Franzen, Pynchon, Politik

[Mark Kohut]

Not becoming a public figure in any way is a key part of Pynchon's whole vision, 
I suggest.

Start with his dissing of charisma....think about the space of privacy he 
believes we've lost....
THAT is right there in where we are: Chap. 9...p. 263 "Whether we like it or not 
that war destroyed
a kind of privacy, perhaps the privacy of dream."....'Committed us like him 
[D'Annunzio] to work out
three o'clock anxieties, excesses of character, political hallucinations on a 
live mass, a real human 
population. ...Our Vheissus are no longer our own, or even confined to a circle 
of friends; they're
public property. God knows how much of it the world will see, or what lengths it 
will be taken to."



----- Original Message ----
From: Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de>
To: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
Cc: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>; mfarcas at mail.com; pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Wed, October 27, 2010 9:28:15 AM
Subject: Re: Franzen, Pynchon, Politik

Everytime someone says something is "not political", this is - by defining the 
borders - one of
the most political utterances possible. Even more: Since the claim to be "not 
political" tries to hide
the given political agenda, it's one of the more dangerous forms. Example? Every 
second tea party
clown I see on the screen wears a "not political" badge. There you have your 
'neutrality' ...

Pynchon who writes about wars, genocide, WMDs, slavery, secret services, police 
brutality usw
usf, is most certainly a political author. Much more political than Franzen.

And yes, I'd like to hear political things from Pynchon.  Not so much about the 
world in general.
I mean, you people have a nice saying: Opinions are like assholes. Everybody's 
got one. So what Pynchon thinks about, say, currency relations today is probably 
not too interesting. My interests
go more into the direction of responsible discursive interventions in relation 
to his art.

In his novels V and GR, Thomas Pynchon artistically exploited the sad history of 
the Hereros.
But these people are not dead and gone! Actually they make a claim for 
reparations against the
German government regarding the genocide of 1904. When Joschka "Arschloch" 
Fischer was first
confronted with it, he didn't say a single word and simply walked away. Up to 
now no German politician has ever said or done anything about it. So let me ask:

Why doesn't Pynchon use his cultural and social capital to really go for the 
Herero's fair claim?

(Don't tell me he's publicity-shy ... that was a long time ago. He made a book 
trailer, did three
episodes of The Simpsons and even - that was (when you think what he got back) 
funny - wrote
a defense letter for - of all people - Ian McEwan. So it's not that.)

KFL

On 26.10.2010 16:51, David Morris wrote:
> As long as they're heard in media apart from their art, there's no
> "should."  Artists have a right to political views, and the right to
> express them.  But when their art turns political, that's where they
> loses their edge.
> 
> On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 9:40 AM, rich<richard.romeo at gmail.com>  wrote:
>    
>> agreed but shouldn't writers be read not heard
>> 
>> who fucking cares what he thinks personally. that goes for Pynchon, as well. 
>>with that said writers wouldn't be all didactic up my ass either. nothing worse 
>>than being preached to
>>      
> 
>