Now Augie March, was: TRP-related (by me at least)..from a review

[rich]

growing up in post-Vietnam era its hard to stomach this crap about the hope
for America--that's led us right down the republican asshole of reagan and
bush

there was just an article in the London Review of Books about Yemen, a very
small and very complicated place via its relations with British colonialism,
Saudi interference, Egyptian hubris, etc etc. so, Tom Friedman of the Times
flies in for a few days, talks to a few people and bam he's home writing
articles like he knows the place inside and out, and that's what most people
will think fo the place, a haven for Al Qaeda in Arabia because of that
stupid dickhead with the underwear. Joe Lieberman thinks we should invade,
god knows what they're saying on Fox News. (no doubt Saul Bellow would agree
if he was among the living)
My point is that's the promise of America for many--ignorant,
self-satisfied, afraid, self-righteous, think they know everything by
talking to a few people over there.

American exceptionalism was always a sham, living for the days of storming
Omaha beach and saving Europe (which the Russians and other Soviet repressed
peoples arguably did more to bring about)

the rocket is still above one's head and no happy bunch of chums are gonna
sail us towards grace

yikes, what's wrong with me today

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 1:25 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> J. M. Coetzee, in his essay on this work, sez that Bellow too was---as deep
> metaphoric background, not in particulars----'inspired' by the Chicago that
> was such a hope for America as embodied in the Columbian Exhibition of
> AtD's start....
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> To: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> Cc: "Carvill, John" <john.carvill at sap.com>; Mark Kohut <
> markekohut at yahoo.com>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Wed, March 24, 2010 12:43:56 PM
> Subject: Re: TRP-related (by me at least)..from a review
>
> On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 11:20 AM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I just don't think its Pynchon's strength. he can't write about real
> people.  why even try? I don't want to read fiction about real people.
>
> I'm right in the middle of Bellow's "The Adventures of Augie March"
> which is decidedly about "real [fictional] people."  The book has
> such an even feeling.  People evolve, events happen, time moves on,
> new adventures appear, but the drama level is very toned down.  The
> star of this show is the first-person narrator of the title, and he's
> the star mainly because every event is filtered through his
> perception, and he has a pretty good opinion of himself as he looks
> back on the times of his life.  Once in a while he'll describe things
> in obtuse ways, but it feels right because you get the sense that
> (although he doesn't jump forward in his story) that he's ended up as
> a writer.
>
> David Morris
>
>
>
>
>
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