Perhaps the last portion typed by [the editor] was eaten. One never knows.
What we were discussing is the fact that it is possible that Quin may at times be on hiatus from this weblog. Then we went on to recall that for those who have happened onto RagtimeTexas.com, and paid any attention at all, it should already be apparent that the whereabouts of Quin are often in flux. I tell you, most of the time he is in the ether. It can be quite wonderful or terribly upsetting. One never knows; however, (we went on to say) those of you who are scholars of Quin will not be disappointed. The Concordance to the burgeoning, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF QUIN, will make its sometime appearance here. Like all of his sort, the speech of Quin often appears to be written in code, or parables, or parabola. Many differing and various interpretations of his message are already being made by many and few. Before this all gets out of hand, and while making no claims that the Concordance can clarify all of his message, it can, as all such accompanying documents to major texts try to do, at least point up pertinent references made in his text and speak to what is known of the experience of his life.** Let us take a specific example.
Please turn in your blogble to entry 11/20/2003. The first portion is cited below. Following the citation are the notes from the Concordance to THE COMPLETE WORKS.
"Science may be described as the art of systematic oversimplification." Karl Popper.(1) Quoted in some thriller I picked up off the street. Poverty reigns. (2) Beth, and Delia, and I perform for Mr. Larry Kammerman in the making of his movie yesterday. (3) Now we penninless movie stars. (4) Larry is reticent concerning the plot. I should rather guess that we shall be blown up in a Kiss Me Deadly denouement. (Hopefully Beth and Delia and I will escape harmful radiation by wading in the surf.) (5) If I say that everything is surreally Baudrillardian why then I shall be accused of pretension.(6).. Actually I wonder what happens when you hit Baudrillard into Google. (7)
Notes from the Concordance:
(1) Karl Popper is someone that Quin has been lecturing us about for the past few days. The exerpt below is from the 'About Karl Popper' section which may be found at: http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~tkpw/intro_popper/intro_popper.html . The editor doesn't want to hear anyone out there claim that he or she 'doesn't understand' the exerpt below. Unlike the mystic musings of Quin, this is straight biography that should make even the most resilient empiricist, if not happy, at least moderately content. If some find some of the terms such as 'logical positivism,' or 'linquistic philosophy' difficult or unfamiliar, it is believed that through a careful consideration of each word in the suspect phrase (ie, "logical, hmm, now what does that mean, oh yeah, I know that . . . positivism, well gee, I know what 'positive' means) he or she can probably get close enough for jazz.
Popper challenged some of the ruling orthodoxies of philosophy: logical positivism, Marxism, determinism and linguistic philosophy. He argued that there are no subject matters but only problems and our desire to solve them. He said that scientific theories cannot be verified but only tentatively refuted, and that the best philosophy is about profound problems, not word meanings. Isaiah Berlin rightly said that Popper produced one of the most devastating refutations of Marxism. Through his ideas Popper promoted a critical ethos, a world in which the give and take of debate is highly esteemed in the precept that we are all infinitely ignorant, that we differ only in the little bits of knowledge that we do have, and that with some co-operative effort we may get nearer to the truth.
(2) Poverty reigns--At first reading, one might think that this is another of Quin's entertaining metaphors. There is now some question as to his actual meaning here. We know that as of the writing of the 11/20/2003 entry, those mentioned, Quin, Beth, and Delia, were suffering a great deal of financial, emotional, creative, psychological, and physical ups and downs. In answer to the questions most put to them about these various crises, the answers most heard during this period were, "yes," and "Oh sure." [the questions most often put to B and Q about the above crises are "Are you eating?", and "Are they being nice to you?" ] It is certainly true that at the time this entry was made, the three aforementioned were living in what might have been termed, "genteel poverty", beginning to border on the less genteel side of things. However as Beth was heard to say at this time, "what have we learned from this?" [one source recalls that following the repetition of this comment, Quin often seemed to take to his bed for a period of days]. It is the editor's contention that Quin might have meant 'poverty reigns' in a broader context as a comment on the state of the economy, or, in his usual fraught with inner meaning style, that he might have even been speaking of a general poverty of the state of popular culture, or the soul. We do not give serious creedence to the soul theory, however, as we have it on strong authority that Quin does not believe in the existence of these. [editor's note: As always, information concerning Quin's belief or lack of belief, and in what, is hotly debated. He has been overheard to discuss his personal experiences with poltergeists, and spirits of various sorts. The conflict over the particular term 'soul' may depend on what the meaning of 'soul' is, ie, The Soul (capital S) or souls, a more generic plural.
(3) This refers to a movie in which Quin and Beth, but particularly Delia, featured.
(4) Please see note (1) above.
(5) As the screenwriter and producer of the above movie never, ever revealed the basic conceit of the film, Quin made up his own, referencing "Kiss Me Deadly," as mentioned in the entry, as well as others, including one, the title of which, Quin was never able to recall, but which apparently starred Tim Allen, and ended with the happy resolution of Mr. Allen and the female romantic lead kissing joyfully as an atomic explosion deatonated under the ocean off the coast of Florida.
(6) If I say . . . pretension: For an impenetrable exlication of the basics of Baudrillarian theory, see: Horrocks, Chris and Zoran Jevtic. INTRODUCING BAUDRILLARD. Totem Books, New York: 1996. [editors' note: the easiest part of Baudrillard to understand is his contention that we have moved to a global economic/sociological functioning of consumption rather than production. A fairly obvious conclusion to any who walk their Beagles on 85th Street on Thursday evenings . . . recycling night.]
pretension: Quin is frequently accused of being pretentious when he is desperately trying to be himself.
(7) When one enters the word 'Baudrillard' into Google, the first entry is Baudrillard on the Web. This contains many quite readable selections, including interviews. Try it out and take a chance on discovering that french theorists and others who bother to pay attention are actually writing about what affects what is going on in your life. Remember, however, that these guys came up in post-war Europe and its educational system, which, unlike the system in the United States, thinks about Marxism in terms of social theory not just the boogy man
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I believe that Quin readers will see from the above exerpt of the Concordance, its value to the study and close reading of Quin. One may also expect to see further artwork, sometimes with commentary, sometimes alone. From this we hope that you draw a few conclusions of your own. Please feel free to add additional commentary, or personal experiences of Quin in the comments sections of this Blog. Details of his life are especially welcome, as it is often these gaps that are the most difficult to fill in.
** For excellent examples of concordances or other work of this sort, see the various Concordances to The Holy Bible (authors, various), and the running notes to Pale Fire (Vladimir Nabokov).
9:53:43 PM [Macro error: The file "" wasn't found.]
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This is the particular dog which was prescient. He looks innocent enough. I shall type very little here because the last time we posted a picture, we got the terrifying macroerror message ("warning, warning Will Robinson").
