So-called "Magical realism"
Steve Murgaski
It's not what she wants to read. I knew that, but thought I'd come up
with a rationale so tight that she couldn't reasonably refuse it.
This weekend was spent reading novels, and history, and novels about
history, and Heinlein's political/scifi. I didn't eat much, and
talked as little as possible. It was supposed to be a weekend for
working on my clever essay, but I feel no guilt for neglecting it. If
they'd let me write what I want to...
So I found this sentence in Carlos Ruiz Zafon's
The_Shadow_of_the_Wind.
"Julian spoke with the clear, unequivocal lucidity of madmen who have
escaped the hypocrisy of having to abide by a reality that makes no
sense."
I noticed that Tom Holt must be quite familiar with Chomsky. For one
thing, Holt used the phrase "Beyond the dreams of avarice" in his
The_Portable_Door novel. Portable Door is like magical realism. Like
the Latin American novels, only very British. And Shadow of the Wind
is about war, and it's magical-realism-ish too. As though our
psychology really does sometimes decide that it would be hypocrisy to
pretend that our reality makes sense. The Latin Americans have lots
of it, but it seems to be spreading.
So Franco betrayed the Spanish anarchists, and the Bolshiviks betrayed
the Russian communists, and the American government goes on betraying
the American dream. I am expected to churn out essays which betray
this obvious conclusion. But I see it makes sense. Machiavelli
points out that given the choice between siding with the nice people
or siding with the psychopaths, you're safer with the psychopaths
every time. Even if they're outnumbered a hundred to one, they have
no qualms about stabbing a hundred nice people in the back, one after
another.
My prof has sided with the psychopaths, and she's well aware of it. I
have some reason to guess that she sleeps badly, but that's little
consolation.
All that sounds crazy, doesn't it? Mad ravings.
buk...@my-deja.com
> If they'd let me write what I want to...
Write what you want and post it here.
> So I found this sentence in Carlos Ruiz Zafon's
> The_Shadow_of_the_Wind.
> "Julian spoke with the clear, unequivocal lucidity of madmen who have
> escaped the hypocrisy of having to abide by a reality that makes no
> sense."
Philip K. Dick:
Reality is what is still there even after you stop believing in it.
Death. Taxes. Jerks and Depressed Chicks. Inflation.
Did you read the thing that Layo posted where she expects rappers to
begin bragging about rape and pedophilia any year now? Well since you
just had one American city destroyed by a storm, the idea of a mushroom
cloud over another one isn't quite so unthinkable, is it? Everybody
knows it would only be on the front page of the papers for about a
month.
Something else to look forward to.
> As though our
> psychology really does sometimes decide that it would be hypocrisy to
> pretend that our reality makes sense. The Latin Americans have lots
> of it, but it seems to be spreading.
Blame Nietzsche. To be subjective is to be human. I like William James'
analysis. All scientific reasoning is based upon simplified models but
they are so powerful we are obsessed with them. Any time you look real
closely at the real world it is hopelessly complicated. And still we
press on hopefully which in a sense is deluded to the max but it works
and it pays. Soon we are going to have flying cars!
> So Franco betrayed the Spanish anarchists, and the Bolshiviks betrayed
> the Russian communists, and the American government goes on betraying
> the American dream. I am expected to churn out essays which betray
> this obvious conclusion. But I see it makes sense. Machiavelli
> points out that given the choice between siding with the nice people
> or siding with the psychopaths, you're safer with the psychopaths
> every time. Even if they're outnumbered a hundred to one, they have
> no qualms about stabbing a hundred nice people in the back, one after
> another.
Well the psychopath ruler gets a lot of press but he is the exception.
Mach. said it is better to be feared than loved, yes. But he also said
it is better still to be feared and loved. You just have to realize
when you have to be realistic.
Reality. There it is again. The psychopaths who will stab a hundred
nice people in the back are outnumbered a lot more than a hundred to
one, in the first place. And it is pretty difficult to find a hundred
of these nice people in the second.
But don't let us discourage your idealism. How is the weather up there?
It is going to be 70 here today.
B.
St-Jennifer-of-the-Knife
"Philip K. Dick:
Reality is what is still there even after you stop believing in it."
This is my test criterion too. When I was a teenager, I did not believe
in female orgasm. I thought it was a literary device. After all, I had
masturbated for years without reaching anything like climax. Then one
night when I was about 16 I did have an orgasm, and I thought I was
dying or something, it was so intense and unexpected. It was a real
thing I had never believed in.
