It's Pynchon's world, we only try for a little privacy within it

[Erik T. Burns]

speaking of which...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/11/12/164984367/salman-rushdie-john-le-carre-end-literary-feud




On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 5:05 PM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

> Guess I should've been more clear--I wasn't talking about how the CIA
> etc are depicted in LeCarre's work (which I think is fair enough) but
> in his public statements. It's become shrill. I think the
> Circus/Smiley books have more depth to them (the recent remake movie
> of Tinker Tailor was dreadful by the way) than the later books--the
> whistleblower books I mean.
>
> I expect people to be outraged by much of US foreign policy (or
> foreign policy of any nation) -just dont whine about shit I already
> know (a personal beef admittedly) or lose the complete complicated
> picture in useless screeds against moronic statements by some in the
> US. thats not the whole story.
>
> rich
>
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net>
> wrote:
> > Part of it might be that Le Carre's work and Cornwell's own earlier
> > intelligence work shared the context of an empire in decline: as in
> > Fleming's books, MI5/MI6 knew (and resented) that their US counterparts
> had
> > greater resources and reach, even in places that the UK had ruled not
> long
> > before. There's a fin-de-siecle melancholy and resignation about the
> Circus.
> >
> > So if US triumphalism -- "the indispensable nation," "what shall we do
> about
> > Egypt/Libya/Syria/Mali?" -- flourishes despite all evidence  that its
> > imperial business model is obsolescent, wouldn't you expect that to rub
> Le
> > Carre the wrong way? (Going for explanation rather than excuse or defense
> > here)
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> Behalf
> > Of rich
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 9:26 AM
> > To: Markekohut
> > Cc: pynchon -l
> > Subject: Re: It's Pynchon's world, we only try for a little privacy
> within
> > it
> >
> > not sure what you mean by "Le Carre is not liked and somehow influential
> to
> > Pynchon for nothing"
> >
> > if there's anything about this scandal it's more like Homeland--the
> > privileged and well-connected and how they fuck things up. Personally I
> > think Petreaus get more praise than he really deserves. Iraq and
> Afghanistan
> > are lost wars-only the casualty numbers keeps them from being thrown in
> with
> > Vietnam. For the most pasrt the US military is highly trained and
> > skilled--how they have been led is if you listen to folks like Thomas
> Ricks
> > something that hasnt really been debated all that much.
> >
> > LeCarre though a great novelist has become a kind of crank unfortunately.
> > the anti-americanism has become a bit stale imho
> >
> > rich
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 6:25 PM, Markekohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> >> G-men spy on our spies; they rat on each other to our politicians.
> >> Pure Pynchon. a knotted mcCarthyism, so to compress. their love
> >> interests harass which breaks open the whole military/ corporate knot.
> > Some.
> >>
> >> Le Carre is not liked and somehow influential to Pynchon for nothing.
> >> One can almost imagine this pentagon quadrangle--oops, pentangle ( or
> >> more) ---in GR, or time-changed, AtD.
> >>
> >>
> >> boingboing.net/2012/11/13/petraeus-scandal-this-is-the.html?utm_source
> >> =dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
> >>
> >> Download the official Twitter app here
> >>
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPad
> >
>
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