Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 19:53:47 +0100 From: "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk> Subject: Re: Who is thomas pynchon and what is he doing with my life? This is a multi-part message in MIME format. Eric/all It makes sense, I suppose, that no eqivilant figure to Anthony Powell exists in the USA probably more sensible to look at hollywood represenations anyway. It seemed possible that you might know of a similar ambitious project to Powell's - it used to be said amoungst the literati in the UK that American novelists were more ambitious and tended to attempt to write the great american novel, whilst european novelists were more constrained by the social. Of course A.Powell's project was by no means unique at the time - there seems to have been a general attempt at re-understanding british culture as a result of the radical changes that took place in the 30/40/50s. Only now that the period we are responding to is based on the more reactionary models that derive from the Thatcherist (neo-liberal) period is it possible to imagine the period differently. That is to suggest that we know longer face the question of radical change basing it on a response to an unrecoverable socialist moment but rather a critique of the decayed and unworkable Thatcherite moment. Actually this latter point is why radical change is once again on the agenda - it was suggested to me recently that even within the more problematic constraints of the much more conservative society you live in, in the USA -that the ownership of the social imaginary by these newer reactionary doctrines being the point of response, rather than those that were previously structured against some memory of the 'new-deal' have not yet surfaced in the way that they are in the European countries. (Rather laughably it is being suggested that the French/German economic problems can be resolved by a turn to 'thatcherism'...) Thanks for the direction on the literature issue I'll investigate further - regards steve Eric wrote: > Steve, > > > > I remember a decade back, that one-time Master of the Universe, Tom > Wolfe, railed against the current writing establishment for failing to > do precisely that. It is interesting that Tom, despite his WOW-POW pop > writing style and dandified clothing, is just another old Tory like > Anthony Powell. Tom is an unreconstructed neo-conservative Reaganite > and Tony was in thick with Maggie Thatcher, wasn’t he? After Zola, why > is such concern with social realism condemned to a far-right > perspective? (as though writing, like painting, should only engage in > representation) or is it just the case that true realism today is what > shows up on television? Just as photography complicated things for > painters, so tv does the same thing for writers? > > > > By the way, Tom Wolfe wrote an article a few years ago which is every > bit as deterministic as anon’s argument and for similar reasons. The > neuroscience and genetics was showing it was determination all the way > down. > > > > Like Milton with Satan, I sometimes think Powell wrote against > himself. For all his faults, Wilderpool becomes at the end a larger > than life character who is richer than the snobs he is surrounded by. > > > > One of the things I’ve always liked about ADTTMOT is the role chance > and coincidence play within it. One critic has explained this was > simply because the social life of London at that time period was > really that insular. If we run around in such tight circles, things > like that are simply bound to happen. In spite of Paul Auster’s > similar shared love for such things, America is different. It has a > vaster and somewhat more decentralized hierarchy and it is much easier > for people here to get lost. > > > > That said, I have recently read two books I think would qualify as > great contemporary realist accounts despite all their pomo tics – > Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite > Jest. Both of these do a pretty good job of expressing the way our > fragile lives are being lived right now. > > > > I also think for some strange region, the South has pride of place > when it comes to US writers. Perhaps that is because, like Great > Britain, they tend to value their eccentrics more there. I think, > however, that Faulkner, Welty, O’Connor, McCullers and more recent > Southern writers have produced a notable canon. Why is it that the > heart of America seems to beat more quickly when it is measured > through the pulse of Southern Gothic? > > > > eric > > > > > --- > Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.524 / Virus Database: 321 - Release Date: 10/6/2003 > > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.524 / Virus Database: 321 - Release Date: 10/6/2003 >
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