NP? Vineland (andf GR) echoes from a former (?) P-lister

[Jeffrey St. Clair]

I don't know who the hell Herr Otto is. Or exactly why (well I do, but I'll
PRETEND I don't, anyway) he decides to extract a single sentence out of a 5,000
word article on FLW (not Philip Johnson) to diddle on about, except i guess
that's the level of self-congratulating twaddle that the Pynchon list has
evaporated to these days. it's too much, i presume, to expect Herr Otto to be
grounded w/ even a minimal level of information abt johnson and his gang of steel
curtained thugs before he lets loose w/ such an unsolicitous outburst. i guess
that would take all the fun out of his catty tantrum. but even the most generous
review of PJ's career cannot hide the obvious: johnson was a corporate whore, a
fellow traveller w/ ayn rand, an excitable nazi symp who wrote dispatches from
the polish front on the pleasing advances of the Wehrmacht into Poland & the
rounding up of the "dirty" Jews. he was an architect utterly w/o a moral anchor
(unlike Wright) who would design structures--usually oppressive ones--for anyone
w/ cash, often the very corporate hooligans who pynchon, at one time at least,
seemed to argue were behind the Big Show of the 20th C. what's more, johnson was
an admited architectural plagiarist--a testament to what Barth, i guess, might
deride at the Architecture of Exhaustion--except they'll never be truly exhausted
of course. johnson is the perfect servant of the ruling classes, moving as
seemlessly from fascism to global capitalism as von Braun did from V-2 to NASA.
he ripped off Mies --another master of architectural oppression, but at least he
WAS a master and not JUST a clever thief--repeatedly and shamelessly. admitted as
much. which wasn't an act of conscience, but of hubris. the pynchon list used to
have some radicals on it. now it's apparently stuffed full of gray little men who
rush forward to defend fascists like philip johnson. what's next? pimping for
Shell Oil? the Rockefellers? perhaps it's just that smug little thugs like Herr
Otto want to suck the politics out of pynchon & reduce the text to academic
chitchat about fractals and the like. but try as they might, they can't do it.
GR, at least, is a secret history of the forces behind the 20th C--war and
fascist architecture go hand in hand: to build you must destroy. ask yourself
what types of communities were lost to build philip johnson's corporate palaces?
GR is, to my mind, about the reconstructing of the world. PJ was one of the
builders. Nazis/oil companies/missile makers/steel towers...all one big machine.
you can't hide the fact that architecture is all about politics--and one look at
any of PJ's structures gives a clear indication of which side he's on. to deny
that is a fools game. a great big con job.

over and out.

jsc


>
>
> Otto wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Doug Millison" <pynchonoid at yahoo.com>
> > To: "Pynchon-L" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> > Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 5:15 AM
> > Subject: NP? Vineland (andf GR) echoes from a former (?) P-lister
> > >
> >
> > > "[...] The crypto-fascist Philip Johnson
> > > http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair0813.html
> > >
> >
> > 1. Please give us the page numbers in "Vineland" and "GR" where this refers
> > too.
> >
> > 2. I admit *not* being a specialist in architecture at all and I consider
> > some modern and postmodern architecture as an assault on humanity too. So
> > I'm not defending Johnson here but critisizing St. Clair for calling someone
> > a crypto-fascist without giving *any* reason at all for this judgement
> > further in the article on Frank Lloyd Wright, which appears at least
> > questionable to me. So I did take a short look, which I consider as only
> > fair:
> >
> > 1979 Laureate
> > Philip Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1906, and in the years since
> > has become one of architecture's most potent forces. Before designing his
> > first building at the age of 36, Johnson had been client, critic, author,
> > historian, museum director, but not an architect.
> > In 1949, after a number of years as the Museum of Modern Art's first
> > director of the Architecture Department, Johnson designed a residence for
> > himself in New Canaan, Connecticut for his master degree thesis, the now
> > famous Glass House.
> > He literally coined the term "International School of Architecture" for an
> > exhibition at MOMA.
> > Johnson organized Mies van der Rohe's first visit to this country as well as
> > Le Corbusier's. He even commissioned Mies to design his New York apartment.
> > Later, he would collaborate with Mies on what has been described as this
> > continent's finest high-rise building, the Seagram Building in New York.
> > (...)
> > The list of projects fills a volume, but suffice it to say, ranges from
> > numerous high-rise projects such as International Place in Boston; Tycon
> > Towers in Vienna, Virginia; Momentum Place in Dallas; 53rd at Third in New
> > York; NCNB Center in Houston; PPG in Pittsburgh; 101 California in San
> > Francisco; United Bank Center Tower in Denver; to the far flung National
> > Center for Performing Arts in Bombay, India; Century Center in South Bend,
> > Indiana; a Water Garden in Fort Worth, Texas; a Civic Center in Peoria,
> > Illinois; the Crystal Cathedral in California; and a Dade County Cultural
> > Center in Miami. There are many, many more.
> > Since 1989, Johnson, semi-retired, has devoted his time mainly to projects
> > of his own, but still is a consultant to John Burgee Architects. His most
> > recent design is for a new School of Fine Arts for Seton Hill College in
> > Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
> > http://www.pritzkerprize.com/pjohn.htm
> >
> > Seems as if the USA is littered with crypto-fascist buildings.
> >
> > "Over time, Johnson has also come under attack for past political leanings.
> > He was labeled a fascist and Nazi sympathizer. He later disavowed his
> > beliefs."
> > http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/johnson_7-9a.html
> >
> > In 1956 he designed a synagoge, very rare for a "crypto-fascist", isn't it?
> > Kneses Tifereth Israel, Port Chester/New York, 1956.
> >
> > Why doesn't St. Clair tell us this?
> >
> > more:
> > "After all, read in a mirror the title of Butler's novel is Nowhere."
> > (St. Clair)
> >
> > He has a remarkable grasp for the obvious.
> >
> > " J. Edgar Hoover must be laughing as he roasts in Hell."
> > (St. Clair)
> >
> > Except that I don't believe there's a place like hell. Being an atheist
> > means being an a-satanist too (thanks again for the article on Luhman, Kai).
> >
> > Otto
> >
> > __________________________________________________________________
> >
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