Jameson & Becker

[christian a. gregory]

the passage that doug quotes from anderson's book confirms something that
has long bothered me about jameson's work--though i still find it, for the
most part, interesting and provocative at nearly every turn. namely, it
doesn't seem to me that the either the policies of the state *nor* the
aesthetic that accrues to it enter into his work. so, as chuck said, there
doesn't even seem to be a place for defining anything *other* than a
cultural politics. there's no civic realm so-called, no political economy
per se, only an interesting but fiercely hegelian resolution of everything
into signification. which is not necessarily bad--nor, untrue, in the last
instance--however, and apposite to what doug said, it seems important to
distinguish the rhetoric (or the signification) of the end of the welfare
state, for example, from its realities. that's important not only to make
the kind of policy arguments that max wants to make (re: public investment),
but also because that rhetoric also justifies a certain kind of
aesthetic--ie. the apocalyptic conspiracy narrative (x-files, millennium,
*interface* [an interesting novel] etc.).

enough.

hugs,
christian

"It is the world that is excessive . . ."
--Jean Baudrillard