Politics vs Art

Mark Kohut mark.kohut at gmail.com
Sat Apr 30 13:44:46 CDT 2016


I don't think Pynchon parodying zen or anarchist golf is much of his
'politics' in that novel.

The politics of THE WHOLE WORLD SYSTEM from the late 1800s are the rich and
complex indictments
of Against the Day.

On Sat, Apr 30, 2016 at 2:38 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> The politics of GR are rich and complex, and indeterminate, because its
> indictments are of the structure of everything, not just political.
>
> When the anarchists were playing no-rules golf in ATD, all I could do was
> wish I hadn't read that.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Sat, Apr 30, 2016 at 5:37 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Not for the first time, do Morris and I disagree about Against the Day. I
>> think it is far better
>> than I think he does; and "the politics' is essential to it----but the
>> 'overt' politics are not even close
>> to what *Kirsch says* the author's political vision is in Against the
>> Day.
>>
>> And the politics in Against the Day is far less 'overt', I say, than 'the
>> politics" of GR, which are
>> positively In- Our-Face (if we look up) yet not a detraction but a
>> raising up of GR to Art.
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 12:25 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The politics in ATD was often a detraction from the art.  Overt politics
>>> tends to do that.
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 10:35 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Adam Kirsch, an estimable critic in general, is on record dissing
>>>> Against the Day because of its bad politics---violent anarchism, domestic
>>>> terrorism, the authors' positions, etc.....as he misread it.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 11:05 AM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/books/review/can-a-book-with-bad-politics-be-a-good-book.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbooks&action=click&contentCollection=books&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=sectionfront
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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