Witold Gombrowicz’ Ferdydurke

Mon 11/02/09 11:47 PM 

“She threw her beloved from the train a kiss.”

—Danuta Borchardt, demonstrating how the Polish language uses grammar where the English language uses word order.

Susan Sontag described Gombrowicz’ Ferdydurke as a celebration of immaturity. She sees the novel as a glorification of low culture where everything that is base and low is used to counter the sterility of an ersatz Aristocratic Polish high culture.

Milan Kundera looked to Gombrowicz as an important writer in the tradition of the small countries of Eastern Europe. As fragmentary remnants of decaying Empires, these “minor” literatures cultivated the ironic, the absurd and the experimental.

But I am neither a Polish aristocrat nor an east European švejkovina. I am an American. I live in a culture that invented advertising and pop culture and looks upon pornography as an art form. For me, Ferdydurke reads as indictment of our society of immaturity, perfectly captured in his neologism upupienie, where a person is socially coerced into becoming inferior or immature. In the US, we celebrate youth not for its positive qualities of vitality and energy. Rather we have a voyeuristic appreciation for sensationalism and look to the youth to entertain us with their lack of discipline, direction and restraint. For me, Ferdydurke is the dystopian novel of 21^st century America.

Susan Sontag, as a critic, places Gombrowicz within the tradition of European literature. Milan Kundera, as a writer, views him as an East European. As a reader, I see him with the eyes of an American. Danuta Borchardt, Gombrowicz’ English translator, places him most appropriately within the context of Latin America, specifically Argentina where he lived and wrote for most of his adult life. Even though he wrote almost exclusively in Polish, she views him as the antithesis of Borges and the forerunner of Bolaño as well as a fellow traveler of real maravilloso. Borges is too intellectual and cerebral; philosophical rather than political. Bolaño is more physical and visceral; engaged with reality and life not idealism. There is an earthy and human quality to Gombrowicz that also shows up in Bolaño and a satirical vision of society and politics that’s is very similar to writers of real maravilloso.

The End of Photography

This has been going on for a while and it is effecting more than just photography. Music copyists and typographers were the first to go (anyone remember them?) Journalist and photographers are trying to think of ways to reinvent themselves as their professions are transformed. It was described in a rather famous article and book from a few years ago, The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen.

There are not as many clients as there used to be for high-end professional photography and the expectations have changed a great deal. I work at an ad agency—exactly the kind of large big-city ad agency that kept dozens of local photographers well-fed a decade or two ago. We still use a lot of photography, but more and more of it is destined for 72 ppi reproduction on the web (2 inches tall) rather than 300 dpi magazine spreads, transit posters or billboards (30 feet across). A great deal of this photography is done by a new kind of professional. Not the old-time professional photographer with the big studio and staff but the new breed of art director-photographer who shoots in a converted conference room down the hall, ten minutes later is editing the photo on their Mac and can show you the finished layout later that afternoon.

Are they as good at photography as the old-time pro? Not usually. But they are good enough for what they need—and from a concept and style perspective know exactly how to get what they are looking for. Advertising photography is headed the same place that advertising typography went. The market will no longer support trained specialists. To make a career you need to combine photography, typography, design, layout, sometimes even coding and programming. These non-specialists may not be as good at any one thing as the old pros. But the best work that is coming out of ad agencies today is far superior to what was done a decade or two ago.

Irving Penn

Sad about the news that Irving Penn has died. I heard about it earlier today and mentioned it to several colleagues at work who responded with blank stares and uncomprehending looks. I was fortunate to know and work for Irving Penn—Mr. Penn as he was always known to us. His studio was above Broadway in the photo district of Manhattan. Unlike most studios the photography area was relatively small and the office area was large and spacious. It was also unusual for being absolutely silent—there was never any radio, TV or music of any kind. He kept meticulous records about everything. I half suspect he could have told you the current whereabouts of any print he ever made.

He kept 1 oz. bars of Platinum and Palladium in a safe. They were a hedge against the wild fluctuations in price for those metals which he used to create his trademark 20×24 inch platinum/palladium prints. When he needed more he would take a bar down the chemist and have it transformed into the metallic salt needed for printing.

I used to work in his darkroom doing B&W printing and making the large format negatives for platinum. One day he saw a print I was working on that showed a large thumbprint on the negative. I saw him frown and I immediately knew what he was thinking. He chided me for being careless and asked if I had tried to clean the thumbprint off the neg. I said that I had seen the thumbprint and had tried gently cleaning it but thought it would be less dangerous to retouch the print as the thumbprint on the negative was probably older than I was. He looked at the neg and sure enough there was a very old and yellowed stain on the negative. Based on the date of the photoshoot I suspect the thumbprint was at least a decade older than I was! It was one thing to be printing my own photos from last week but quite another to be working with Mr. Penn’s iconic images that spanned many decades. His famous photograph of the Cuzco Children of 1948 has frozen them forever as adorable children even though they may now have great-grandchildren of their own.

