The Sadness of America

[John Doe]

Yup...I generally concur...and to bring this back
briefly to Pynchon, ( instead of one of my favorite
unfoundedly arrogant pricks-to-pillory, Derrida ),
when critics bash Pynchon for being "too remote" , too
bereft of sentiment, etc. I think to passages in his
novels that address that kind of meloncholy, that
evoke that sort of subterranean despair and
ennui...his zoom-ins if you will, on the preterite,
the lost, the marginalized does justice to sentimental
concern and empathy...I could never understand critics
who have actually read V., Lot 49 or GR to find
"nothing" in his writing that reveals a "humane"
writer; he is quite humane IMHO, and Paul Fussel, who
actually WAS in WWII, finds his depictions of the
ambience ( in all it's range of feeligs ) of that time
and place very convincing..as if Pynchon had been
there himself...this sort of authenticity of mood and
feeling is very hard to render....

--- Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:

> 
> On Oct 9, 2005, at 8:54 AM, Thomas Eckhardt wrote:
> 
> > Indeed. The sadness of America may have to do with
> "changing all  
> > from subjunctive to declarative, reducing
> Possibilities to  
> > Simplicities that serve the ends of Governments".
> Or the ends of  
> > multinational corporations, one might add.
> >
> > On a different note: According to my experiences,
> most US-citizens,  
> > for better or worse, are not capable of perceiving
> "God's own  
> > country" as sad. Perhaps sadness and melancholy
> are sentiments we  
> > Europeans bring to America. Just a thought.
> >
> > Thanks for your posting, Heikki.
> >
> > Thomas
> 
> I think Thomas has a point here. But talking about
> what "most US  
> citizens" do or don't feel is treading on dangerous
> ground. It's a  
> very diverse country.
> 
> If we're talking about American foreign policy there
> is much  
> Americans SHOULD  feel sad about.  How many do feel
> personally guilty  
> is another question.  I think I feel that if any
> other country were  
> in charge things would be even worse. If that were
> possible.
> 
> However, it sounded  like Heikki was talking about
> American culture  
> more generally, including American consumerism and
> mass production.  
> Consumerism may be lamentable, but is it sad? There
> is sadness and  
> there is sadness. Americans don't have to drink
> American beer or  
> drive American cars. They can buy imports. And it's
> the rest of the  
> world that has all the bad television programs,
> repellant  movies,  
> and ghastly pop culture willingly thrust upon it.  
> I think in this  
> case  that the  sadness of the fuckER is probably
> less severe than  
> the sadness of the fuckEE.
> 
> 
> >
> > Heikki Raudaskoski schrieb:
> >
> >
> >> One reason I loved America when I lived there was
> that it
> >> was so immensely sad. When I left my Austinite
> home on
> >> Joe Sayers and was suddenly confronted by the
> miracle mile
> >> of Burnet Road, the melancholy of it all almost
> crushed me
> >> sometimes. Pynchon can convey this sorrow very
> well.
> >>
> >>
> >> Heikki
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 



		
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