[lit-ideas] Re: There's no such thing as a free cremation

  • From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 09:05:44 -0600

I wish to thank Robert Paul publicly for offering to multi-blurb my someday novel. I wouldn't say that the Work is zipping along -- skipping along, rather. Whenever I run out of inspiration, I skip to another section. It more resembles one of those million piece puzzles laid out on a card table with various clumps of fitted pieces surrounded by a sea of separate possibilities.


And now, if the List will indulge me, the rest of this message is meant for Bob's eyes only and I'm confident you'll respect his privacy and avert your eyes.

Yo, Philo!

When you go to that Final Philosophical Conference with Aristotle and L.W., I'll be too busy trying to remember my name to be mocking you. So don't worry about me, it'll probably be Erin what does it to you.

By 'MLA' I assume you mean the Memphis Lucubrators Association. Damn their tedious souls! I'll reDerrida them into hell before I'll follow their guidelines.

As to 'whince' and 'wince', as the great Indian-killer Andrew Jackson once remarked: "It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word." However, I am embarrassed that I missed my chance to write: "Whence the wince?" Always a day too late. Oh, well, no since in wining.

It is my faith in posthumous publication that keeps me going and I will keep it -- thanks for reminding me.

Take great care,
Mike




----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Paul" <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 6:58 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: There's no such thing as a free cremation


I've never known what to make of the injunction that we should reverence the dead. Why? Especially if we did not reverence them in life. It's boorish, I agree, not to respect another's grief, but that's in relation to the living, not the dead, and among a group for whom there's no sense of personal loss, where's the offense? But I confess that I sometimes make myself whince when mocking a dead person. Whence this discomfort?

Yo, Poet!

You'd better show some reverence to me when I go to that big philosophy meeting in the sky. And the MLA would like you not to use 'reverence' as a verb--it sets their little tiny post-Derridean teeth on edge. (Maybe you've seen the pictures.) I liked 'whince.' Somewhere between a whine and a wince, I thought. That's OK; I just wrote to the Terrier list about pulling on a dog's tale. Hope
it's not a long one, they said.

I'll bet the Work is zipping right along. Write when you need a blurb for the
jacket. Or two or three.

Keep whatever faith you've got.

Bob


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