David Foster Wallace spoke in an interview with Ostap Karmodi (recently translated from the Russian) of the “moral obligation … to develop compassion and mercy and empathy” through writing that would counter “a very aggressive capitalism and consumerism” that is swamping the moral attitude of America.
He also noted that writers in America “are much more on the cultural margins than they used to be, and that’s very exciting in terms of freedom and ability to experiment.”
Two interesting things come together here: 1) the prophetic impulse to speak of the need for compassion and empathy under stifling social conditons, and 2) space on the margins of those conditions to speak out in new untried ways for those civic values to be reinstated at the heart of society.
I say prophetic impulse because nothing less will do. In a world where corporations act as persons and perform social acts of goodwill so as to (falsely) appear to be upholding the moral and ethical heart of the people, anything less than an absurd voice calling for a vision of the world where it is not possible for these values to be aped cannot be good enough.
Equally, when the normative prophetic mode of confrontation with power – in protest and word – is too easily maligned and dismissed or even co-opted by the operations of corporate media, nothing less than a prophetic imagination can provide the people with startling and disruptive alternatives of hope.
David Foster Wallace may be speaking of America in the interview, but much of this could be applied to England as well where we are equally struggling against a capitalist and consumerist juggernaut that threatens to dictate what the future of policy should be.
In a recent blog post Stephen Mitchelmore bemoans a recent review of Gabriel Josipovici’s What Ever Happened to Modernism:
What is astonishing is that Weinberger misses Josipovici’s reasons for what is apparently missing. He wonders if Britain is relatively innocent of Modernism precisely because it wasn’t touched by the Napoleonic and First World Wars, the ideological ardors of communism and fascism, and mass migrations. At least, not to the same extent as Europe was touched. Of course, hundreds of thousands of Britons died in WW1, only it took place on the other side of the English Channel and has always been somehow unreal; told rather than experienced. As the Battle of the Somme turned the sky dark and scorched the landscape, in England the sun still shone and birds still cheeped. It still does, they still do. It explains why we still write and reward novels about a century-old war.
There is little that can be done about not being as touched by the Napoleonic and First World Wars as Europe was. But it cannot be said that we are not untouched by the ravages of global capitalism and consumerism. In fact, in this case, we might be more impacted than the continent itself. If anything, there is now an opportunity as there has never been before to start writing novels that recapture the prophetic impulse to imagine an England in which the “false consciousness” of power and its system is destroyed and impossible visions of a renewed Jerusalem are imagined that galvanise the imaginations of people. These prophetic novels may be “paths of absolutising failure”, but no prophet worth his salt believed to see his vision alive on this earth.
mjn777
June 23, 2011
wow this is one of my fav post of your chief – Sadly the masses i feel are dumb driven cattle (in the nicest possible way of course ha ha).
the mass media and prevailing theme as you say is leading us into soul-less mindless nothingness.
now is a great time for a prophetic insightful voice/message/warning etc and we should do what we can.
but my personal lazy opinion is that most people are not worth the effort and anyone worth their salt can see the problem for themselves and devise their own ideals.
i think i am similar to Jonah in that i don’t want to face my responsibility but one day God may just force me to do my mission.
I saw a quote recently in kung fu panda i liked saying something like – people often meet their destiny on the path they take to avoid it – maybe i will do this as Jonah also did ha ha.
As you said most prophets will not see the fruit of his labour but maybe next generation will as our message finally filters through even the dumbest cattle and becomes common belief.
I also love a quote in the movie Volcano about the frog not noticing being boiled alive if you slowly heat the water from cold but if you put in the frog into hot water it will jump out quick.
The sly crafty pervading of this current philosophy means most of the current generation are near enough cooked already i’m afraid.
Richard Wasserfall
June 23, 2011
Thanks for the great comment as usual. They keep me smiling Glad it’s on of you fave posts. It marks new focus and shift in my blog content, so that fact that it gripped you is a good sign. I can identify with the Jonah feeling!
mjn777
June 23, 2011
You are welcome – sometimes i think i am a bit of boring doom-sayer but with a sense of humour too.
The sense of humour is from my army days when you had to just make a joke out of all things and the doom-saying is from my mum who was of that character type.
I also watch movies more than reading hence my constant references to movies rather than books.
What you said though – in this post – is actually a serious concern to me and I really like what you had to say. I also think we do have a responsibility to say what we see esp if we are insightful and fortunate to be able to see more clearly than the average person.
In fairness, I should see my fellows as sheep not cattle and try to shepherd them in the right way and give my views that one day may be more accepted.
I am glad you like my comments and I certainly look forward to your posts – as i see you as a similar being to myself in many ways and think we have much in common.
I also feel less isolated to know there are people whom I can see eye to eye with about some things and whom I also have some connection.
Cheers for now chief – look forward to next post and btw like the new cool micro blog.
best wishes Michael