Battle of Aegospotami

Fri Aug 14 16:41:13
There are two accounts of the Battle of Aegospotami. Xenophon was alive at the time of the battle, well versed in military matters and a generally reliable source. He tells us that the fleet “disembarked and dispersed along the shores of the Chersonesus (a practice, it should be mentioned, which had grown upon them from day to day owing to the distance at which eatables had to be purchased, and out of sheer contempt, no doubt, of Lysander, who refused to accept battle)…” (Hellenica 2.1.27)

The other account begins with “Since the enemy refused to accept battle at sea and famine gripped the army…” (Bibliotheca historica 13.106.1) yet then has Philocles inexplicably set sail and confusion ensues from Lysander’s attack. The description reads a bit like Xenophon’s after they realized the Spartan attack and attempted to return to the ships but it lacks motivation or plausible causal connections. This account comes from Diodorus, living three centuries later, who uses Ephorus as his source. Polybius thought that when it came to details of military matters Ephorus can often be “quite ridiculous, and betray his entire ignorance and want of personal experience of such matters.” (Histories 12.25)

I would have to side with Xenophon and say that the need for food, the distance needed to find the food, Athenian confidence in their navy and an assuption of Lysander’s cowardice—refusing battle five times in a row—led them to be far less cautious than they probably should have been.

 

Greco-Perisan enmity

Thu Aug 13 16:27:03 2009
I don’t think there was the permanent enmity between Greeks and Persians that we presume. Herodotus points out the differences in his Histories, but if it was so obvious his book might not have been necessary. There is a lot of exchange between the two cultures– Greek mercenaries are often found fighting on the side of the Persians. And its not a bad place to look for a job if you’re an out of work general like Alcibiades. Not to mention that Greeks have been fighting against other Greeks at least as often as they have been fighting against the Persians.

Consistency or consensus

Thu Aug 13 16:11:49 2009

Hanson lists nineteen separate Athenian commanders that were killed or executed between 428 – 405. It would have been much more beneficial to have a single commander during the war; or at least a steady influence over the military operations for a substantial time period. … The Athenians switched commanders so regularly that it became difficult for them to obtain any allegiance from troops.

I’m not sure that, under the conditions we see in Athens, rotating command is such a problem. It was pretty much a world of amateurs. There were no professional politicians or generals. We just had wealthy farmers/landowners who also function as politicians and generals. The commander was not so much an authority as a moderator/executor of decisions often made by group consensus. I suspect that trying to find group consensus would have been a greater problem than the rotating leadership.

Honorable Mention

Wed Aug 12 10:36:06 2009
One of the main themes of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is how the war, and the greed and imperialism that fueled it, undermined the social and cultural values of the participants. I think the Spartan surrender at Sphacteria and Pylos should be viewed as dishonorable and a deviation from traditional practice. This is one more step, a small and perhaps justifiable step, that continues the unraveling of these two cultures.

The relationship between honor and military practice is complex and self-reinforcing. In retrospect it seems absurd to view Vietnamese guerilla practices as dishonorable, while at the same time viewing large-scale carpet bombing and chemical deforestation as perfectly acceptable. As technology and conditions change, so does the sense of what is honorable. As a result the social value of honor may necessarily lag behind technology making it an essentially conservative attribute.

The casualties at Hydaspes River

Tue Aug 11 22:56:08 2009
Hydaspes River was the most difficult and costly battle that Alexander fought. Plutarch tells us that “their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. W. W. Tarn (Alexander the Great, 1948), J. R. Hamilton (“The Cavalry Battle at Hydaspes” Journal of Hellenic Studies 76, 1956) and Peter Green (Alexander of Macedon, 1991) all believe the reported casualty numbers for Alexander have been intentionally reduced. Careful analysis by Tarn of the individual units involved suggest that the number of infantry that crossed the river with Alexander was much larger and later minimized to hide the extent of their losses. Based on this analysis Peter Green suggests that Alexander’s actual infantry losses at Hydaspes River might be closer to 4,000. If Plutarch is right about the terrible effect on morale, it is easy to see why Alexander might attempt to hide just how severe those losses were.

Anachronism in Curtius Rufus

Mon Aug 10 10:03:04 2009
Quintus Curtius Rufus was a Roman historian writing in Latin in the first century CE. He is our only source that mentions that the Macedonians had equipped themselves with axes and copides (a curved sword) before the battle, but failed to employ them against the elephants until very late in the day. Why would they wait so long? Or is this an anachronism as Julius Caesar used this tactic at Battle of Thapsus in 49 BC?

Diplomatic alternatives

Mon Aug 10 10:03:18 2009
After the Battle of Hydaspes River, Alexander restored Porus as king and even added to his territory. They are said to have been strong allies, some sources even credit Porus with fighting along side of Alexander. Was this battle even necessary? Could Alexander have forged this alliance without fighting and continued his conquests without the high cost to his men and their morale?

Certainly there were other options. Omphis, aka. Taxiles who fought with Alexander at Hydaspes River, is one example (Curtius Rufus 8.12, Arrian 4.22-23). However, that alliance may have created the need for the battle—as Omphis and Porus were enemies and at war. Yet Alexander leaves the two previous enemies as good friends and allies (Curtius Rufus 9.3, Arrian 5.20).