Selected Letters from Readers
| September 19, 2013 | Posted by Webmaster under Volume 09, Number 1, September 1998 |
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The following responses were submitted by PMC readers using regular e-mail or the PMC Reader’s Report form. Not all letters received are published, and published letters may have been edited.
Copyright (c) 1998 by the authors, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that the editors are notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the authors and the notification of the publisher, the Johns Hopkins University Press.
Reader’s Report on Simon Chesterman, “Ordering the New World: Violence and its Re/Presentation in the Gulf War and Beyond” (PMC 8.3)
In Simon Chesterman’s article, Ordering the New World…, I couldn’t help but have memories in the back of my mind come back to me. During the Gulf War, about a third of my unit was posted to ships to provide air defence to ships because the dingnies in the Canadian Navy are outdated and could not provide their own air defense at that Tea Social in the gulf, so my army unit was given the task. I truly believe the reason for Canada to participate in the war, at least in part, was that it didn’t want t o miss the comming out ball of the ’90s and feel left out by its more influencial neighbors–another example of the keeping up with Jonses Syndrom. The event that followed was nothing less than absurd.
I remember clearly the video cameras with their news crews in the hangar waiting for the soldiers to get off of the bus returning from ‘active’ duty in the gulf. I watched the wonderful spectacle that followed, almost wanting to take part in the produ ction myself. As the soldiers got off the bus and were interviewed one by one it seemed like they were talking a language I could not understand, but everyone around me, including my parents, could which left me a little baffled looking back in retrospec t. My generation, the tv generation that is, have intuitively developed the skill of being amateur spin doctors knowing exactly what the press wants to hear and happilly obligeing–for one must never speak the truth because people prefer to be conforted and lied to, it is just easier to accept.
My personal interactions with these returning people was much different that what was seen on the tube of course. I mostly heard stories of shopping trips and the difficulty of finding alcohol in the arab country of Bahrain. It goes without saying tha t when they had a Scud alert they were legitametly scared, but looking back there was no reason to be frightened they were further from the pesty Scuds than I was from the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe,Japan in 1995.These war vetrans, as they are calle d, spent all their time safely in the rear ranks and never exposed to any real threat from the so called enemy. War has become savy. The news sets have become made for tv movie sets.
We take a reletively small event at its origin, then with a little help from the politicians with the press(always looking to increase their ratings) with a crowd looking for spectacle, we are able to produce great events out of non-events. Like the p hotographs of the Crimean War taken by Roger Fenton which have no nobody(no-bodies) in them we in the late 20th century have also been able to produce a war without any ‘real’casualties, or at least ones that to matter to us anyway.
These comments are from: Rene Bouchard
reneb@hotmail.com
PMC Reader’s Report on Nicky Marsh, “‘Note on My Writing’: Poetics as Exegesis” (PMC 8.3)
Nicky Marsh beautifully puts her finger on what needs to be done now that language poetry is twenty years old: actual reading of specific texts and differentiation of individual poets. Her readings of Scalapino and Howe are really excellent. I hope many people read this review!
These comments are from: Marjorie Perloff
MPerloff@earthlink.net
PMC Reader’s Report on Nicky Marsh, “‘Note on My Writing’: Poetics as Exegesis” (PMC 8.3)
More & more, I find reviews, especially reviews on so-called L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E poetry to be far more interesting, informative and entertaining than the poems themselves.
These comments are from: Lenny DellaRocca
dellarocca@earthlink.net
PMC Reader’s Report on Nicky Marsh, “‘Note on My Writing’: Poetics as Exegesis” (PMC 8.3)
A lucid, engaging discussion about two of the best language poets. Although most of my work is more traditionally narrative in form, I have long admired Howe’s work. This review is a delight to find online.
These comments are from: Linda Lee Harper
lleeharper@aol.com
PMC Reader’s Report on Scott DeShong, “Sylvia Plath, Emmanuel Levinas, and the Aesthetics of Pathos” (PMC 8.3)
I had had “Morning Song”, “Tulips” read to me in high school by a very important teacher. Hence, when I became aware of the plathian myth, doing the plathian thing, reading, the bigraphys’s, and particualry Birthday letter, I was struch by my inabilit y to like anything else, other than those poems. It is not that they have an amazing quality or perfection, as many critics say, but rather that capability to feel, or a particular quality of what you call pathis. I was amazed becuase you reflected on the se two poems. Of particular note, I hope you respond to this point, is the use of “And” in Plaths Poetry (sorry about formate..oops). And is always used when Plath says exactly how she feels This to me implies in every sense her pathos. Plath , for example says “and my heart…(in tulips) In morning song, she says (and now you try your handful of notes, their vowles like balloons) I know i have not busted any feats of great knowledge, but I have never heard anyboy talk about his point, I hope it is of some use… it was fantastic article.
These comments are from: Daniel Groenewald
danymail@altavista.ne
Scott DeShong replies:
Thanks for your response to my article, and sorry for the long delay in replying to you; I haven’t been around this summer (and won’t be much for the rest of it, either). I understand your appreciation for Plath’s poems, although I must admit that I hadn’t considered her use of “and.” Before coming to terms with this usage, I’d have to study a number of poets to articulate comparisons between variations in their usage of the word. Perhaps what you’re observing has to do with a rhythmic or metric placement of the word by Plath, which helps her acheive a particular tone of voice that, as you read her, embodies pathos. Thanks again, with best wishes,
Scott DeShong
PMC Reader’s Report on Adrian Miles, “Singin in the Rain: A Hypertextual Reading” (PMC 8.2)
This is a fascinating article. I want to point out one factor I didn’t see mentioned, at least in language I am familiar with–what the hell does diegetic mean anyway?–that those who create products, such as books or movies have always one major obsta cle to overcome in order to garner the audience’s hypnotic engagement (and thus engender “catharsis”). This factor is “believability”, or, at least, the suspension of disbelief. The frame, or “film-in-itself” is merely a narrative method to achieve, in th is case, a rather cozy, insulated environment for the story-telling. The writers have merely set up what they perhaps feared to be a sophisticated audience’s dismissal of smarm. The truest “reading” of any text, I think, has become one which deconstructs the commercial aim–target audience/present future venues, production cost, revenue prospects, etc.–of an commercial endeavor. Having said this, the article is excellent, and has given more “food for thawt” than just about anything I’ve read in the crit ique genre. Thanks!
These comments are from: johnny lite
lite@mailexcite.com