Re: Deleuze/Guattari on fascism

[Justin Schwartz <jschwart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louis asks why D&G and postmodernism are so hip nowadays, at least in
humanities circles. He speculates that this may have to do with nostalgi
afor the 60s. I think their wriring style may have something to do with
it: allusive, flashy, ranging over a great many references, slangy and a
bit cheecky (although this is D&G in particukar and not, say, Derrida).
and almost free of argument. Marx, in contrast, while witty in a somewhat
heavy-handed, learned, Teutonic way, is in his mature writings dense,
analytical, and argumentative--I mean, the writing proceeds by argument,
evidence marshalled in suppoty of conclusions.

The argumentative style is difficult to master. You actually have to
follow the reasoning and engage your brain or you don't see the point.
This is hard work. It takes training, not necessarily academic, and
effort. D&G and a lot of pomo, on the other hand, are spectacular, a
fireworks display. They presenr what I guess are conclusions or in any
event claims with a lot of razzle-dazzle--and, in contrast to Marx, a
range of cultural references that does not presuppose a classical
education and wide reading in the history and literature of Europe but
rather acquaintance with comic books, TV, and some radical theorists like
Reich. They are perkily irreverent to parents: D&G target Freud, Marx,
etc., under a rhetoric of Daddy and Mommy. This is not that hard to
follow, since nothing terribly definite is being said, and it's not that
hard to do, at least to do not very well, since in "nomad thought" there
are no real rules.

This way coincide with a nostaligia for an imagined '60s: change without
struggle or work, everybody happy together, all rules and roles breaking
down, a carnival or festival of All Fools, and costless thumbing of noses
at authority. Since all of this is pretty safe as well as easy, it finds a
place in humanities and the softer social sciences while Marxism gets
drummed out and Marxists fired.

I might remark that the last factor may play a role in the comparative
popularity of the two approaches. An undergrad comrade of mine here was
complaining bitterly that since I was canned there is no one to teach
Marxist philosophy among the 3000 faculty members at OSU, particularly
because the Marxist in the English Dept was also denied tenure this year.
But of pomos there is no shortage. So young people don't hear about old
Karl. My classes were always full up when I taught them!

--Justin




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