My enlightenment of a few days ago was just like that. I hadn't
believed in such things. I dismissed it all as an exaggeration of
things I'd already felt. But what I experienced was different -- and a
lifetime of doubts and outright disbelief had no effect on it at all.
Now I feel inclined to accept that there are wonderful things in the
world that I have not experienced. It's a hopeful feeling, full of
possibilities.
buk...@my-deja.com
> Now I feel inclined to accept that there are wonderful things in the
> world that I have not experienced. It's a hopeful feeling, full of
> possibilities.
You definitely want to hold on to that in case Eris moves in with a
smack addict guitar player. Could keep you from going off the bridge.
B.
St-Jennifer-of-the-Knife
http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/eris.JPG
My daughters are holy, if they do fall for smack addict guitar players
I'm sure they'll know how to handle it.
buk...@my-deja.com
> http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/Ariadne.JPG
>
> http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/eris.JPG
Now see here that is exactly the type .JPG file I need to keep away
from Sarah Not. They cause the rabid frothing at the mouth.
B.
David O'Bedlam
> St-Jennifer-of-the-Knife wrote:
>
> > http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/Ariadne.JPG
> >
> > http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/eris.JPG
Cute kids, Jen. And alert.
> Now see here that is exactly the type .JPG file I need to keep away
> from Sarah Not. They cause the rabid frothing at the mouth.
Why? Is your heredity as fucked up as mine?
D.
--
"Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(C) 2006 by 'TheDavid^TM' | David, P.O. Box 21403, Louisville, KY 40221
buk...@my-deja.com
> > St-Jennifer-of-the-Knife wrote:
> >
> > > http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/Ariadne.JPG
> > >
> > > http://www.geocities.com/mlideen/eris.JPG
>
> Cute kids, Jen. And alert.
oh yeah that is actually what I meant. Lovely children. Really I am
envious.
B.
Steve Murgaski
<buk...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1137421740.2...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Steve Murgaski wrote:
>
>> If they'd let me write what I want to...
>
> Write what you want and post it here.
Yes okay. Still I'm sad because I thought I'd worked out a compromise
where I write half-way honest stuff and still get the cheese. Then
all you pro-education people would've been proud of me.
>> As though our
>> psychology really does sometimes decide that it would be hypocrisy
>> to
>> pretend that our reality makes sense. The Latin Americans have
>> lots
>> of it, but it seems to be spreading.
>
> Blame Nietzsche. To be subjective is to be human. I like William
> James'
> analysis. All scientific reasoning is based upon simplified models
> but
> they are so powerful we are obsessed with them. Any time you look
> real
> closely at the real world it is hopelessly complicated. And still we
> press on hopefully which in a sense is deluded to the max but it
> works
That's a very unsinister interpretation. "Everyone's really trying,
but it's just toooooo complicated". Uh-huh.
I think my point awhile back about how you can get an adoring person
to wash dishes if you create the right paradigm can be generalized a
long way.
But lets talk in stories. There's a popular story about history in
'the west': it says that once upon a time, we lived under very
powerful monarchs. The kings basically had complete power, so
whatever they said went. But then there was magna carta, and a civil
war in England, and a revolution in America, and a revolution in
France... and we moved towards something called "The rule of law".
Checks and balances. Laws made by democratically-appointed
representatives. The slow death of European empires. Freedom and
human rights.
Where we supposedly are now is the perspective you sited above.
Everyone's *trying* to make it all work out, but sometimes we fail.
Sometimes we accidentally support regimes that commit mass murder and
mass terrorism. Sometimes we accidentally support them for 40 or 50
years, by accidentally sending them lots of tanks and guns and
airplanes, in exchange for guarantees of repayment, and then
accidentally collect payment for all those weapons, plus interest,
from the workers who survive the regime's behaviors. It's sort of
like a big accounting mistake. If only we could've known beforehand
that those tanks and machineguns would be used for killing people. If
only there were some *practical* way to forgive those massive debts.
> Soon we are going to have flying cars!
I'll sing on the deserted streets when it happens. You can have an
.avi
>> So Franco betrayed the Spanish anarchists, and the Bolshiviks
>> betrayed
>> the Russian communists, and the American government goes on
>> betraying
>> the American dream. I am expected to churn out essays which betray
>> this obvious conclusion. But I see it makes sense. Machiavelli
>> points out that given the choice between siding with the nice
>> people
>> or siding with the psychopaths, you're safer with the psychopaths
>> every time. Even if they're outnumbered a hundred to one, they
>> have
>> no qualms about stabbing a hundred nice people in the back, one
>> after
>> another.
