The Literature of Waste

[Nicole Bennett]

In my mind, it recalls the "wasted humans" that Laura Kelber mentioned and
about which sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has written. Members of W.A.S.T.E
are marginal on a number of levels (racially, politically, economically,
mental healthfully, etc.) and whenever we're talking about those within, on
the edges, and outside of dominant social structures, then waste comes to
serve as a powerful metaphor to describe and keep marginal/excluded the
people who "don't belong."

Mary Douglas (a mid-century structural anthropologist popular now among
discard studies people) theorizes waste (or, in her terms, "dirt") in these
ways in her book *Purity and Danger*: "As we know it, dirt is essentially
disorder. There is no such thing as absolute dirt: it exists in the eye of
the beholder. If we shun dirt, it is not because of craven fear, still less
dread of holy terror. Nor do our ideas about disease account for the range
of our behaviour in cleaning or avoiding dirt. *Dirt offends against order*.
Eliminating it is not a negative movement, but a positive effort to
organise the environment."

The same can basically be applied to how we determine our social
environment by distinguishing the "they" against the "us," discursively
including and excluding particular humans from our social accounting.

On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 5:13 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> The rebellious postal service and its acronym. There are endless ways to
> riff on "waste" in TRP's books, but what of its meaning related to
> W.A.S.T.E.?  How does "waste" figure in COL49?
>
> David Morris
>
> On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 4:02 PM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > One of my favorite comments on the subject.
> >
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqpaWUFHdo
> >
> > On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 10:00 AM Laura Kelber <laurakelber at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I've always associated the use of the acronym W.A.S.T.E. in COL49 as
> > > perhaps a double reference to getting "wasted" and to wasted human
> lives,
> > > i.e. to those that are marginalized from the presented mainstream. I
> > never
> > > read it as connected to the waste of consumerist society on an
> > > environmental level - though the opening Tupperware party is a warning
> > > sign. Just curious how/if the novel poses and illuminates environmental
> > > issues (though I see that discard studies covers more than the strictly
> > > environmental).
> > >
> > > Laura
> > >
> > > On Sat, Feb 2, 2019, 11:43 AM Nicole Bennett <nlbennett at gmail.com
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I have this book and, as an English lit. academic interested in
> discard
> > > > studies, use it often in my research. Unfortunately, the author
> > overlooks
> > > > the centrality of waste in books like *The Crying of Lot 49* and
> > > *Gravity's
> > > > Rainbow* (she works mostly on medieval literature). There is some
> > > > interesting stuff on more recent authors (Beckett, Calvino, Eliot
> > > > [obviously]), but I also found the style of the book to be a bit
> > > haphazard
> > > > for my tastes. It's more of an observation of the different ways the
> > > > concept of waste functions across a vast range of literature.
> > Definitely
> > > a
> > > > great reference, though, for those who can afford it. Academic books
> > are
> > > so
> > > > stubbornly and frustratingly pricey.
> > > >
> > > > On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 8:41 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > > > > From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> > > > > Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 9:34 AM
> > > > > Subject:
> > > > > To: Me at G <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9781137394446
> > > > > --
> > > > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > > >
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>