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2001.11.05 =>

who am studs turkal

Here, this is Professor Irwin Corey's wildly incoherent National Book Award acceptance speech for Gravity's Rainbow. (Pynchon, not wanting to come out of his cave, sent Corey in his place.) Somehow it's even funnier because it appears to be directed at Ralph Ellison.

And as Miller once said in one of his great novels—what did the... that language is only necessary when communication is endangered. And you sit there bewildered, and Pinter who went further said "It is not the lack of communication but fear of communication." THAT'S WHAT THE GODDAMN THING IS that we fear—communication. Oh—fortunately the prize has only been given to authors—unlike the Academy Award which is given to a female and a male, indicating the derision of the human specie—God damn it! But we have no paranoia, and Mr. Pynchon has attained, and has created for himself serenity, and it is only the insanity that has kept him alive in his paranoia. We speak of the organ... of the orgasm... WHO THE HELL WROTE THIS?

Weird: rumors in China and Japan that the Taliban have executed bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Highly unlikely, of course, but strange things are happening.

Killing the Buddha is a publication on religion for people who are iffy about religion. The title comes from a Zen parable:

After years on his cushion, a monk has what he believes is a breakthrough: an experience of nirvana, the Buddhamind, the big pay-off. Reporting the experience to his master, however, he is informed that what he has experienced is par for the course, nothing special, maybe even damaging to his pursuit. And then he is given dismaying advice: If you meet the Buddha, he is told, kill him. Why kill the Buddha? Because the Buddha you meet is not the true Buddha, but an expression of your longing. If this Buddha is not killed he will only stand in your way.

Consider say the WTC and Zen master Quingyuan.

 

<= 2001.11.03

2001.11.05 =>

up (2001.11)