The Male/Gaze," whatever.
Past intellectuals (even pseudo-intellectuals) were able to make their
points without this sort of crap.  I know, these bold PoMos are supposed to
be deconstructing language itself.  But if so, then nothing they write can
convey meaning.  So give up and commit suicide already!  And leave the rest
of us, who think language can, somehow, sometimes, imperfectly convey
meaning, to enjoy it.

> That said, I hope the era of Faith in the Big Book isn't behind us.  I 
> like books I can set my car on when I'm rotating the tires.  

*ROFL*  Hear, hear!  I'm almost done with a new set of BIG bookshelves.  I'm
going to need something besides _M&D_ to put on 'em...

Max

M a x i m u s  D a v i d  C l a r k e | A true act of love, unlike
         http://www.afn.org/~traveler | imaginary love, is hard
                "Surrealist-At-Large" | and forbidding.
                     traveler at afn.org | --Dostoevsky