When a Book Bores You, Pay Attention

[alice malice]

This section of FJ, much alluded to here in discussions of Dick,
Subgenre, TV, California novels of P, Utopias...History...Allegory,
Nostalgia.. etc... is worth another look.



Nostalgia for the Present
T here is a novel by Philip K. Dick, which, published in 1959, evokes
the fifties: President Eisenhower's stroke; Main Stre
et, U.S.A.....

p.278
http://flawedart.net/courses/articles/Jameson_Postmodernism__cultural_logic_late_capitalism.pdf


On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 7:08 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> Late capitalism is boredom entertaining itself.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 6, 2014, at 7:04 AM, alice malice <alicewmalice at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The past thirty years saw a growing academic interest in the
>> phenomenon of boredom. If initially the analyses were mostly
>> a-historical, now the historicity of boredom is widely recognised,
>> though often it is taken as evidence of its permanence as a constant
>> "quality" of the human condition, expression of a metaphysical malady
>> inherent to the fact of being human. New trends in the literature
>> focus on the peculiar relationship between boredom and modernity and
>> attempt to embrace the new social, cultural and political factors
>> which provoked the epochal change of modernity and relate them to a
>> change in the parameters of human experience and the crisis of
>> subjectivity. The very changes that characterise modernity are the
>> same that led to the "democratisation" of boredom: modernity and
>> boredom are shown to be inextricably connected and inseparable. This
>> volume aims at contributing to the growing body of literature on
>> boredom with a number of essays which reflect on the connection of
>> boredom and modernity and focus on particular texts, authors, or
>> aspects of the phenomenon. The approach is multidisciplinary, in
>> keeping with the pervasiveness of the phenomenon in our culture and
>> societies, with essays reflecting on philosophy, literature, film,
>> media and psychology.
>>
>> Essays on Boredom and Modernity. (Critical Studies Series)
>>
>> Barbara Dalle Pezze (Editor), Carlo Salzani (Editor).
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 6:29 AM, alice malice <alicewmalice at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I think the scholar has some interesting points but may need to go
>>> back and read Jameson because Jameson is not really making the point
>>> the scholar has taken from the excerpt provided. In any event, I
>>> recall a brief discussion, during BE,  of  Nam June Paik, on important
>>> example in Jameson of Boredom and how artists use it conceptually.
>>>
>>> http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=undergrad_research
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 7:07 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> I think the almost-scholar may be right about "classic" novels from the
>>>> past---my experience of some--but contemp
>>>> Boring novels are often boring because they are boring.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 4, 2014, at 4:31 PM, Rebecca Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Oh wow, and I was just mentioning to someone how Updike is boring to me.
>>>>
>>>> On a more interesting level, has anyone but myself read "The Blazing World"
>>>> by Siri Hustvedt? A romp in something artsy - highly intelligent and
>>>> entertaining. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it but took it up on
>>>> recommendation from a friend. Yikes!
>>>>
>>>> Bekah
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 4, 2014, at 12:40 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> http://incompetentwriter.com/2014/07/01/when-a-book-bores-you-pay-attention/
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l