Politics vs Art

David Morris fqmorris at gmail.com
Sun May 1 16:55:13 CDT 2016


Tastes differ.  I think some of ATD anarchist politics are as nearly
(nearly) as bad as Atlas Shrugged,  a universal standard for bad political
fiction.  Better off unread & unwritten.

David Morris

On Sunday, May 1, 2016, Rob Miller <robcmiller at gmail.com> wrote:

> Really? I loved the politics in ATD-- especially Scarsdale Vibe's
> monologue near the end of the ATD. (I thought the anarchist golf scene was
> funny.) I think Pynchon is so unique and spot-on when it comes to pointing
> out all of the backwardness in American history and culture that it's
> important for him to be political, even if at times it takes away from the
> "art"
>
> On Sat, Apr 30, 2016 at 2:38 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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
>>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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
>>>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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
>>>>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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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