Thursday, August 30, 2012

Posthuman Blues - The Hard Copy(?)


Mac's photo of his own handwriting... found here


"There are a number of ominous trends within the publishing industry that appear to support Mailer's prediction. Did you know that there's a spin-off of the ghastly Christian Fundamentalist "Left Behind" saga targeted at juveniles? No kidding. It's called, accurately enough, "Left Behind: The Kids." Or something like that. The point of this series -- and the point I'm trying to make about so much of today's "literature" -- is that it's not even remotely intended to provide an aesthetic experience, but to sow ideological seeds. (I find it distinctly amusing that so much of this garbage is co-authored, as if recycled Armageddon fantasies require the combined mental might of two authors -- and I suppose since we're talking about Fundamentalists, they very well might . . .) 

Most of the time the ideology being packaged is laughable and harmless, as in the case of Atkins devotees. But then there's the truly detestable stuff: masochistic biblical fantasies masquerading as Tom Clancy-esque thrillers; demeaning supernatural claptrap disguised as "inspiration" or "self-help." Once upon a time, you found cheaply printed gospel tracts in restroom stalls; now you find their elegantly bound and savvily marketed descendents combating for shelf-space in actual stores. 

And people can't get enough. Like the "reality TV" craze, spin-offs proliferate with the tenacity of kudzu vine. Any day now, I expect to find "Chicken Soup for the Soul for Dummies" staring back at me from a prominent display. The Wal-Mart-ization of the written word will have triumphed, leaving an embittered subculture to hoard the few remaining works of Kafka and Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut . . . "



Happened across the comment section (thanks, Dana) on this page today, so, I thought I'd pass it along.

Personally, I think "Posthuman Blues - The Book" is a wonderful idea. I think Mac himself would've been pleased to see his essays in print. Anyone who has ever read Posthuman Blues or mactonnies.com knows he was enamored with books - the real thing... the "dead-tree" editions...

But, then again, humanity - or, as pop culture would have it - appears to be free falling into a different epoch... And everything pre-2000 must be relegated to "once upon a time"... whereas we must harken back to the days when ancient people wrote words on paper with pens, amassing these words into articles referred to as manuscripts... Then, as history reminds us, there were Publishers... Marvelous entities who transformed the manuscripts into magical artifacts referred to as Books ... and they did so because they admired them, and thought they were "good"... These paper Books could be found in a public place called a Library... where many people often went just to be in the same place with all that priceless illuminated paper.

I digress. Way back in 2004, Mac was worried about the "Walmart-ization of the written word". Eight years later and it seems that just about everything has gone the way of Walmart... capitalistic gain and mass-marketing strategies being the alpha and omega of the new millennium. And nowhere is this more apparent than on the internet... 

So, should Mac's Posthuman Blues essay's be published in dead-tree form? Well, kats and kitties, there's always the possibility that one of these days the juice may suddenly, inexplicably, be cut off and all our electronic media will just shut down like a zillion blinded eyes... I imagine the ensuing mass-reaction similar to a disturbed anthill. Happily, some of us will have candles and dead-tree editions to read while the rest of the world goes to hell. ;-)



14 comments:

  1. Very interesting post. I was talking about print media and corporate publishers and mass marketing today - the corporatization of culture - versus the rise of virtual publishing. There is, of course a way of easily turning blogger blogs into printed books, which I guess could be done with Mac Tonnies' blog if someone knew the passwords of if Google/Blogger admin could be made to understand the situation.

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    1. Hi ToB - thanks for the input!
      The post was inspired by some comments by RPJ on Nick Redfern's blog - re: link. I've always thought that much of Mac's best work was on PHB... and, despite the convenience of having the material online, specific content takes a great deal of ferreting out. So, the idea of cataloguing it/organizing his essays in book form seems like a brilliant idea. And, obviously this could be useful as an e-book as well. The book - virtual or actual - would be more like a compilation of essays.


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  2. Sorry, I meant 'I was talking to a friend today about'...