>
> Well the psychopath ruler gets a lot of press but he is the
> exception.
> Mach. said it is better to be feared than loved, yes. But he also
> said
> it is better still to be feared and loved. You just have to realize
> when you have to be realistic.
I know he said that. But the psychopaths have made progress since
then. Machiavelli was explaining how some regional prince could stay
in power. He wasn't writing a textbook for how princes could stay in
power while extracting every drop of production out of their countries
for export, at cheap prices. That's a little different.
> Reality. There it is again. The psychopaths who will stab a hundred
> nice people in the back are outnumbered a lot more than a hundred to
> one, in the first place. And it is pretty difficult to find a
> hundred
> of these nice people in the second.
That's why they invented machineguns. Because stabbing got so
tiresome, after awhile. Messy, too. You used to get blood all over
your clothes... it really sucked.
But the numbers aren't really important. What matters is the
discourse/paradigm you invent. Anyone can be a psychopath in a noble
cause.
> But don't let us discourage your idealism.
?
> It is going to be 70 here today.
We're getting wild weather fluctuations. Last week it was warm, and
pouring rain. This week it's suddenly very cold.
Sometimes I worry about how the flying cars are going to manage, what
with all these hurricanes and such. It makes me wonder if bottled
water might be a better investment.
Anton Vredegoor
> My enlightenment of a few days ago was just like that. I hadn't
> believed in such things. I dismissed it all as an exaggeration of
> things I'd already felt. But what I experienced was different -- and a
> lifetime of doubts and outright disbelief had no effect on it at all.
A few days ago I was having extremely vivid and lucid dreams. I was
socializing intimately with people I can't remember having met and
still I had the feeling of being very close to them and having known
them for a long time. At some time I was with a girl in a room and I
noticed two people rollerscating outside. I said to the girl in the
room "I think you know this guy, he looks very familiar to me". The
girl (I don't know who she was, but I knew her very well) immediately
went almost crazy, pounding on the window to get the attention of the
person outside as if she had finally found her long lost soulmate.
Then the scenery changed and I was sitting on a park bench with an
empty wine glass (clean, there had not yet been wine in it) in my hand,
and while I was peering into it and feeling the delicate stem of the
glass a strange gathering was taking place before my eyes.
First I noticed a person dragging some things behind him and let
himself be pulled by a series of high flying kites in front of him.
Next there was a person in a kind of flying rubberboat, like a
hovercraft, but flying higher. Then a friend of mine (from real life,
someone I actually know) suddenly appeared and asked me if I knew where
the wine was. In fact I did know where it was, actually I was the one
who brought the wine to the gathering. At that moment the two
rollerscaters appeared, and also the girl from the room, and more and
more people started to arrive.
I felt like I was some kind of billionaire who until then just had
forgotten who he was and where he had put all the things he had access
to. Like I could just 'remember' where I had put that bag with a
million dollars in it. Or that large clump of gold under my bed. All
kinds of strange ideas came up in my head and I felt connected in a way
I never had experienced before.
There was I kind of feeling that if things would evolve from there just
a little bit more I could call anything in the universe that was known
to me and it would spontanously come.
But the strangest thing was that I knew with absolute certainty how to
'grab' things in this way that I never knew the existence of.
I got so exhilarated by this gathering that unfortunately I awoke at
that same moment.
The next night I dreamt about flying by just jumping out of open
windows and flapping my 'wings'. About landing on top of buildings and
visiting strange places that way, places that hadn't been vistited for
decades, because noone could enter there anymore, except from the air.
> Now I feel inclined to accept that there are wonderful things in the
> world that I have not experienced. It's a hopeful feeling, full of
> possibilities.
Yeah, I could get used too to such dreams. Maybe I'm the kind of person
that gets enlightened while dreaming and just forgets anything about it
when awake and only now and then I remember bits and pieces after I'm
woken up accidentally by something in the real world.
Anyway, my good luck seems to be fading, tonight I just had some people
trying to potty train me to the act of dying. Like making me go through
the experience a few times in order to make me feel comfortable with
the event. Meanwhile they where making remarks to comfort me and were
performing operations on my dead body, including some dentistry by
cutting my jaw open and pulling some teeth. Sure beats local
anesthesia.
Anton