From: gvcarter-AT-purdue.edu
Date: Sun,  7 Dec 2003 13:18:09 -0500
Subject: Re: deleuze - new york - cities



steve,

But this is it!  Staying "novel," staying fresh, staying (as yet) unwritten!  
(I would not, however, go so far to say "immensely" unwritten, though! =)  

Hey, btw, earlier I remember talking w/ you about Derek Bailey's work and that 
seemed to find some kind of connection.  I wondered if you're familiar with the 
work of trombonist Paul Rutherford.  He's got a great mid-70's album called The 
Gentle Harm of the Bourgeoise that I must heartily commend.  Went to Chicago 
this weekend and found a 2002 performance of his w/ song titles "Bottling Up" 
and "Bottle Out" that are just gems.  (Rutherford used to (?)/still (?) 
performs with Bailey on ocassion in a European group called 
Iskra....interesting stuff if you're into quiet linkings that are sometimes 
drown out by the logistics of the auditorium or recording equipment.)  

Anyway, just though I'd  make mention...if you do happen to find Gentle Harm, 
check out 'Elaquest.'  He has another solo work entitled Trombolenium that is 
also worth looking into that contains four selections "Stalf," "Falst," "Falst, 
and "Stlaf," that were recorded in London.  The liner notes for this one reads:

"The final selections go back to the mid-1980's in a very resonante church 
(with some traffic noise) near his home in south-east London.  The only other 
people present were Janis Fenner, who operated the tape recorder, and the 
church caretaker, who wanted to know when he was going to start playing!"

Anyway...

"Where be your gibes now?  Your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment 
that were wont to set the table on a roar?"

geof      


Quoting "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk>:

