politics and lit again

[Paul Mackin]

On Sep 29, 2006, at 5:05 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> Not to mention, the American public is too illiterate and  
> uneducated to have heard of these guys.  TRP would have to appear  
> in thong underwear to get any notice whatsoever from the average  
> American.
>
> Laura


This may be correct but it's not really so much a matter of relative  
literacy or illiteracy.  The point of the  quoted material was that,  
unlike, say, in Europe, Americans--including the high IQ'd ones with  
advanced degrees from elite institution of higher learning--don't  
tend (on average) to think of literary writers as very authoritative  
on the subject of politics. If Pynchon or  the others of that  
category express outspoken, catchy, interesting political views,  
newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times will in all  
likelihood report them, but in the  "feature" or  "style" sections of  
the paper rather than in the "news" sections.. It's considered part   
of show business in other words. Whether this is good or bad far be  
it for me  to  say.

Now Chavez is another matter. .. .

Also maybe Muscharraf . . . .

There're statesmen.
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com>
>> Sent: Sep 29, 2006 4:38 PM
>> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>> Subject: politics and lit again
>>
>> Sorry if posted before
>>
>>
>> "If Philip Roth, Don DeLillo or Thomas Pynchon (the three  
>> Americans most
>> mentioned as Nobel contenders) would publicly accuse President  
>> Bush of
>> certain indiscretions, or even crimes, hardly any of our  
>> newspapers would
>> hand over significant space; the American public has been  
>> historically
>> mistrustful of art’s encroachment on politics — especially now, in  
>> a world
>> in which art has been depoliticized into mere entertainment."
>>
>> http://www.forward.com/articles/schadenfreude-and-suspicion-after- 
>> nobel-laureate-r/
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
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>
>