M&D Chapter 12 - pages 118-119

Sat Feb 28 13:24:46 CST 2015

DAVIS WINS IN OVERTIME....

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 2:14 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> OK, revise my earlier "F & L knew very well" to "F & L had to wear elitist
> blindfolds, ideological earplugs, and double-thick woolly theoretical
> mittens *not* to know very well that Dickens was a great innovative
> creator."
>
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 1:09 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Monte writes: But notice the special pleading Wood has to do w/r/t
>> Dickens -- Micawber as caricature who makes us feel -- and think of
>> all the other great pre- or proto- or flatly non-realist caricatures
>> (in Cervantes, in Rabelais, in Voltaire, in Fielding, in Sterne, in
>> Dumas, in Hugo, in Twain... the list goes on and on) that he would
>> have to argue around if he made his premises explicit. ...Game Set
>> Match to Davis over Wood.
>>
>> I will say: Forster and Leavis THEN did NOT believe he was a creative
>> innovator but ONLY a melodramatic entertainer...THAT word I do think I
>> remember Leavis using. ...Wood should know 'better' but he must not
>> quite believe it.
>>
>> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 1:03 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Point taken. But notice the special pleading Wood has to do w/r/t
>> > Dickens --
>> > Micawber as caricature who makes us feel -- and think of all the other
>> > great
>> > pre- or proto- or flatly non-realist caricatures (in Cervantes, in
>> > Rabelais,
>> > in Voltaire, in Fielding, in Sterne, in Dumas, in Hugo, in Twain... the
>> > list
>> > goes on and on) that he would have to argue around if he made his
>> > premises
>> > explicit.
>> >
>> > It's not coincidental that Forster and Leavis both had to tap-dance a
>> > lot
>> > when it came to Dickens: like Wood, they knew very well that he wasn't
>> > just
>> > hugely popular and hugely influential, but a great innovative creator...
>> > one
>> > who didn't just awkwardly stretch the value schemata they were building,
>> > but
>> > threatened to blow it wide open.
>> >
>> > On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 12:23 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I might say: Round about Sometime (shortly after 1910, Woolf's Year of
>> >> Human Nature change), reality changed. Again.
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 11:58 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > Becky, your reference tent me back to re-read for the fifth or sixth
>> >> > time
>> >> > Wood's 2001 "Human, All Too Inhuman" (the "hysterical realism" review
>> >> > of
>> >> > Zadie Smith's White Teeth). I'm finally getting a handle on what has
>> >> > bothered me about it all along. A sample follows, although I commend
>> >> > the
>> >> > entire piece to anyone who hasn't read it (or re-read it lately in
>> >> > the
>> >> > context of M&D)
>> >> > http://www.newrepublic.com/article/61361/human-all-too-inhuman
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > "A genre is hardening...
>> >> >
>> >> > The big contemporary novel is a perpetual-motion machine that appears
>> >> > to
>> >> > have been embarrassed into velocity. It seems to want to abolish
>> >> > stillness,
>> >> > as if ashamed of silence--as it were, a criminal running endless
>> >> > charity
>> >> > marathons. Stories and sub-stories sprout on every page, as these
>> >> > novels
>> >> > continually flourish their glamorous congestion. Inseparable from
>> >> > this
>> >> > culture of permanent storytelling is the pursuit of vitality at all
>> >> > costs.
>> >> > Indeed, vitality is storytelling, as far as these books are
>> >> > concerned...
>> >> >
>> >> > ...Recent novels--veritable relics of St. Vitus--by Rushdie, Pynchon,
>> >> > DeLillo,
>> >> > Foster Wallace, and others, have featured a great rock musician who,
>> >> > when
>> >> > born, began immediately to play air guitar in his crib (Rushdie); a
>> >> > talking
>> >> > dog, a mechanical duck, a giant octagonal cheese, and two clocks
>> >> > having
>> >> > a
>> >> > conversation (Pynchon); a nun called Sister Edgar who is obsessed
>> >> > with
>> >> > germs
>> >> > and who may be a reincarnation of J. Edgar Hoover, and a conceptual
>> >> > artist
>> >> > painting retired B-52 bombers in the New Mexico desert (DeLillo); a
>> >> > terrorist group devoted to the liberation of Quebec called the
>> >> > Wheelchair
>> >> > Assassins, and a film so compelling that anyone who sees it dies
>> >> > (Foster
>> >> > Wallace). Zadie Smith's novel features, among other things: a
>> >> > terrorist
>> >> > Islamic group based in North London with a silly acronym (kevin), an
>> >> > animal-rights group called fate, a Jewish scientist who is
>> >> > genetically
>> >> > engineering a mouse, a woman born during an earthquake in Kingston,
>> >> > Jamaica,
>> >> > in 1907; a group of Jehovah's Witnesses who think that the world is
>> >> > ending
>> >> > on December 31, 1992; and twins, one in Bangladesh and one in London,
>> >> > who
>> >> > both break their noses at about the same time.
