WPC& 2B Z\ hX 2 __ LaserWriterAPLASIIN.PRSx  @hhhhWsX@!|=Sincerely(I)ly Indented Signoffn^ XX XppX X Xxx!X&X((+X0Sincerely,ƀ% XX XppX X Xxx!X&X((+X0Len Hatfield,ƀ% XX XppX X Xxx!X&X((+X0Associate Professorƀ% 2t`uDaterLetter Date & setupkэ hX(   D3 1, 4D Best/ProfSignoff(yT Best, Len Hatfield Assoc. 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Logocentrism and idealism, theology, all supports of the repressive society. Property's pillars. Reason which always homogenizes and reduces, represses and unifies phenomena or actuality into what can be perceived and so controlled. The subjects, us, are now stable and socializable. Reason is always in the service of the political and economic masters. It is here that literature strikes, at this base, where the concepts and actings of order impose themselves. Literature is that which denounces and slashes apart the repressing machine at the level of the signified. . . . [The German Romantics] cut through conservative narcissism with bloody razor blades. They tore the subject away from her subjugation to her self, the proper; dislocated you the puppet; cut the threads of meaning; spit at all mirrors which control.(#  G>|% `!(#(EoS: 12) #NX  Pg9C{P# This comment, following and perhaps inhabiting Abhor's dream of "blood lying over the ocean," marks one of those discursive moments when the speaker seems much less engaged in a stream of consciousness narration and more in offering a  _H' philosophical analysis of Western culture. But like other passages in EoS, and even though it is highly philosophical in tone, this'0*((@@ one departs from the strict linearity of "correct grammar" and syntax, fragmenting the coherencies of such language in its compressed urgency to examine the critique of "pure reason" (via Immanuel Kant, the arch German Romantic). The claims here are pretty clear: reason serves to provide a framework for repression and exploitation, both in the psychological sense of these terms (psychological repression keeps the "unknowable" that way and enables self and otherexploitation in narcissism, masochism and sadomasochism) and in their social sense (creation of personal, familial, tribal, and larger forms of class identity; creation and exploitation of property and wealth, with their necessary consequences in law, order, class warfare, and political control and murder). But notice how handily this set of sentences links together unity (phenomena are all ONE, the parts of me are my SELF), the subject (both the agent and the one subjugated), with narcissism (desire/love of the projected/reflected/idealized selfasOther), and what this complex system has usually defined as "meaning"a stable, controlled, unified, identifiable, relation  _H| between signifier and signified: one word, one thing; the Minister's great computer project in Hoffman; the system that's broken  _H# into fragments before Abhor/Thivai begin their "narratives" in EoS. How is it appropriate for so inappropriate a speaker as Abhor to enunciate literature? In what respects do her sayings demonstrate a tearing away of the subject from the proper, a dislocation of her (and you the reader) the puppet, a spitting at all mirrors (narcissistic reflectors) which control?? ============================= [Michelle] This is one of the most insane books that I've ever read! Although the title prepares the reader for a lack of order and reason, I found myself searching for these qualities everywhere. The characters are basically lifeless, numb. They have no passion, show no emotion . They're obsessed with death, violence, sex, hate, drugs, and war. Their only desires are sexual and masochistic. The spread of disease throughout the world emphasizes the idea of death , decay, and destruction of society. Acker touches upon the idea of history repeating itself--"nothing ever changes"; "everything happens again"; "we are what our fathers make us." The world will always be confronted with war, disease, and hatred. These situations are magnified in Empire of the Senseless . They lead into the concept of identity and how the actions of our ancestors, as well as events in our childhood, shape who we are as adults. Obviously Acker was influenced tremendously by William Gibson's Neuromancer. It is no coincidence that Abhor, a cyborg with code name WINTER, is sent by her boss to recruit Thivai (a man living in Chiba who is disturbed by nightmares and hallucinations) in much the same way that Molly recruits Case. In return for services, Dr Schreber will give Thivai a shot containing the enzyme needed to cure his psychosis. Other similarities, including the modern terrorists and AIs, bring Gibson to mind. ================================= [Stefan] Kathy Acker and her Empire of the Senseless leaves me quite bored with sex and not really giving a damn about the characters. I see this empire as one similar to the Roman empire at its end, i.e. disjointed and about to crumble. This empire is senseless in two aspects: 1) without sense, as in the five basic senses while it's true that everybody is gettin' it on, her descriptions lack the sensuality and texture of Carter. For Acker, it is simply and blandly fuck, sprinkled with cunt ad infinitum. I don't know if I'm getting sensitized to all the sex, but in Acker's world it is reduced from Carter's titillation to achieve a point, I think, to a level even below an animal function, and often the act is left unfinished. This ties into aspect 2) without sense, as in meaning. Is the meaning that there is none? Then no meaning becomes the meaning. I'm not frustrated with the book, it just doesn't hold my interest, but to save my ass, I would say the book isn't concerned with holding my interest it has a very laissezfaire attitude towards the reader. I wondered about her continual references to Autism, Master, and Death. Webster sez dat autism is a psychological (and what do those zany Psych people know anyhow?) term for a state of mind characterized by daydreaming, hallucinations, and disregard of external reality. Well, in light of our past reading, "external reality" is pretty suspect, so I'm ready to carefully proceed from here I'm not going to pitch the baby with the bathwater, but Acker's clues to any external reality seem to be typified by blatant cracks against President Reagan, although they are phrased to allow one to surmise that this is sometime after he leaves office. I understand