TPPM Barthelme: "A Surrender to Annoyance"

[Dave Monroe]

   "See, for example, 'The Teachings of Don B.' Though
it has the look of a writerly reflex to some piece of
industry gossip about Carlos Castaneda's deal with
Simon & Schuster for the first Don Juan book,
Barthelme is also here enjoying a surrender to
annoyance with the parties involved, the book itself,
and the culture of eternal youth that has allowed it
to flourish. The operative text here would seem to be
from II Corinthians, 'For ye suffer fools gladly,
seeing ye yourselves are wise.' Wise satirical
practice requires the sensitivity and skill of a fugu
chef at controlling toxicity, that is, knowing how
long to suffer, and how gladly, and when to give in to
rage, and the pleasure of assaulting at last the fools
in question. Barthelme's timing in this regard was
flawless, though unfortunately he was prevented from
becoming a worldclass curmudgeon on the order of, say,
Ambrose Bierce, by the stubborn counter-rhythms of
what kept on being a hopeful and unbitter heart. Much
of this journeyman impatience with idiocy concealed a
tenderness and geniality which always shine through
whenever he drops the irony, even for a minute. That,
and, of course, his inescapable sadness. That elegaic
voice: 'The wives of the angry young man are now
married to other people--doctors, mostly.' That
'mostly.' You think of the music of Dietz and
Schwartz, of Fred Astaire singing Dietz and Schwartz,
just that combination of grace and disenchantment,
darkish lyrics and minor modalities."

http://www.vheissu.org/bio/eng_barthelme.htm

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/uncollected/barthelme.html

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_barthelme.htm


Carlos Castaneda

Castaneda, Carlos.  The Teachings of Don Juan:
   A Yaqui Way of Knowledge.  New York: Simon &
   Schuster, 1968.

http://www.prismagems.com/castaneda/donjuan1.html

http://www.castaneda.com/english/publications/detail.cfm?ID=4


"II Corinthians"

The Holy Bible: King James Version.

The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the
Corinthians
11

[...]

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

16  I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if
otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast
myself a little.
17  That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord,
but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of
boasting.
18  Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will
glory also.
19  For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves
are wise....

http://www.bartleby.com/108/47/11.html


"a fugu chef"

Main Entry: fu·gu 
Pronunciation: 'f(y)ü-(")gü
Function: noun
Etymology: Japanese
: any of various very poisonous puffers (sense 2a)
that contain tetrodotoxin and that are used as food in
Japan after the toxin-containing organs are removed

Main Entry: puff·er 
Pronunciation: 'p&-f&r
Function: noun
1 : one that puffs
2 a : any of a family (Tetraodontidae) of chiefly
tropical marine bony fishes which can distend
themselves to a globular form and most of which are
highly poisonous -- called also blowfish, globefish b
: any of various fish of the same order
(Tetraodontiformes syn. Plectognathi) as the puffers

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://www.destroy-all-monsters.com/fugu.shtml

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/food/food_fugu.htm

http://japanesefood.about.com/cs/seafoodfish/a/fugublowfish.htm

http://genome.jgi-psf.org/fugu6/fugu6.home.html

Homer eagerly places his next order.  Meanwhile, Bart
and Lisa sing `Shaft' in the karaoke bar.  Homer looks
for something he hasn't tried yet and orders fugu. 
Akira tries to talk Homer out of it, to no avail.

"Come on, pal!  Fugu me!"

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F11


Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)

http://www.biercephile.com/

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bierce.htm

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/


Main Entry: cur·mud·geon 
Pronunciation: (")k&r-'m&-j&n
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 archaic : MISER
2 : a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man
- cur·mud·geon·li·ness  /-lE-n&s/ noun
- cur·mud·geon·ly  /-lE/ adjective

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=curmudgeon


Main Entry: ele·gi·ac 
Pronunciation: "e-l&-'jI-&k, -"ak also i-'lE-jE-"ak
Variant(s): also el·e·gi·a·cal  /"e-l&-'jI-&-k&l/
Function: adjective
Etymology: Late Latin elegiacus, from Greek
elegeiakos, from elegeion
1 a : of, relating to, or consisting of two dactylic
hexameter lines the second of which lacks the arsis in
the third and sixth feet b (1) : written in or
consisting of elegiac couplets (2) : noted for having
written poetry in such couplets c : of or relating to
the period in Greece about the seventh century B.C.
when poetry written in such couplets flourished
2 : of, relating to, or comprising elegy or an elegy;
especially : expressing sorrow often for something now
past <an elegiac lament for departed youth>
- elegiac noun
- el·e·gi·a·cal·ly  /"e-l&-'jI-&-k(&-)lE/ adverb

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=elegiac


"Dietz and Schwartz"

http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp?exhibitId=62

http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp?exhibitId=224

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dietz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schwartz

Note ...

"Dancing in the Dark" (H. Dietz & A. Schwartz, 1949)

http://www.theguitarguy.com/dancingi.htm

Cf. ...

"Scorpia figured as his Last Fling-though herself too
young to know that, to know, like Pirate, what the
lyrics to 'Dancing in the Dark' are really about."

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/songs.html


Fred Astaire (1899-1987)

http://www.fredastaire.net/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000001/


"grace and disenchantment"

Cf. Pynchon hisself?  Also ...


"minor modalities"

http://www.sweb.cz/vladimir_ladma/ english/music/structs/mus_dia.htm


		
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