>> >> >
>> >> > This is not magical realism. It is hysterical realism. Storytelling
>> >> > has
>> >> > become a kind of grammar in these novels; it is how they structure
>> >> > and
>> >> > drive
>> >> > themselves on. The conventions of realism are not being abolished
>> >> > but,
>> >> > on
>> >> > the contrary, exhausted, and overworked. Appropriately, then,
>> >> > objections
>> >> > are
>> >> > not made at the level of verisimilitude, but at the level of
>> >> > morality:
>> >> > this
>> >> > style of writing is not to be faulted because it lacks reality--the
>> >> > usual
>> >> > charge against botched realism--but because it seems evasive of
>> >> > reality
>> >> > while
>> >> > borrowing from realism itself. It is not a cock-up, but a
>> >> > cover-up..."
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> >
>> >> > I respect and admire Wood greatly as one of the best critics of our
>> >> > time
>> >> > (even at book-review depth, or rather enforced shallowness). I think
>> >> > he's
>> >> > entirely right in tracing much of the fiction he's talking about,
>> >> > directly
>> >> > or indirectly, to Dickens: he quotes E.M. Forster on Dickens'
>> >> > "caricatures"
>> >> > from the "flat and round characters" passage in Aspects of the Novel,
>> >> > which
>> >> > also comes up often here on the P-list:
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > https://catalyst.uw.edu/workspace/file/download/b3babc90fd75d98bc0147d086ad3068f6aeced8b2f8b089e9d5a4036700810c5.
>> >> >
>> >> > What I noticed much more this time around was Woods'strongly (but
>> >> > usually
>> >> > implied, tacit) *normative* stance. Literary realism of the
>> >> > non-hysterical
>> >> > kind is not simply credited but *identified*  with engaging
>> >> > reality...
>> >> > with
>> >> > the capability of expressing tragedy or anguish... with real human
>> >> > experience, real human connection... with life, with depth... in
>> >> > short,
>> >> > with
>> >> > almost every Good Thing one could want from narrative art. Well,
>> >> > jeez...
>> >> > who
>> >> > wouldn't want all those those?
>> >> >
>> >> > But, jeez... do I really believe that the realist novel -- more
>> >> > specifically, novels broadly descended from  the 19th-century English
>> >> > core
>> >> > (Austen, Eliot, James, Conrad) identified as "The Great Tradition" by
>> >> > F.
>> >> > R.
>> >> > Leavis -- is now and forever the only, or the best, way to get them?
>> >> > Nope.
>> >> > The label "realism" has always been a lousy one, quietly implying
>> >> > vast
>> >> > philosophical claims. Writers were getting at trad=gedy, connection,
>> >> > depth
>> >> > and All That (and at other aspects of experience that character- and
>> >> > relationship- and individual-consciousness-centered realist novels
>> >> > *don't*
>> >> > get at very well) long before realism developed, and have been doing
>> >> > so
>> >> > right through the realist reign. They aren't "exhausting" or
>> >> > "overworking"
>> >> > or "evading" anything -- they're doing something else. And often
>> >> > enough,
>> >> > in
>> >> > ways that matter to me,  something more.
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> >
>> >> > PS - Encountered along the way, an article on the novel that reminds
>> >> > us
>> >> > of
>> >> > its, uh, parochial origins and probable transience:
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2015/marapr/novel-as-protestant-art.html
>> >> >
>> >> > If you can't keep all those murderous Near Eastern sects straight and
>> >> > prefer
>> >> > to Weberize the title as "The Novel as Post- Enlightenment
>> >> > Fast-Urbanizing
>> >> > Individualist Commercial/Industrial/Capitalist Art", that works too.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 12:27 PM, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com>
>> >> > wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Another day,  another couple pages:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Maskalyne likens St. Helena to a gothic novel and says
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "Six months I've been here - too many idle Minutes soon pile up,
>> >> >> topple
>> >> >> and overwhelm the Healthiest Mind."
>> >> >>
>> >> >> (A little foreshadowing there? -  Suspicions that Mason might go
>> >> >> completely mad?  Pynchon doesn't really go in for a lot of
>> >> >> foreshadowing to
>> >> >> keep up suspense or whatever - just as well,  it would take the
>> >> >> whole
>> >> >> thing
>> >> >> overboard, overdone, too much.)
