NP Rrose Selavy

[Martin Rosenberg]

Hi Folks:

I've been disturbed at the behavior on this list for some time.
I wish those that want to fight would do so online or take their
battles to one of the alt.flame-wars lists that are out there for
this purpose.

If anyone is interested in the connections between Duchamp and Pynchon,
see my essays in Pynchon Notes 30-31 and 34-5.  The second juxtaposes
a photo of Rrose Selavy with Frank Zappa from the cover of _We're Only In
It For The Money_, in order to make a point about portals, cognitive
inversion, cross dressing, gender (and scientific concepts generally)
as found in a high modernist artist and a "postmodern"novelist. 

mer

On Mon, 21 Jun 1999, davemarc wrote:

> > From: FrodeauxB at aol.com
> > 
> > I think either Man Ray or Max Ernst did a Surrealist objet d'art of a
> woman 
> > called Rose Ceilavie. Refer to the French expression "Ces't la vie".
> 
> Duchamp's alter-ego was Rrose Selavy--I think that can be read as "Desire
> is Life."   According to Calvin Tomkins, Man Ray took a picture of Duchamp
> in drag "to signalize" Duchamp's adoption of this new identity.
> 
> Said Duchamp:  "I just wanted two identities, that's all....It was a sort
> of readymadeish action.  I first wanted to get a Jewish name, but I didn't
> find one.  Then the idea jumped at me, why not a female name?  Marvelous! 
> Much better than to change religion would be to change sex.  Rose was the
> most corny name for a girl at that time in French, and Selavy, of course,
> was C'est la vie.  The double r in Rrose came from a play on words in
> Picabia's painting The Cacodylactic Eye, which he wanted all his friends to
> sign; in signing it I used the word arroser, and that gave me the idea of
> keeping the two r's in the name."
> 
> d.
> 

Martin E. Rosenberg 
mrosenbe at kettering.edu
emazurmrosen at earthlink.net
Assistant Professor of Communication
Department of Liberal Studies
Kettering University
1700 W. Third Ave  Flint, MI 48504-4898
810-762-7968 (O) 810-606-0044 (H)