[MD] Narrative and Making Sense--Sherman Alexie

[MarshaV]

Hi Matt,

I wonder if even to state a thought isn't to make a fool of yourself in some
sense?  Ah yes, that very special card, The Fool...  

Many moons ago I figured that mythos and logos were both story, so one might
attempt to enjoy the telling/reading of both.  An example is that I have not
been able to read fiction for a very long time because it doesn't seem
nearly as interesting as the stories told as non-fiction.

Congratulation on starting Graduate program.


Marsha



-----Original Message-----
From: moq_discuss-bounces at lists.moqtalk.org
[mailto:moq_discuss-bounces at lists.moqtalk.org] On Behalf Of Matt Kundert
Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 11:33 PM
To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
Subject: [MD] Narrative and Making Sense--Sherman Alexie


I've just posted a paper I wrote last year for an English class.

http://pirsigaffliction.blogspot.com/2009/08/narrative-and-making-sense.html

The only reason I mention it is because it offers a few different kinds of
things relevant to Pirsig and the conversations currently going on.  They
are, however, not directed at any of the conversations (having been written
well before them, for one thing, but also for a class and not a
Pirsig/philosophy discussion group), so if you don't feel like reading a
long paper ferreting out your own connections, better off not to bother.

The paper is basically cut into thirds.  The first third attempts to rebut
Frederic Jameson's criticism of a postmodernist culture.  It does so by
distinguishing lame postmodernism from a holist antifoundationalism (the
former is, roughly, the bugbear DMB refers to as relativism and the latter
is what Steve has been unpacking out of Rorty).  It describes the basic
outlines of a good holist philosophy of language, as opposed to either the
Platonic/atomist one, or a lame postmodern one.

The central term moving throughout the paper is "meaning," "making sense,"
and floating into the second half moves to what I call the
antifoundationalist's "position of redescription," for which I use Alasdair
MacIntyre (a contemporary of Rorty's that agrees on most of the abstract,
holist points, though not about moral philosophy).  I there describe the use
of narrative to keep things coherent.

The last third of the paper is the part I think many Pirsigians might find
interesting.  I there use Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Fistfight in Heavan to unpack a Native American cultural dimension.  It's a
short section, considering what I just described it doing, but I think it
lays some groundwork for doing the kind of thing Pirsig wanted.  (This last
section is right after Footnote 9, right around the rightnav section titled
"Other Linkage".)

The main thing I wanted to say was--if you haven't read Sherman Alexie, you
should, particularly that book.  He is a gifted Native American writer, and
I think captures the elusive spirit of his culture.

Matt

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online.
http://windowslive.com/Campaign/SocialNetworking?ocid=PID23285::T:WLMTAGL:ON
:WL:en-US:SI_SB_online:082009
Moq_Discuss mailing list
Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc.
http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org
Archives:
http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/
http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/