Week 6 10.11.09

I’m not very good at reading poetry. I have to speak it. Howl was a pleasure to recite. It has a very specific tempo. This tempo seems to bring a joy to what, when read, appears as a torrent of distasteful actions and events. Interestingly I really enjoyed this poem yet some might say it describes a horror far worse than that described in the article about Las Vegas by Tom Wolfe that we read last week- which I didn’t enjoy. I have a little background knowledge of the context of the poem and readily admit that I was looking forward to reading it; that probably helped a little. I recently read Jack Kerouac’s Dharma bums and it has probably been one of the most influential books I have ever read, it was just so easy to relate to a frustrated generation looking for fulfilment elsewhere that the society forced upon them, hell. Who isn’t? The poem captured the spirit of the period where physical acts were viewed as ultimate human freedom. The poem is a celebration of human encounter, of food, of sex, of drink; of reality.

I’m a little dubious about the link to Archigram. Is it that the work of Archigram is just another commentary on time and place? Did they believe in this stuff as ideal or inevitable? Was it positive or negative? For me Archigram is a group of gifted illustrators (but then I know very little about them) whereas Ginsberg and the beat generation represent something raw with more spirit and energy.

Week 5 05.11.09

Not having been to Las Vegas, I tried to read this piece with an open mind. Tom Wolfe quite clearly finds the place to be nothing but odious. This is evident in his descriptive language. There can be nothing attractive in pissed nobodies rambling nonsense suffering from toxic schizophrenia, piped muzak , being trapped in a car where the radio will not turn off and being surrounded by exposed butt cracks of pregnant women and aging ‘babes’. Not to mention phlegmy old men with oatmeal skin.
The image created by this writing is that of an exploitative machine aimed at the intellectually inferior. Wolfe describes a never ending drone fuelled by an infinite number of generic, interchangeable and replaceable characters. It’s worse than the lives they are trying to escape. It’s pleasure without a cause.

Hedonism and indulgence are far more palatable when linked to some kind of agenda such as search for enlightenment or rebellion in fact pleasure when coupled with cause has a certain glamour.

Las Vegas used to have glamour in spades. It was there once. Anyone who has seen Ocean’s eleven (the real Ocean’s eleven not the less than mediocre remake with George Clooney and Julia Roberts in it) can see that Las Vegas had once been fresh and pioneering and dangerous and exciting and edgy. It seems that today it has more in common with an aging British seaside town, tragic and slightly sinister in its trashiness; distinctively for the proles. It has crossed over the fine line between glamour and vulgarity and it did so a long time ago.

As always Tom Wolfe manages to veil his criticism in a blithe satirical way which results in a vivid read but ultimately in the realisation that it is a narrative you cannot trust. I will not let this essay form my basis for the judgment of the city but I must say that it hasn’t encouraged exactly cultivated any glimmer of affection or interest I might have had in the place. It just made me feel dirty.

Week 4 01.11.09

It seems that like I many people found Henri Lefebvre's 'The Production of Space' challenging. To be quite frank I’m just not sure that I got it.

I did however very much enjoy the discussion it lead to despite feeling somewhat inferior to the source material.

Theory was discussed in this workshop as a seeking of truth. I thought that this was a most thought provoking phrase. I drew a doodle (see above).

My first problem with this phrase is that I find it difficult to accept there being one truth. I find it quite plausible to believe in the possibility of their being many truths surviving simultaneously without one being superior to or more correct than the other.

Secondly, assuming that there is a singular truth- how can anyone recognise that it is the one truth? How can anyone judge this? To live a life trying to find this one truth appears foolhardy to me. Striving for an impossible and unworthy goal will not lead to happiness.

I believe that because of this strange desire to pursue the truth that people construct theory in order to try and access the truth. From my experience theory (and concepts) do not fit well within a list of categories and descriptions as life is far more akin to amorphous forms blending into one another with both shared and dissimilar characteristics and aspects than a filing cabinet type organisational system.

Then comes the individual in relation to both the truth and the constructed theory. People like to align themselves within this arrangement either in groups such as is seen in religion or as individuals. We find this comforting, this is human and it ok. Each person is never aligned perfectly with any one concept as the concepts are changing and amorphous therefore we all enjoy a unique and changing relationship with theory at different times of the day and at different times of our life. I celebrate this.

Scott’s statement the having a concept is important also sat uncomfortably with me. As one who does not recognise a need for a universal truth I find it hard to be attached to a single concept. I find theory and concept fascinating and useful on a descriptive level but am unsure as to what purpose it ultimately serves as I have sneaking suspicion that theorising is ultimately a self indulgent pursuit.