BtZ: Pirate//Brown on Fantasy

[Smoke Teff]

Do you--does anyone--recommend a particular translation of that volume?

On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 12:06 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:

> That is the one. Not exactly the copy I have but close enough and
> thanks for sending it.
>
> In the same volume is Freud's essay on the Uncanny.
>
> On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 12:36 PM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Do you mean this: http://users.uoa.gr/~cdokou/FreudCreativeWriters.pdf?
> >
> > 2016-03-26 17:17 GMT+01:00 ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com>:
> >>
> >>  In _On Creativity and the Unconscious_ Freud, in the short essay,
> >> "The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming (1908), contrasts the
> >> phantasies of children, who daydream of being grown up, play at what
> >> they view it is like to live in the world of adults, and  have no
> >> inhibitions, no shame in it, don't conceal this play, with the adults
> >> on the other hand, who must hide play, fantasy, though they know that
> >> all adults, to some extent must also day dream and have fantasies, for
> >> they know too that what the fancy  is  not only often prohibited but
> >> also that dreaming of it, playing at it, is the work or play of
> >> children.
> >>
> >> It's a fascinating essay.
> >>
> >> Sorry I can't find a copy online.
> >>
> >> On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 7:41 PM, Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> > Noting some things in Life Against Death and GR that seem related (at
> >> > least,
> >> > they made me think of one another in rereading)., especially as we
> start
> >> > looking at Pirate and his gift more.
> >> >
> >> > Brown (I mean you could pull ten relevant sentences out of any page in
> >> > this
> >> > book, so this is sort of arbitrary) says, pp 162-3 of my paperback of
> >> > Life
> >> > Against Death:
> >> >
> >> > "The regressive orientation keeps not only our moral personality
> >> > (character,
> >> > conscience) in bondage to the past, but also our cognitive faculty--in
> >> > Freudian terminology, the ego's function of testing reality. The human
> >> > ego,
> >> > in its cognitive function, is no transparent mirror transmitting the
> >> > reality-principle to the id; it has a more active, and distorting,
> role
> >> > consequent to upon its incapacity to bear the reality of life in the
> >> > present. The starting point for the human form of cognitive activity
> is
> >> > loss
> >> > of a loved reality."
> >> >
> >> > 163: "the ego does not abolish the pleasure-principle, but derives
> from
> >> > it
> >> > the energy sustaining its exploration of reality."
> >> >
> >> > "Hence also human consciousness is inseparable from an active attempt
> to
> >> > alter reality, so as to 'regain the lost objects.'"
> >> >
> >> > "The more specific and concrete mechanism whereby the body-ego
> becomes a
> >> > soul is fantasy. Fantasy may be defined as a hallucination which
> >> > cathects
> >> > the memory of gratification.; it is of the same structure as the
> dream,
> >> > and
> >> > has the same relation to the id and to instinctual reality as the
> >> > dream."
> >> >
> >> > 164 "Identifications as modes of installing the Other inside the Self
> >> > are
> >> > fantasies."
> >> >
> >> > "Fantasy, according to The Interpretation of Dreams, is the product of
> >> > the
> >> > primary process, the human organism's first solution to the problem of
> >> > frustration."
> >> >
> >> > Quoting Isaacs: "reality-thinking cannot operate without concurrent
> and
> >> > supporting unconscious phantasies."
> >> >
> >> > 171: "Projections, with their fetishistic displacement of inner
> >> > fantasies,
> >> > must distort the external world."
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > GR p. 12: "You can't run a war on gusts of emotion."
> >> >
> >> > GR p. 31: "All these things arise from one difficulty: control[...]
> The
> >> > control is put inside. No more need to suffer passively under 'outside
> >> > forces'--to veer into any wind."
> >> >
> >> > p. 36: "Incredible black-and-white Scorpia confirmed not a few
> Piratical
> >> > fantasies about the glamorous silken-calved English realworld he'd
> felt
> >> > so
> >> > shut away from."
> >> >
> >> > p. 36 "[...]Scorpia figured as his Last Fling--though herself too
> young
> >> > to
> >> > know that, to know, like Pirate, what the lyrics to "Dancing in the
> >> > Dark"
> >> > are really about...
> >> >
> >> > "He will be scrupulous about never telling her. But there are times
> when
> >> > it's agony not to go to her feet, knowing she won't leave Clive,
> crying
> >> > you're my last chance...if it can't be you then there's no more
> >> > time....Doesn't he wish, against all hope, that he could let the poor,
> >> > Western-man's timetable go...but how does a man...where does he even
> >> > begin,
> >> > at age 33...."
> >> >
> >> > p. 37 "Yes he is waiting, to see if it will end for Roger the same
> way,
> >> > part
> >> > of him, never so cheery as at the spectacle of another's misfortune,
> >> > rooting
> >> > for Beaver and all that he, like Clive, stands for, to win out. But
> >> > another
> >> > part--an alternate self?--one that he mustn't be quick to call
> >> > 'decent'--does seem to want for Roger what Pirate himself lost...."
> >> >
> >> > p. 37 "'You are a pirate,' she'd whispered the last day--neither of
> them
> >> > knew it was the last day--'you've come and taken me off on your pirate
> >> > ship.
> >> > A girl of good family and the usual repressions. You've raped me. And
> >> > I'm
> >> > the Red Bitch of the High Seas....' A lovely game. Pirate wished she'd
> >> > thought it up sooner. Fucking the last (already the last) day's light
> >> > away
> >> > down afternoon to dusk, hours of fucking, too in love with it to
> >> > uncouple,
> >> > they noticed how the borrowed room rocked gently, the ceiling
> obligingly
> >> > came down a foot, lamps swayed from their fittings, some fraction of
> the
> >> > Thameside traffic provided salty cries over the water, and nautical
> >> > bells....
> >> >
> >> > "But back over their lowering sky-sea behind, Government hounds were
> on
> >> > the
> >> > track--drawing closer, the cutters are coming, the cutters and the
> sleek
> >> > hermaphrodites of the law, agents who, being old hands, will settle
> for
> >> > her
> >> > safe return, won't insist on his execution or capture. Their logic is
> >> > sound:
> >> > give him a bad enough wound and he'll come round, round to the ways of
> >> > this
> >> > hard-boiled old egg of world and timetables, cycling night to
> >> > compromising
> >> > night...."
> >> >
> >> > "Scorpia's talc-white face, through the last window, across the last
> >> > gate,
> >> > was a blow to his heart. A flurry of giggles and best wishes arose
> from
> >> > the
> >> > Wonder Midgets and their admirers. Well, though Pirate, guess I'll go
> >> > back
> >> > in the Army...."
> >> >
> >> > It sounds like an apocalyptic death-sex fantasy.
> >> >
> >> -
> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> >
> >
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20160326/b95c5db5/attachment.html>