tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post849540155516236677..comments2024-03-21T06:54:52.136-04:00Comments on Wisdom of the West: Ur-story: The End of Modernity?Jim H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02088100982761595050noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-62177493205775105422009-03-28T13:55:00.000-04:002009-03-28T13:55:00.000-04:00Yes. I missed it. "To Penshurst," "Upon Appleton...Yes. I missed it. "To Penshurst," "Upon Appleton House," "Cooper's Hill," "Windsor Forest," "Tristram Shandy," "Tom Jones," everything Walter Scott ever wrote, everything James Joyce ever wrote, "Mrs. Dalloway," all dated on the same principle. And don't be saying that those works don't rely too heavily on the things they describe. They are all works that rely totally on the things they Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-84968116060070762362009-03-23T22:56:00.000-04:002009-03-23T22:56:00.000-04:00Oooh, so close, Toast. As Maxwell Smart used to s...Oooh, so close, Toast. As Maxwell Smart used to so nasally intone, "missed it by that much."<BR/><BR/>Had there been desktop computers in Howie's up-to-date in Kansas City office building, one can be quite certain Baker would have had him notice them, describe them (yes, in excruciating detail), articulate their function in the skein of his day-to-day life, etc., etc. That he did not just showsJim H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02088100982761595050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-80458964044534779112009-03-23T22:07:00.000-04:002009-03-23T22:07:00.000-04:00Er, there are no desktop computers, the writer's "...Er, there are no desktop computers, the writer's "excruciating attention to detail" notwithstanding? Baker's attention to detail might have been more pleasing to you if he saw into the future? I mean, just following your analytical logic is all. If the "absurd amount of detail" is more "problematic" than the dated objects in the book, that means the dated objects are problematic, and the book'sToasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-68781475732296378862009-03-20T23:29:00.000-04:002009-03-20T23:29:00.000-04:00LML, I wish you would go on and on. Such a pleasur...LML, I wish you would go on and on. Such a pleasure.<BR/><BR/>Thanks so much, Jim. It was really enjoyable. <BR/><BR/>By way of reciprocation...Last month I heard the Cinematic Orchestra play their score to the movie, "Man With the Movie Camera." I don't know if they've made it to Atlanta yet, but they have a CD, and I do recommend it. The whole thing is gorgeous but the final song is called TimeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-427564925465598192009-03-20T15:13:00.000-04:002009-03-20T15:13:00.000-04:00"A fair trajectory of modernism? From realism to c..."A fair trajectory of modernism? From realism to consciousness to autism, is that the natural progression?" <BR/><BR/>One strand of modernism, absolutely. Baker definitely seems terminal to me, an extension of the logic of the most well-known parts of Ulysses, and I'd agree, if this is what you're suggesting, that Baker's is a diminished modernism compared with Joyce's. But whose isn't? <BR/><BR/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-66639811876391314872009-03-19T19:40:00.000-04:002009-03-19T19:40:00.000-04:00Quixote disillusioned us from the great and noble ...Quixote disillusioned us from the great and noble Romance, introduced us to the reality of life. Bovary seduced us to the quotidian life. L. Bloom stumbled through an ordinary day. Howie glided through a fairly jejune moment.<BR/><BR/>A fair trajectory of modernism? From realism to consciousness to autism, is that the natural progression? Thus, the question in my title: Does <I>The Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-92105223575176100562009-03-19T13:44:00.000-04:002009-03-19T13:44:00.000-04:00Interesting. Mightn't you squish Millhauser and hi...Interesting. Mightn't you squish Millhauser and his 1,001 department store tableaux in there, wherein the dream is the materialism? Or is that Mercantile realism, an entirely other beast?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-35165135750164496582009-03-19T13:29:00.000-04:002009-03-19T13:29:00.000-04:00"why should I be interested, other than the artifa..."why should I be interested, other than the artifactual value of the descriptions." <BR/><BR/>Not to pile on, Jim H., but I've read this book numerous times and like it quite a bit. Steven and Richard and Dan are correct, in my opinion. Not only are the details the point in The Mezzanine, but they absolutely rise above artifactual value. <BR/><BR/>The absurd proliferation of matter wrought by Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-46752517366686489792009-03-18T18:46:00.000-04:002009-03-18T18:46:00.000-04:00"There is a solipsistic, almost autistic, quality ..."There is a solipsistic, almost autistic, quality to it."<BR/><BR/>Indeed. Autistic realism. It's precisely the opposite of "hysterial realism" and a mode only Baker and a few precursors (one of which I think might be Alain Robbe-Grillet) have really explored.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-79490032133945592342009-03-18T13:59:00.000-04:002009-03-18T13:59:00.000-04:00S & R,I don't necessarily disagree with yo...S & R,<BR/><BR/>I don't necessarily disagree with your feeling, to wit: I "missed the boat on" Mezzanine. It wouldn't be the first time.<BR/><BR/>Certainly, Mezzanine is a Ulyssian moment. Howie is Bloom writ small. A somewhat static portrait of an ordinary office drone riding up the escalator after lunch break: cf.: Nude (Awareness) Ascending an Escalator.<BR/><BR/>My Jim H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02088100982761595050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-87140172831593750992009-03-18T10:32:00.000-04:002009-03-18T10:32:00.000-04:00"You say: "Isn't it possible that Baker is making ..."You say: "Isn't it possible that Baker is making an important point about what fineness the grain of consciousness can really resolve to, despite our (The West's)regrettably drugged, pressurized, grave-rushing approach to existence?" I think it's not only possible, it's a plausible reading. But, still I come back to the same question: to what end?"<BR/><BR/>That <I>is</I> the end. And the Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08014014605639738887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-47959047082422842372009-03-18T04:13:00.000-04:002009-03-18T04:13:00.000-04:00"Some people see the world in a grain of sand, oth..."Some people see the world in a grain of sand, others like to walk on the beach."<BR/><BR/>I'd wear that on a t-shirt, yes.A. Ominoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13807400943709124236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-22011671491422706012009-03-17T21:16:00.000-04:002009-03-17T21:16:00.000-04:00Steven,I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Su...Steven,<BR/><BR/>I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Such are always welcome here. <BR/><BR/>'Mezzanine' puzzled me. Ambivalented me, even. I had hoped to show how it did not conform to the conventional norms of the novel—and, in this respect, disappointed—and yet seemed to hint at something altogether new. The problem for me was not really 'getting' the hint.<BR/><BR/>I do feel there isJim H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02088100982761595050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-19538799531767389272009-03-17T18:19:00.000-04:002009-03-17T18:19:00.000-04:00PS Just to clarify: not being "stroppy" here... ju...PS Just to clarify: not being "stroppy" here... just saucy...A. Ominoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13807400943709124236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-15102107510827947422009-03-17T18:14:00.000-04:002009-03-17T18:14:00.000-04:00Good Gawd, did I just refer to him as "Nicholson"?...Good Gawd, did I just refer to him as "Nicholson"? Laugh! It's okay to "Marty" Amis, but...A. Ominoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13807400943709124236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4191084196584249823.post-36424512020576957832009-03-17T18:13:00.000-04:002009-03-17T18:13:00.000-04:00"More problematic is the overwhelming, absurd amou..."More problematic is the overwhelming, absurd amount of detail Baker brings in."<BR/><BR/>Jim, the detail is the point. I don't remember The Mezzanine well enough to defend it here, but Room Temperature, which was also anal-on-a-nanoscale in its approach to the *apparently* banal (see what Baker did with the word "lumber" once and you'll see what he's getting at) was lovely, witty and fresh.<BR/>A. Ominoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13807400943709124236noreply@blogger.com