tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5476636.post113150642692274898..comments2023-06-23T02:20:25.810-07:00Comments on Harlequin Knights: Josephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12350813388072485198noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5476636.post-1131736983865927152005-11-11T11:23:00.000-08:002005-11-11T11:23:00.000-08:00I should probably have been using the word "analog...I should probably have been using the word "analogy" instead of "allegory" here; there's definitely slippage happening. Hmmm. . . We should really discuss these things over a drink (to avoid leaving embarassing records)Stanley Bishop Burhanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04844082750285483221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5476636.post-1131557255256621722005-11-09T09:27:00.000-08:002005-11-09T09:27:00.000-08:00You definitely demonstrate some kinks in my reason...You definitely demonstrate some kinks in my reasoning. As for the question of what kind of politics are allegorized in different leftist experimental texts, I would say generally a Marxist politics in which it is assumed that the ideal Marxist future transcends description (and in fact attempts at describing it are antithetical to its development), and therefore the poet allegorizes this undescribable and not-yet-fully-conceivable future by producing language objects which either <BR/><BR/>1) avoid description<BR/><BR/>or <BR/><BR/>2) describe minute particulars but avoid building these up into scenes <BR/><BR/>Of course, the attack is not only on description; the poet also tries to reduce the conceptual materials of language into a highly active potential state, so that qualities such as argument and reasoning are replaced by the potential for argument and reasoning. These raw materials of conceptualization that are produced are allegorically understood to be the raw materials from which a not-yet-conceivable future might arise.<BR/><BR/>This is complicated by the fact that, according to Bruce Andrews, "the most important thing in writing is not to create an allegory," and yet I think he in fact does create an allegory in many of his texts, of the type I just described.<BR/><BR/>I agree that Rodchenko and El Lissitzky did great political art, in their case because they brought such a brilliant sense of design to it. I guess design, along with humor, is another element that saves art of this type.Stanley Bishop Burhanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04844082750285483221noreply@blogger.com