Babel-17

I haven't been reading much fiction these days. I devoured the recent English translation of a classic Haitian novel by Depestre recently, but besides that, Delany's science fiction class Babel-17 is the only other novel I've read in quite some time. Delany's prose is straightforward yet lyrical, combining provocative ideas about language, plot, character, and relationships in an accessible and addicting way. Prior to Babel-17, I was only familiar with a famous short story he wrote that shared some of the social conventions of Babel-17's world. The use of body modification, unconventional sexual relationships, and the overall context of a war with the 'Invader' species make for a great action story with a subtle but powerful message on language as a solution to conflict. Reading this, I could not help but think of Philip K. Dick's Now Wait For Last Year, which also features the human race in a galactic battle against an insect-like species, but fixates on time travel and hallucination and dysfunctional marriage in a way only PKD could accomplish. Nonetheless, it also shares with Delany's work a focus on the meaning of reality and perception, including some ideas of discorporation, subcultures, and class divisions. Indeed, perhaps reading more Delany will lead to him becoming my favorite science fiction writer...

Hannah Arendt Rant

So, lately I've been perusing Hannah Arendt again. Several months ago I was re-reading parts of Totalitarianism, but these days it's been Eichmann in Jerusalem and some of her essays on Jewish and African-American matters. I find it difficult to dismiss her as a 'self-hating Jew' or racist, although she certainly bought into the 'Heart of Darkness' narrative for Africa. And as noted by others, her approach to Zionism, European Jewish history, and the idea of the conscious pariah are provocative and, in some cases, prophetic (about the violence in the Middle East through a Jewish state instead of a binational federation). Even her problematic reading of European Jewish history and the role of Jewish leaders and Zionists during the 1930s and 1940s is interesting, even if she does come dangerously close to blaming the victims.

However, her "Reflections on Little Rock" seems to exemplify the limitations of Arendt's political theory and faith in the US. She claims to be sympathetic to African Americans but suggests that fighting bans on mixed marriages is more important and fundamental a right to battle for than desegregated schools. She even defends the right of social discrimination against Jews and African Americans by certain types of private businesses, like resorts or hotels because social discriminatory practices are, at least to her, inevitable, but as long as the state doesn't legally enforce those social discriminations, it's not a problem? However, she seems to think segregated schools just naturally came about, as if legal enforcement didn't make them so in the first place? Her argument is full of other contradictions about social, private, and political realms. Furthermore, if social discrimination was institutionalized through legal enforcement, why shouldn't political realm seek to end social discrimination?

Basically, if you read her piece, you'll get the feeling that socially discriminatory practices are inevitable, but the only role of the government is to make sure these social discriminatory practices don't become legally enforced, so fighting against bans on interracial marriage or discrimination in public services (private and public) is her priority for the state. She also seems to think children should be seen primarily as in the private realm of their parents (and thus the social realm of their parents), but if they're going to public school, aren't they by nature entering the realm of the political and social? There are many ideological assumptions in Arendt's essay, as well as a whitewashed reading of the US's contributions to imperialism and racism abroad. That said, I do not think it is necessarily fair to dismiss Arendt as a racist, particularly since her view of the law and intergroup discrimination is not rooted in a belief in the superiority of any group in the US.

Riding on a Blue Note

Riding on a Blue Note is comprised of a number of reviews and essays on several major or lesser known figures in the worlds of jazz and popular music. Giddins writes with wit and a sense of humor to discuss the merits and problems facing artists as diverse as Sinatra, Irving Berlin, Ellington and Ethel Waters to Bobby Blue Bland, Wes Montgomery, and Cecil Taylor. Giddins also approaches the question of race, culture, and identity in a more nuanced way than many other (white) critics of jazz, from what I've encountered so far. The essay on George Benson may come off as too dismissive of jazz fusion, but I cannot help but (mostly) concur with Giddins on the fusion question during 1970s jazz. This is an indispensable collection of essays from the 1970s that will add much needed nuance to the state of the music during those times.