that spec'lative fiction critiques, among other things, politics, but this kind of open smack is quite different from the other approaches. Well, the AI WINTER (gee, wonder where Acker kifed that name, plus the MODERNS with their buildingdisabling STROBES?) gives Thivai the code Master and Master=Death, so maybe the only external reality in this senseless empire is death, perhaps a senseless death to match a senseless life. A very powerful image for me was when Abhor (meaning to shrink from in fear, disgust, or hatred, which seems to typify her nature, both towards others and herself) was raped by her father and he was extolling his virtues for both creating and subsequently fucking God. This sets off some mythological bells and whistles, but I can't nail [no pun] the image down. Miscellaneous musings include Thivai's piracy or whatever, since this appears to be another speckleative revamping of'0*((@@ established pirate conceptions/legends; I'm trying to figure out if anything or anyone is being plundered. Tattoos are, in my opinion, a symbol of empowerment, much like the masks in Dr. Hoffman. Technology seems to be ignored for the most part in this story; any affect only serves to splinter and already fragmented world. I don't know. I'm getting as disjointed as this book. So far, I see it as a kind of antibodymind book; I can find no sense of unity or transcendence. ================================= [Stephen] I found the Empire of the Senseless hard to make sense of...Acker has set up characters that are very hard to identify with, more so than Carter's or Gibson's characters. The first thing I notice when looking at the crew of Empire of the Senseless is that their rational, thinking selves are very divorced from their desires. Acker endows her characters with desires that come across as birth defects or diseases. I mean, why is it that most of the cast likes to have sex with young children? Acker repeats over and over that the cunt is dead. Along with that, she suggests that most forms of sexuality are dead, or exhausted. Implicit here seems that our culture is what does this. I find that Acker mentions sexuality very often mixed with capitalist language. I want to think that she is saying that our economic culture shapes and dominates the ways in which we experience our simplest forms of thought and expression. Something that was problematic for me was Acker's continual shift in perspective of the narration. For example-when the pirates were doing their thing on the ship, I found it hard to figure out who was doing what to whom. She also switches verb tense with such agility that I found it difficult to place action in perspective. The bit on page sixty-five about "Mentality is the mirror of physicality. The body is a mirror of the mind. A mirror image is not exactly the same as what is mirrored." to be reminiscent of the theme of the epigraphic, but on an organismic level. The body can point to what is going on in the mind, supplant it so to speak, but certainly not where all the action takes place. In looking over the similarities between Gibson and Acker, I found myself wondering how they both seem to arrive to the conclusion that terrorism today is divorced from all of it's original socio-political intent. Do they mean that terrorists no longer have specific aims? Are they just out there for fun? Or are they just sick? Somebody help me out on this one. I found Acker's use of language in general to be very frank, perhaps on the verge of overkill. I just flipped the book open and found "Don't touch me but whip my cunt" (94). I suppose I could have found something similar on any page. I don't know just what she intends to do with this kind of dialogue, but it more than often comes across as extrapolations, or exaggerations of social hierarchy. Acker takes the sinister side of these social roles and what is expected of them and sends them all out of proportion. Books such as these tend to challenge my conception of writing and art can and should do. Typically I see the writer as a sort of host during the novel, short story or what have you. I notice more and more into our contemporary writing, authors will refuse to hold your hand through the course of the action. They also refuse to provide a sense of closure. What then does this leave the job of the writer as? Are they there to echo our lives and stick them back in our faces? I felt that I could have gotten almost the same from reading this book as I could have by reading the Washington Post on one of crime's busier days. And according to Acker, since we live in an economic culture that shapes the way we think, I'll go ahead and say it- I could have saved seven and a half bucks if I had just bought the paper. PS-Is there any significance to the non-english verse scratched across the various pages, or is that just there for our viewing pleasure? ================================= [Ted] This is my third Weekly and I am still not exactly sure what I am supposed to be writing about. But as I read Acker a few things came to mind: disgust, repulsion, and just plain sick. These are just a few words that I thought of as I read the first few pages of this book. I don't really see how all of the acts that she writes about can be considered tasteful or even useful as far as literature is concerned. At least the other authors that we have read have had some reason for describing certain sexual acts. But I don't see any correlation between this senseless sexual promiscuity and a reasonable plot behind it. It seems to me as though Acker is using this book as an excuse to write a book so filthy that I would be embarrassed to say I've read it if it were not for the fact that I am reading it for a class. None of the parts that I have read have made any sense to me. The one thing different between this book and the others that we have read is that I know exactly what is going on. Only in this case I kind of wish that I was in the dark because this stuff is totally disgusting. As if the sexual activity is not enough, the author talks about how her father has taught her to insert a razor blade into her wrist just for fun. I don't know how you could ever know if you were good at an act such as this, because it seems to me if you were good at this, you would bleed to death. But I guess that this follows along with the rest of the weird things that are going on in this sick book.