Hi Alison,
yes i agree, the dichotomy of 'the left versus the right' doesn't work well
when considering the politics of poetry. perhaps, a more appropriate way of
thinking about the 'politics of complex thought' in relation to poetry is
through the Deleuzian concepts of the molecular and molar. Recently a
number of reviews of Australia's 'emergent poetries' have condemned the
poetry for being too "microcosmic" and thus finds 'new' oz poetry
apolitical. The problem with such a perspectives is that these readings do
not seek the 'politics of complex thought' but the orthodox politics, the
'molar politics'. This produces a coming to poetry with what Luce Irigaray
describes as a ready-made grid, and in turn does not create the space for
Adorno's 'immanent criticism'. However, most problematic is that in
ignoring the politics of complex thought the circulation of a perception is
produced and without being questioned such a position becomes concretised.
And so... I think that the thinking through and the articulation of a
'politics of complex thought' is particularly crucial at this particular
moment in time/space. I don't claim to have the answers, but in creating
these spaces for discussion 'poetryetc' can perhaps enact/jam the
ready-made-grids.
regards
deb
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 10:09 AM
Subject: Re: politics of complex thought
> Hi Deb
>
> >doesn't poetry - written by those who align themselves with the left -
arise
> >from the politics of complex thought?
>
> Well, those from the right can be complex also. Said describes Swift as
> a Tory anarchist... and I've seen some very simple-minded agitprop from
> the Left.
>
> Obviously the binaries of right and left don't work very well when
> applied to poetry. it shrugs them off. I often think in connection with
> this of Musil's insistence that he was an apolitical writer. From our
> perspective, he often looks political...but he thought of his apoliticism
> as a political stance which was inherently _literary_.
>
> Cheers
>
> Alison
>
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