> geof
> 
> i'm looking forward to the as yet unwritten novel immensely...
> 
> steve
> 
> gvcarter-AT-purdue.edu wrote:
> 
> >L/All,
> >
> >DeLillo's sounds properly large scale, and the characterization of the kind
> of 
> >situationist detournment of the tale as "Daedalus 2000," reminds me of
> Joyce's 
> >investment in the Irish political scene of post-Parnell throughout his
> varied 
> >works.  I daresay that Nicholson Baker's first novel, The Mezzanine, which 
> >chronicles a man's escalator ride from his office to the men's restroom and
> 
> >back (over the course of 100+ pages) interests me, too, for all the 'crowd 
> >events' that you detail w/ respect to DeLillo or the Project Arcades you
> note 
> >w/ respect to Benjamin.  
> >
> >Without even having read the book, one surely has to concede a kind of
> "sleek-
> >ness" in a plot proposal that takes "taking a break" at work in an office 
> >building as grounds for a narrrative, yes?  A post-capitalist novel if there
> 
> >ever was one.  Listen to this blurb by The New York Times:  "A very funny 
> >book...Its 135 pages probably contain more insight into life as we live it 
> >today than anything currently on the best seller list."  
> >
> >I can't even begin to talk about this example without sounding like I'm
> selling 
> >it!  
> >
> >For this, I read of the "Cars as isolating environments" and the many cinema
> 
> >frames one sees from one's window as hitting quite close. There's a matter 
> >of "time" in such an environment that might be explored, perhaps by means of
> 
> >drifts in examples.  The 1995 Ralph Fiennes sci-fi flick Strange Days has an
> 
> >interesting opening sequence of the simultaniety of making business deals on
> a 
> >cell phone, stuffing a burger, and listening to various stations to the 
> >panorama of police horses, santa muggings, and umbrellas hurrying in from
> the 
> >rain.  No doubt: "Space is no longer preceived directly."
> >
> >As fiction writers, DeLillo, Baker, even Joyce present challenges of 
> >aspirations becoming-major, perhaps as Steve suggests, but no less so than 
> >Hegel, perhaps, who continues to sell books no less than the posthumous
> record  
> >sales of Tupac.  As I grab, at random, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, I
> note, 
> >no less than the New York Times blurb a compacted sales pitch:  
> >
> >"It is customary to preface a work with an explanation of the author's aim,
> why 
> >he wrote the book, and the relationship in which he believes it to stand to
> 
> >other earlier or contemporary treatises on the same subject.  In the case of
> 
> >philosophical work, however, such an explanation seems not only superfluous
> 
> >but, in view of the nature of the subject matter, even inappropriate and 
> >misleading."
> >
> >What a hook!  Juxtapose it with Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a 
> >Traveler:
> >
> >"You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a Winter's
> 
> >Night a Traveler.  Relax.  Concentrate.  Dispel every other thought.  Let
> the 
> >world around you fade.  Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the
> next 
> >room.  Tell the others right away, "No, I don't want to watch TV!"  Raise
> your 
> >voice--they won't hear you otherwise--"Im reading!  I don't want to be 
> >disturbed!"   Maybe they haven't heard you, with all that racket; speak
> louder, 
> >yell:  'I'm beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!'  Or if you prefer,
> 
> >don't say anything:  just hope they'll leave you alone."
> >
> >Driving in one's car, looking out, doing philosophy without introductions, 
> >introducing introductions by saying 'leave me alone, i'm reading an 
> >introduction!,' none are misleading.  Such examples are, actually, ON
> COURSE, A 
> >COURSE, OF (a) COURSE.  A coursing of blood, a seduction as Baker's first 
> >footnote in a book comprised almost entirely of them:
> >
> >"I love the constancy of shine on the edges of moving objects.  Even
> propellers 
> >or desk fans will glint steadily in certain places in the grayness of their
> 
> >rotation; the curve of each fan blade picks up the light for an instant on
> its 
> >circuit and then hands it off to its successor."
> >
> >g      
> >
> >        
> >
> >
> >Quoting Lydia Perovich <fauxprophete-AT-hotmail.com>:
> >
> >  
> >
> >>{An incredible quote and surely worth unpacking, Geof. Rats sure can 
> >>deterritorialize.  Steve, I wasn't really going to suggest that deLillo
> does
> >>
> >>the becoming-minor in any way... I was going to say the following [and may
> I
> >>
> >>be forgiven for continuously sliding from "ontological" into "ontic" 
> >>(whink), I'll even say "in a womanly fashion"... I also tried, in a womanly
> 
> >>fashion, to weave various streams of the list discussions in one stream,
> but
> >>
> >>gave up... Threads will have to stay loose.]}
> >>
> >>We all tend to romanticize New York - perhaps Deleuze included.  If you 
> >>remember Saskia Sassen, New York actually has one language, the language of
> 
> >>global finance.  Just like and more so than London and Tokyo, New York (or
> 
> >>what is usually reduced to, Manhattan) contains knots or territories of 
> >>*globality* that from there irradiates across the globe. Multinationals' 
> >>headquarters, mega-banks, stock exchange.  I wonder why this older fantasy
> 
> >>of New York of flaneurs and radical urban consciousness persists in our 
> >>imagination.
> >>
> >>DeLillo's New York 2000 answer to Stephen Daedalus is a young 
> >>multi-billionaire financial 'investor' who on the morning the book begins 
> >>decides to go all the way across town to get a haircut in his father's old
> 
> >>neighbourhood. His white limousine ("the only way to blend in in New York 
> >>City") is a luxurious mobile office connected with the complicated 
> >>digital-human security chain following his every move.  A few members of
> the
> >>
> >>cybertariat come in contact with him, his bodyguard and the driver, and
> then
> >>
> >>there are employees who come to the limo at specific times for business 
> >>meetings - including his physician and his personal theorist. The city is 
> >>jammed because of a series of 'crowd' events: a visit from the President, 
> >>the funeral of a rap mega-star, an alter-globalization anti-poverty protest
> 
> >>during which his limo gets graffiti-ed, pissed on and almost turned up side
> 
> >>down by the masses (the protest also includes many performances with rats:
> 
> >>the juggling of rats, the releasing of rats into restaurants etc.  Insert 
> >>here a footnote to that Deleuze quote on rats that Geof gave). We are 
> >>following him witness all that as well as performing his own daily trading
> 
> >>ritual in millions of dollars with a certain indifference - as if all is 
> >>happening on a screen before his eyes.
> >>
> >>By the end of the day, after he decided to pursue a series of hazardous 
> >>financial and personal security decisions to their very end, he is caught
> up
> >>
> >>(or rather, he gets himself found) by a man who has been planning to kill 
> >>him. It is one of his innumerable ex-employees who have been made redundant
> 
> >>and whom he can't even remember. The book ends with a suspension... he is 
> >>under the gun of his attacker and his personal monitor ('one of those 
> >>technological devices which reproduce your move a split second before you 
> >>register it in your human time - which amounts to: before you even made
> it')
> >>
> >>shows his dead body. But he is seeing this picture for an agonizingly long
> 
> >>amount of time.  The resolution to this dissonance is just not coming.
> >>
> >>****
> >>
> >>What is, asked Walter Benjamin, that turned urban populations capable of 
> >>rising up and establishing the Paris Commune into frenetic shoppers in a 
> >>matter of decades? Is there anything in the ways our cities change that 
> >>wipes out radical consciousness and fosters conformity? Yes oh yes (The 
> >>Project Arcades is now available in English so one of these days we could 
> >>perhaps have a look at that book). Some of it comes from the organization
> of
> >>
> >>space - thoroughfares have replaced public squares and narrow streets, and
> 
> >>have turned people into units of capsuled movement.  The public side of
> life
> >>
> >>is confined to work, after which individuals go to the comfort of the 
> >>'interiors'. Cars are isolating environments and a sort of the private 
> >>interiors on wheels. "The window through which space and the movement 
> >>through it are experienced filters out all but visual sense impressions. 
> >>Space is no longer perceived directly..." (George Banz, Elements of Urban 
> >>Form)
> >>
> >>The spirit of factory has spilt over and overtaken the city at the time of
> 
> >>the Factory stage of capitalism. Visual signals of traffic, spaces fully 
> >>mapped and regulated, a ring here, a barrier there, run here, stay on the 
> >>side there - it all functions as entrails of a complex machine in which 
> >>you're but a bolt. Weird things happen to our ability to narrate and to 
> >>accumulate memories, as well as to commit and to give time... they begin to
> 
> >>disappear in an environment of constant bombardment with ephemeral data. 
> >>Spectacle is perhaps the only thing able to keep the attention, at least
> for
> >>
> >>a while.
> >>
> >>Benjamin had some hopes in democratic potential of post-aura city, and its
> 
> >>means of artistic representation, cinema. It turns out, unfounded.
> >>
> >>"Conversation becomes superficial, convictions a burden. The various 
> >>machines - record player, radio, television - which do away with speech
> even
> >>
> >>among friends have made their appearance just at the right moment. They 
> >>provide models for behaviour and give muteness the illusion that something
> 
> >>is being said.  Despite his ability to think quickly the city-dweller is 
> >>losing the habit of self-expression. [...] City life in its most recent
> phase 
> >>is fostering a shrivelling of the very spirit it once developed in 
> >>opposition to the dull superstition of the countryside..." (Horkheimer, 
> >>Critique of Instrumental Reason, still fresh after all the years.)
> >>
> >>L.
> >>
> >>PS I am really interested in hearing more about this rumour about Deleuze 
> >>and Hegel started by Zizek, so I'll try to avoid further digressions.
> >>
> >>_________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 
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