[lbo-talk] getting back to criticism

[Mike Beggs]

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 12:49 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Dec 11, 2010, at 7:14 PM, Mike Beggs wrote:
>
>> if you respect his music you ought to
>> reject his version of Marxism?
>
> Why? Pound wrote some great poetry and he was a fascist.

But Cardew's political writing is about the politics of music. You can
consistently agree with Pound's politics and think his poetry is
great, but you can't agree with Cardew's and think his early music is
respectable. The argument was implicitly not just that Stockhausen
Serves Imperialism, but that Stockhausen and the Early Cardew Serves
Imperialism. And this was made explicit in the book of essays in which
'Stockhausen Serves Imperialism' was printed: Chapter 4 is
'Self-criticism: Repudiation of Earlier Works'.

Of course, I'm all for enjoying the music and rejecting the
politics... just as with Pound.

Mike Beggs