1984 Foreword "fascistic disposition"

[Mutualcode at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/7/2003 2:28:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
ottosell at yahoo.de writes:


> Generally it seems to me that Menand and Pynchon both are saying that
> Orwell, in all his contradictions and changes throughout his lifetime,
> wasn't a man who would have supported any government action,
> whether right or wrong.
> 
> 

Menand might be analogous to the "official left,"  i.e., elitist,
unable to do much more than score points by being "contoversial"
in a "smart" way, but altogether co-opted and as much a part of
the status quo as establishment conservatives. Likewise, those 
who published retorts to Menand's article- Leon Wieseltier and
Christopher Hitchens- all together, a tempest in an inner party teapot.

Pynchon, however, by remaining as unco-opted as he has over
the years, is much closer to the "dissident left" where Pynchon
places Orwell himself, i.e., left of left, and is able to offer a fascinating
perspective denied those who are more dependent on media
exposure- particularly seemingly controversial media exposure-
and so become compromised by that dependency.

The best way to avoid the duplicity of the anterooms is to stay
in the backroom, or better, the backroom's backroom, where
it's a little easier to tell the rubbish from the reality. 

respectfully
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20030507/425f590e/attachment.html>