Influenced by GR?
Otto Sell
o.sell at telda.net
Fri Jul 21 03:38:16 CDT 2000
<And a long tradition of songs about murdering men.
Once upon a time I read *Chimera* by John Barth which is a really good book
with three novellas concerning the roles of women (victims or trophies or
mere sexual objects) and men (heroes) in our classical literature. How many
virgins have been raped and killed before Scheherazade offers herself,
trying to delay her execution by being a successful storyteller? In the
third novella, the "Bellerophoniad, Anteia explains it to Bellerophon:
"(....) she went on to deride the male-supremist character of the great body
of our classic myths (...) which she held to be the fabulated record of a
bloody overthrow, by male pig patriarchs in ages past, of the original and
natural matriarchy of the world. "Mythology is the propaganda of the
winners," she declared, adding that the grand myth supported by all those
particular mythlets was the myth of heroic maleness (...)."
Why should Rock'n Roll or Rap be different in this from the old myths? Our
Rock'n-Rap Stars have replaced the classical figures.
But there are differences:
"Girls are to go in from the front, singing, dancing, vamping the
woman-hungry barbarians. Otto will try to knock out the car, Haftung will
get everybody rounded up and ready to rendezvous with the boat. "Tits 'n'
ass," mutter the girls, "tits 'n' ass. That's all we are are around here."
"Ah, shaddap," snarls G. M. B. Haftung, which is his ususal way of dealing
with the help." (GR 507)
Pynchon gives them at least some the opportunity to complain . . .
PS > Whatever happened to the People's Republic of Rock and Roll.
Has become a shopping mall, but that has happened long ago.
But I liked Blowfly's "President Blowfly" ("the first nig...I mean the first
black us-president") playing ironically with it. Ripped off from his coke by
the United Pimps Association and ripped off from his dope by Pope John
aul - "Can't sniff no coke, can't smoke no dope. I know what I'm gonna do -
gonna fuck that bitch again. Miss Quint, would you please move your ass in
here". It goes without saying (as JB would say) that this won't work too:
("Fuckin' herpes - I resign").
Otto
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