hip-hop & Pynchon

[Phil Wise]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Millison" <DMillison at ftmg.net>
To: "Pynchon-L (E-mail)" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 4:21 AM
Subject: hip-hop & Pynchon


> July 3, 2001 As Eminem weighs his options for satisfying the community
> service part of his probation in that gun-brandishing case (the judge says
> he wants him to do something "impactful to young people"), one thing seems
> certain: He's not going to try to clean up the way "young people" speak.
> And he has a few choice words for anyone who thinks he should.
> "Of course you don't want your kids walking around in public going [in a
> robotic voice], 'Fuck. Suck. Cunt. Ass. Bitch,'" Eminem says in the
upcoming
> issue of Spin. "But remember how fun it was to cuss when you were in the
> first grade? Just to be like, 'Fuck.' 'Shit.' My little brother was 3
years
> old, running around the house saying, 'Shit. Shitty-shit.
> Butterfly-firebutt.' It's like you can't stop it."
> So don't even try.
> Now then, will the real butterfly-firebutt please stand up?
> http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2001/07/03/nptues/index.html
>
> ...so, it's an in-Their-face Counterforce thing?  And the P-list consensus
> is that Pynchon advocates this sort of rebellion?  (Or, that "implied
> author" in P's fiction.)
>

It's more in the spirit of the "Counterforce alerts" you post.  Certainly
not the be and end all of Pynchon - ye gods, I'd never argue for that!  And
despite my experiences last time I essayed the topic, Pynchon's politics are
far fuller and easier to discern - if eminem has personal political points
to make beyond his rather brilliant hits on would-be censors, I'm not sure I
want to know.  I wonder, since I like Marshall Mathers so much, how long he
can stay on the tightrope he's ballanced on so flawlessly so far; I have no
such concerns with Pynchon.  The most telling comparison, to me, is that
they both suggest that decision can be justified within a postmodern
context, meanings to be claimed beyond the sort of gestures postmodern art
has often been criticised for.

Phil