    Mac's comment about religious ideology being embedded in formulaic literature books is intriguing.

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    1. I don't think Mac was only referring to theology being subliminally fed to us via pop lit, but ideology in a broader, more insidious aspect.

      Re: "corporatization of culture" (in previous comment)... yeah, that. And it's increasingly hard to tell anymore if we're buying the products or the products are buying us.

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  3. It's not just religious ideology...it's cultural mores and the subtle nudging of readers "into das mold"....but then...hasn't this always been the case? Tom Swift, Doc Savage, Tom Corbett.....and the various sports serials (of which I can't recall the characters).

    Book publishing isn't dead...it is merely changing....publishers need not commit to 100,000 editions - they have the option of printing on demand. Authors no longer have to beg at the Publisher's table - they can publish on their own. It's different...not gone.

    I have an e-reader and still spend 95% of my book money on real books -- but the e-reader has let me experience novels long out of print (the Dr. Thorndyke novels for instance). I simply have more options at my disposal.

    Fear not technology..but rather, what the government is going to do with it ;)

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    1. Oh yes, I think Mac did mean "ideology" across the board. But I think the degree of "Walmart-ization" we're experiencing has developed/devolved into a new form of monster.

      And yes, I agree, virtual publishing and self-publishing certainly have leveled the playing field. Which is not to say there isn't any less garbage.

      Believe it or not, I'm not a Luddite and wasn't ranting about technology... actually, I was just in a post apocalyptic sort of mood. I've been reading an SF novel entitled "Pure" - it's quite a trip!

      http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/books/review/pure-julianna-baggotts-dystopian-novel.html

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  4. Publishing a compendium of the "best of" PHB is something I would like to do over the next year or so, through the newly formed publishing wing of Redstar Films, with essays by Mac's fellow Cabal members to help place his work in context. It would be a task to distill his output down to a manageable book, but an enjoyable one. It's something that's definitely on my radar!

    PK

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    1. When you get around to it...I also downloaded all the videos (that hadn't already been pulled off YouTube already for one reason or), I had just never gotten around to uploading them for two reasons. One, they were pulled for a reason and I didn't want any legal hassles. Two. Going through all the the posts, digging out the code and replacing it ( as well as hosting 7 gigs of video) somewhere was too time intensive. Unfortunately, what this REALLY means is that PHB is not fully complete because that video element that matched Mac's state of mind at the time, aren't there. However...I'd be happy to send them to you if you wish.

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    2. Sounds good, Paul. By the way, best of luck with "The Other Side of Truth"! :-)

      Mark - If anybody knows PHB inside and out - it's you.

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  5. Just an update - The Other Side of Truth was published a couple of weeks ago, and is now available on Amazon, as well as my company's website (www.redstarfilmtv.com). The first volume of The Posthuman Blues should be available sometime late this coming week / early the following week. It covers the years 2003 and 2004.

    Best,
    Paul

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    1. Congrats on "The Other Side of Truth", Paul... I wish Mac stuck around long enough to read it!

      I can't believe the PHB "hard copy" is already in the works - you go, Paul! Breaking it up into several volumes is a great idea. I'll post any particulars regarding it (upon your notice) after the 18th...

      Meanwhile, a series of PMB posts will be going up between now and then. It is that time of year, after all... :-(

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    2. PS Re: PHB: The Book... I hope there's going to be an index! ;-)

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  6. I'm actually working on the Index right now - my least favourite part of the work! :-)

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    1. Oh, good! But, I can imagine what a daunting task it must be... Mac's mind was a library in itself and PHB reflected this. And all that name-dropping! I can't imagine what you're going to do with all the text links... footnotes?

      Meanwhile, I wasn't really going to "ad-lib" at all on the post for 18th, but, knowing myself, I probably will to some degree... and I'll "announce" the "hard-copy" then. I think it's fitting addition to mark this particular anniversary. Though, judging by all the hits this post has had lately, I suspect that most people who'd really want to know, already do! ;-)

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