The Persistence of Memory

I've been reading (or rereading) a lot of fifties/sixties lit these days, you know, 1984, Clockwork Orange, Slaugterhouse Five... there were some fantastic stories that came out of the Post WWII Commie era. It makes me wonder what kind of lit we're going to get out of our own time, this current state of perpetual war we have going against whoever is "against us." Whereas those books dealt with authoritarian governments oppressing the masses, we have authoritarian religions seeking to oppress the masses, not only in fundamentalist Islam, but equally as much in fundamentalist Christianity. I suppose the great lit of our time will be that which explores the theme of modernity verses tradition, as we are certainly seeing a clash of eras in the world today. Much of the "War on Terror(TM)" is based on past events (the rest is just based on corporate greed.) There is a difference between remembering history and being governed by the past, but contemporary political discourse in many parts of the world is falling into the latter category, even here in the United States. The result is that we have people turning to extremism to cope with global advancement.

Authoritarianism is not only found in fundamentalist religion, but it is also found in today's corporatism, what some fundamentalist Muslims believe is modernity. It's not. It's good old fashioned exploitation. Modernity is progress. Progress is eliminating poverty and disease or cleaning up the air, not building a bigger bomb or a faster bullet. Burgess' theme of automation in Clockwork is certainly relevant to today's corporate world. We are all cogs in the corporate machine, even if we try to avoid it. I can't even get Verizon to send me a modem for the DSL I ordered in July! Our products have become institutions. Indeed, such words like Kleenex, Vasoline, and Coke (in some parts) have supplanted tissue, petroleum jelly, and soda/pop in American lexicon.

I suppose books that could have Magritte's Son of Man on the cover are even more in tune with today's human condition than in the sixties, for rampant proliferation of corporatism has made revolt all the more important if we are to fight this automation and salvage the soul of man. We've let this leviathan take over our lives, this thing with no moral conscience that will destroy anything in its path as it pursues its profits. Leading the way are the Halliburtons and Booz Allens of the world, the ones who drive US policy and seek conflict to line their pockets. The Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned us about has taken over our government, and the people no longer matter. Old conflicts are renewed as a justification for war by both sides. Bin Laden (remember him?) and Co. tells us that the US is waging a religious war and sends kids to their deaths, while our corporations play on our thirst for revenge by pushing for a fight. The human subject has been depersonified. The enemy is known as a "target." The soldier is ID'd by his SSN. Sheehan is criticized for putting a face on the war. The media is restricted in what it can show.

Dali painted Persistence in between the two World Wars. He painted his Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory after the second one, after atomic bombs destroyed life as we knew it at that time. People said the A-bomb was enough to stop war forever, that its destructive force was so great as to deter anyone from fighting again for fear of its use. Sixty years later, we are still fighting the same damn fights, struggling to overcome wrongs that are centuries old, all because some people can't forgive and get over the past.