>> >> >>
>> >> >> ** "Sirius Business," cackles the Proprietor. -  another groaner
>> >> >> gag.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> This novel has some very serious themes, but told with a LOT of
>> >> >> humor -
>> >> >> not just humor to lighten the atmosphere -there's actually a comic
>> >> >> tone.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "But I also noticed that the book's  (M&D's) humor was more
>> >> >> thoroughly
>> >> >> interwoven with melancholy and a sense of mortality than ever before
>> >> >> in
>> >> >> Pynchon's work."
>> >> >>
>> >> >> http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/pschmid1/essays/pynchon/mason.html
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "Mason & Dixon represents an impulse to write history through the
>> >> >> imaginary field, to crosshatch its narrative with a realization of
>> >> >> culture's
>> >> >> desire to find its identity in the realm of the imagination. It thus
>> >> >> argues,
>> >> >> implicitly, for the importance of artistic imagination alongside
>> >> >> scientific
>> >> >> and historical work. Pynchon rejects the harsh realism and more
>> >> >> cynical
>> >> >> parodies employed by many contemporary authors, using HUMOR (my
>> >> >> caps)
>> >> >> and
>> >> >> even magic as modes of transformation.[17] Talking dogs, sexually
>> >> >> aroused
>> >> >> mechanical ducks, and nighttime apparitions and ghosts haunt Mason
>> >> >> and
>> >> >> Dixon
>> >> >> in America; perhaps the country that combines technical invention
>> >> >> with
>> >> >> capitalistic enterprise might be equallymythologic in Pynchon's
>> >> >> ambivalent
>> >> >> history."
>> >> >> http://pmc.iath.virginia.edu/issue.903/14.1burns.html
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Thoughts on the humor and how it adds to the mix of history, themes,
>> >> >> story, whatever -  do you laugh? Why?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> **********
>> >> >> And then, ta-da - it's Maskelyne's birthday - (which would tell us
>> >> >> it's
>> >> >> October 6, 1761 and that he's 29 years old - born Oct. 1732) and he
>> >> >> makes a
>> >> >> big deal of impending doom (age 30 is coming).
>> >> >>
>> >> >> The phrase "Stygian mists"  is from "To Chloris"  in "Madrigals and
>> >> >> Epigrams" by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585-1649) Scottish
>> >> >> poet.
>> >> >> a
>> >> >> little chunk of the poem -  http://www.bartleby.com/337/285.html
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Mason:  (but 30 is)  "... a Number divisible,- penetrable! - by 6
>> >> >> numbers!"
>> >> >> (eeks?  why?  - numerology of some kind I guess.)
>> >> >>
>> >> >> ***  Narrator:    "...dismal apostrophes..."    -
>> >> >>  And in this case the word apostrophe means exclamations,  not the
>> >> >> punctuation symbol.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> **** Now Dixon is leaving for South Africa to take care of
>> >> >> Maskelyne's
>> >> >> "Sisson instrument"  which is probably a quadrant of some sort,  a
>> >> >> device
>> >> >> for measuring angles.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Sisson
>> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodolite
>> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrant_(instrument)
>> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mural_instrument
>> >> >>
>> >> >>         If the measurement device is off by a hair - then that
>> >> >> slight
>> >> >> error is multiplied exponentially and Maskelyne has invested more
>> >> >> than
>> >> >> time
>> >> >> and his career in the instrument ($$?) .  Dixon is the field rep for
>> >> >> Johnny
>> >> >> Bird's instruments?  -  lol - but ...
>> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bird_(astronomer)
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Why are the various measurements of time and space inaccurate?
>> >> >> Errors
>> >> >> in
>> >> >> measurement - 1.  human error - the time of the Transit (because M&D
>> >> >> started/ stopped at different places) and, 2.  device error (plumb
>> >> >> line
>> >> >> screwed up on quadrant).
>> >> >> **********
>> >> >> Is there really so little on these two pages?    Or is this "so
>> >> >> little?"
>> >> >>
>> >> >> So here's an added little morsel for the Learn'd Dogs amongst us -
>> >> >> James
>> >> >> Wood, in a now "classic" essay soundly criticized Zadie Smith's
>> >> >> White
>> >> >> Teeth
>> >> >> for it's "hysterical realism" and lambasted a few others in the
>> >> >> process
>> >> >> (M&D, etc).
>> >> >> http://www.newrepublic.com/article/61361/human-all-too-inhuman
>> >> >>
>> >> >> And this is a rather interesting little Wiki article on the subject:
>> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysterical_realism
>> >> >> (interesting little piece)
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Becky
>> >> >> the humor bit reminded me of hysterical and that took me on the
>> >> >> little
>> >> >> semi-side trip to Wood and Wiki -
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> -
>> >> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >
>> >
>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l