MDMD2: Magnetical Stupors

[Paul Nightingale]

I seem to remember each of the aforementioned chess players (and their
minders) were quite paranoid; that is to say, paranoia was part of the game.
They argued about the chairs they sat in, the size/design of the pieces -
this was more Fischer than Spassky, I think. It was extraordinary as a piece
of theatre; I suspect we were still getting used to the idea that sport and
politics (in the TV age) were inextricably linked. 1972 was the year when
Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics; we watched the
aftermath on live television. Perhaps these connections have to be made more
explicitly at such times of social change, which is really the point here.
>From the 1970s - if not before - television was going to shape the way we
experienced politics; the most obscene example is still, probably, the live
(primetime) coverage of the Gulf War. Referring to its TV-isation, Jean
Baudrillard said it never happened. In the C18th the novel as a narrative
form played a similar role. I'm thinking in particular of the picaresque
novels that attempted to make connections between a range of different
social strata: M&D as a whole is reminiscent, and certainly Ch3 in
particular.