“If there is
one hellish, truly accursed thing in our time, it is our artistic dallying with
forms, instead of being like victims burnt at the stake, signaling through the
flames." Antonin
Artaud, 1938.
Reality
Overload by Annie LeBrun
‘Signaling thru
the Flames’
…Somewhere on a
Stake just Right of Center
This is
an astonishing book, one of the best crafted books I’ve read. It’s construction
reminds me of Night Wood
(1936) by Djuna Barnes—totally different themes, of course, but not a word
extraneous, not a phrase wasted. The theme of REALITY OVERLOAD: the modern
world’s assault on the imaginative realm, and
the usurpation of the meaning inherent in language. A parallel source of
this contagion is the destructive & consensual forces embodied by a
relentlessly positivist “Information Age.”
In other
words, Society brainwashing itself.
[The
word “imagination” can be seen to mean “image magic” & “making magic.”
Certainly the Overlords of the present age are doing everything possible to
strip the world of magic—imagination—along with Grace, Beauty & Truth.]
The
complexity of REALITY OVERLOAD makes Jon E. Graham’s (BOOKS ON FIRE)
translation that much more impressive. His translation is so seamless that the
reader would swear that the book had originally been penned in English—by an
extraordinary gifted poet & author.
_________________________
REALITY
OVERLOAD is an intellectual tour de force, raising provocative issues
& warrants an in-depth review. I am limited by the Amazon.com format not to
engage in polemical or extensive verbosity in posted reviews. Another consideration is the fact that
external links are not allowed on Amazon reviews—and my finished review will
have quite a few to correlate information and for reference. The whole idea of
online links for further information probably flies in the face of the
intrinsic philosophy presented in REALITY OVERLOAD. Be that as it may, we are
primarily motivated to create a comprehensive collection of “ modern Gnostic”
documents dedicated to the first generation of the 21st century (the
“New Aeon.”)
_________________________
The
author of REALITY OVERLOAD may not like it, but I see a metaphysical Hermetic element in
her philosophy. The Hermetic formula goes like this: From the inner doth the
outward flow, as above, so below. Applied to REALITY OVERLOAD, one could
say that the social forces that are destroying the imaginative realm are coming
from within us, and simultaneously the value of our inner selves is being
destroyed by an increasingly poisonous social structure—in a self-perpetuating
cycle of spiritual (or at least mental) impoverishment.
Also in line with the Hermetic
concept, Le Brun suggests that, while we reflect the content of our artificial
creations, they do not necessarily reflect us.
Regarding the technological
concept of “virtual reality”:
“…If everything…is supposedly
going to become real, then semblance already is reality in gestation.
Or, at least, this is what we hear from experts who avoid the mistake of
explaining that as a result, we are being told to evolve less in “virtual
reality” and more in “real virtuality.” Page 8
The
CNN-TIME-WARNER super-informational TV network changed the name of its COURT TV
program to TRU-TV. It’s slogan is: Not reality, but actuality. It
doesn’t make much sense, but it does reflect a major re-formatting of all the
programs available on the station. What used to be almost exclusively court
proceedings & commentary, are now forensic & “Babes-Gone-Wild,” T.. & A-- genre.
Crime & violent sexuality is
all the rage on American TV—that and “Psychics” & Ghostly Encounters.
Never in its history has the
general TV audience been fed such a feast of violence against women, on such a
shallow & homicidal menu. The excuse to support goes like this: It sells.
Little room for philosophy and none
for anything at all socially challenging or meaningful. Negative social
critique is a tremendous NO-NO: It doesn’t sell. It is the Age of the
Dead Common, Common Man & let no disturb his well-fed slumber.
Returning to the Hermetic
analogy, on Page 10, Annie Le Brun suggests the idea that our inner desolation
is reflected in the degradation of the environment.
How can we not be struck by the
simultaneity of this clear-cutting of the mental forest with the annihilation
of certain South American jungles? How can we help but conclude that the
resulting rupture of the great biological balance corresponds to a comparable
rupture of the great balance of sensibility in which our thought continues to
find sustenance?
Again, it is a self-perpetuating
cycle of degradation: The more degraded we become, the more degraded the
environment becomes—that in turn degrades us even more.
Patrick Harpur explores this
concept in a more light-hearted manner and applies it to the existence of
“unexplained phenomena” in his fascinating book DAIMONIC REALITY.
As the title of this
review indicates, Le Brun’s philosophy is decidedly right of center because her
remarks concerning socialism in general are ferociously negative. However, on
Page 17 we find: …fascism does not mean preventing someone from speaking. It
means coercing someone to speak. This idea as at the core of Robert Bolt’s brilliant play, A
MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. In the play Thomas Moore opposes the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn.
He withdraws from Court in hopes that if he retreats to the country & keeps
his mouth shut all will be well. It doesn’t work because as the Protestant
faction gains the upper hand, silence is not enough. We can see this today in
the social pressure exerted on people who dare to protest or act outside the
narrow constraints of that same society.
[To be fair, Thomas
Moore was an intolerant Roman Catholic—so of course he was canonized—after
getting his head chopped by Henry VIII first.]
On Page 50 Le Brun observes: The
advent of…synthetic language corresponds to a sinister victory. Not only is
this a victory of technological rationalism and its plan for total mastery over
the unpredictable freedom that, in every language, invents itself to reinterpret
the world, but also—more seriously—this victory is one of an infinitely open network, and, by virtue of this,
naturally incompatible with the closed logic of any computer network. What we
thought was our language is now the object of all speculation.
It’s almost like the more the
Internet grows with more “spaces,” the more blank those faces of spaces
becomes.
And on
Page 68: …what point is there in appealing to the “transcendence of meaning”
when language, as we have seen, conceals every kind of trafficking in meaning,
including the whitewashing of ideas? In fact, this denunciation of the new
barbarism—we have only its origins and its effects—has become a kind of
philosophical or literary genre encouraged, as if the purpose of deploring such
barbarism prevents any attempts to change it.
Wow.
One aspect of the philosophy presented in
REALITY OVERLOAD that I appreciate is that it doesn’t claim to provide an
“answer” or, worse yet, a “solution.” What it does offer is an alternative,
negative view of the social forces that are literally tearing the world apart.
Like the great philosopher Krishnamurti,
Annie Le Brun indicates that positivism is not the way to understanding the
destructive forces of society. Those sub-cultural forces must eventually be
negated, not affirmed.
Well, I see my editor motioning with her hand
across her throat, advising me it’s time to wrap things up.
Ok, Ok, already…
I’m done.
[NOTE: The image of the woman surrounded by flames
is called Anima Sola in Purgatorio (Soul alone in Purgatory). The other photos
are of Butoh performances. Butoh is a surrealist performance art form initiated
in post-World War II Japan. I believe that images of this art have influenced
many creative people & projects in the West—including Marilyn Manson,
aspects of the film THE MATRIX, Madonna, and many others.]
Daimonic
Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld
Books
on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries throughout History
Dancing
Into Darkness: Butoh, Zen, and Japan
Kazuo
Ohno's World: from without & within
The
Body Speaks: Performance and Expression
A
Man for All Seasons (Special Edition)
Review: JEFarrow
Updated 2/09