It's time to embrace American culture again/: "Mother Night" & TRP

Thu Nov 6 08:12:46 CST 2008

 ... Who's that Updike guy? Nevermind, yesterday morning I turned on the TVand did hear the news. Then I checked my E-mails and read that "it's time to embraceAmerican culture again". And so I put the Erykah Badu record ("New Amerykah pt. one: 4th World War") into the boom-box and danced on my oriental carpets till I was all sweatand sperm ... Then I fell into my armchair and picked up the next American novel I couldfind. It's Vonnegut's "Mother Night" [1961] and, having read 16 chapters so far, I guessthis was an actual influence on Pynchon. Spying, black humor, the relations between Nazi-Germany and the US, plus the title which is not too far away from the one of Pynchon's latest (AtD).  "The title of the book is Campbell's. It is taken from a speech by Mephistopheles inGoethe's FAUST. As translated by Carlyle F. MacIntyre (New Directions, 1941),the speech is this: I am a part that at first was all, part of the darkness that gave birth to light, thatsupercilious light that now disputes with Mother Night her ancient rank and space,and yet cannot succeed; no matter how it struggles, it sticks to matter and can'tget free. Light flows from substance, makes it beautiful; solids can check its path,so I hope it won't be long till light and the world's stuff are destroyed together." (Kurt Vonnegut: Mother Night, p. XI, Laurel edition)        ... The quote is from the Studierzimmer (study room) scene from part 1 and herecomes the original: "Ich bin ein Teil des Teils, der anfangs alles war,Ein Teil der Finsternis, die sich das Licht gebar,Das stolze Licht, das nun der Mutter NachtDen alten Rang, den Raum ihr streitig macht,Und doch gelingt's ihm nicht, da es, so viel es strebt,Verhaftet an den Körpern klebt.Von Körpern strömt's, die Körper macht es schön,Ein Körper hemmt's auf seinem Gange,So, hoff' ich, dauert es nicht lange,Und mit den Körpern wird's zugrunde gehn."          Sounds cool, nicht wahr? I wish the songs in AtD ... But hey, America gave so many great songs to the world ... And so we have, live here on Radio KCIF, an
old Steely Dan classic performed by the Ed Alstrom Trio. This is for all the people
who are tired of cheerleading and confetti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8OXq_Lk1fA&NR=1

Outside there's November rain,
Kai   

From: robinlandseadel at comcast.netTo: pynchon-l at waste.orgSubject: It's time to embrace American culture againDate: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 22:51:21 -0800. . . The monstrosity of the Bush administration has disfigured a nation. 
This has led to entirely unjust fictions being swallowed about American 
culture. Just recently, Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Nobel 
Academy, opined that the American novel is conservative and hidebound 
compared with European fiction. How can any literary critic have missed 
the greatness, and experimentalism, of a Thomas Pynchon? But I am 
absolutely certain that some readers in their twenties in this country have 
missed out on Pynchon, not to mention Roth, Updike and all those other 
giants, because they don't want to read American novels. . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2008/nov/04/american-culture-jonathan-jones

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