Break – history as paranoia?Don DeLillo’s Libra, storytelling, plots and lies

Marcin SarnekInstytut Kultur i Literatur Anglojęzycznych, UŚmarcin.sarnek@us.edu.plhttp://prac.us.edu.pl/~marcin.sarnek

Political violence in the USA "curses" conspiracy theories Political violence

Abraham Lincoln James Garfield William McKinley Joseph Smith Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy Harvey Milk Geroge Moscone Leo Ryan Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X Edgar Meyers

Political violence in the USA - continued

internal terrorism / militia movements Unabomber (1978 - 1995) Oklahoma Bombing (1995)

religious radicalism - cults People's Temple - Jim Jones (1978) Davidian Branch - David Koresh

(1993) "school massacres"

Bath Massacre (1927) University of Texas massacre

(1966) Columbine High shootings (1999) Virginia Tech massacre (2007)

"Tecumseh curse" Tecumseh

Tecumseh's war Tenskwatawa The Battle of Tippecanoe (1811)

1840 - William Harrison (+1841) 1860 - Abraham Lincoln (+1865) 1880 - James Garfield (+1881) 1900 – William McKinley (+1901) 1920 - Warren G. Harding (+1923) 1933 (1940) - Franklin D. Roosevelt

(+1945) 1960 - John F. Kennedy (+1963) 1980 - Ronald Reagan (attempted

assassination in 1981) 2000 - George W. Bush Jr. (at least two

more serious assassination attemtpts)

The Kennedys Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. Rose Elisabeth Fitzgerald

Joseph P., Jr. John Ftizgerald Rosemary Kathleen Eunice Patricia Robert Francis Jean Edward

The Kennedy Curse 1941 – Rosemary Kennedy, lobotmomised 12 August 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., dies in Operation

Aphrodite 13 May 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marrquess of Hartinton,

dies in an airplane crach 23 August 1956 –J. F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier

Kennedy's, daughter, Arabella Kennedy, is stillborn 9 August 1963 – J. F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's

son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, dies two days after delivery 22 November 1963 –John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas 19 June 1964 –Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, seriously

ionjured in a plane crash 6 June 1968 – Senator Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los

Angeles 18 July 1969 –Chappaquiddick incident: Jo Kopechne, late

Robert F. Kennedy's assisstant, dies in a car crash. The car's driver - Ted Kennedy – withdraws from the presidential campaign in result/

17 November 1973 – Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., Teda Kennedy's son, loses his leg (bone cancer) at the age of 12

25 April 1984 – David Anthony Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy's son, dies after drug overdose

31 December 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy's son, dies in a skiing accident in Aspen

16 June 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., Johna F. Kennedy's eldest son, dies in a plane crach with his wife and sister-in-law.

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (JFK) (1917 – 1963)

the family "clown" poor health PT-109 WW II duty – war hero Representative (1947 – 1953) USA Senator (Massachussets

1953 – 1960) 35. President of the USA (1960

– 1963) Assassination, 22 Nov. 1963

John Fitzgerald Kennedy –foreign policy

Cuba Castro revolution Operation Mangoose Bay of Pigs Invasion Cuban Missile Crisis

June 1963 – Speech at the American Univesrity no "Pax Americana"

June 1963 - Berlin "Ich bin ein Berliner"

Growing involvment in Vietnam

Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX, USA 22.Nov.1963, 1225 P.M.

Map If we are to think seriously about the world we live in and act

in it effectively, we need a simplified map of the reality, a theory, concept, model, or paradigm. Without such intellectual constructs we would be left with, as William James put it, "a colorful and noisy confusion."

To be considered a paradigm a theory has to be better than its rivals, but it does not have to explain all facts which it may be confronted with. As a matter of fact, it never does so.

As John Lewis Gaddis put it, "to find our ways in a territory that is foreign to us, we need a map. Cartography, just like study, is a necessary simplification, which allows us to gather knowledge of where we are and where we are possibly going."

Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of the World Order

Map - A conventionalized simplification?

Map - Mercator Projection Direction / angle: appropriate Shape: appropriate Size / distance: DISTORTED

Map - Mercator Projection Alaska is presented as being similar in size to Brazil,

when Brazil's area is actually more than 5 times that of Alaska

Greenland is presented as being as large as Africa, when Africa's area is approx. 14 times larger

Map - Gnomonic Projection Great Circles (Meridians and the Equator) presented as

straight lines The shortest route between two locations in reality

corresponds to that on the map. Sizes / distances: appropriate Directions / Angles: DISTORTED

MapEvery model or map is a certain abstraction; for certain purposes it will be more useful than for others. A road map shows how to get from point A to point B, but it will not be much help if we pilot a plane. [...] Yet not having any map we for sure will get lost. […] The more detailed the map is the more exactly it reflects the reality. Still, a map with too many details should prove useless for many purposes.[...]In brief, we need a map that both renders the reality and simplifies it in a way that serves our purposes best.

Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations

Map recquires

Convention Edition Coherence

Is history just like that, too?

History of Poland 966-1025

966 – Baptism of Poland

1000 – Congress of Gniezno

1025 – Coronation of Bolesław Chrobry

?

?

Pomerania conquest, Eastern conquests, Battle of Cedynia, Congress of Kwedlinburg, wars with Otto II, alliance with Sweded, wars with Denmark, War with the Czechs, Dagome Iudex, Lesser Poland conquest, St. Wojciech missions . . .

Wars with the Czechs, annexation of Moravy, wars with the Germans, Treaty of Budziszyn, Kiev expedition, annexation of Red Ruthenia, Moravy lost . . .

Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX, USA 22.Nov.1963, 1225 P.M.

JFK assassination the shooting – 4.8 to 10

seconds JFK Killed Gov. Conelly wounded Witness James Tague lightly

wounded from debris The assumed assassin, Lee

Harvey Oswald, shot to death by Jack Ruby, 24. Nov. 1963

JFK assassination – official explanations

1964 – Warren Commission Report: assassination the work of a ‘lone assassin’ – Lee Harvey Oswald, shooting at JFK three times from Texas Schoolbook Depository Building; the final shot lethal.

1979 – US House Select Committee on Assassinations: assassination probably the result of unknown conspiracy;

L.H. Oswald key

JFK assassination – key inconsistencies

Witnessess seing and hearing gun fire from locations different than TSBD

Zapruder Film Magic Bullet Theory Lee Harvey Oswald’s story Jack Ruby’s story Many others…

The archive at least 32 still and movie

photographers on Dealey Plaza – altogether over 500 photographs taken

Efforts made to identify every single person in the Plaza

Warren Report – 888 pages Warren Commission Records – 26

volumes Governmental documents

pertaining to JFK assassination: approx 200.000 pages plus estimated 100.000 pages of classified documents plus an estimated court and Congress record of 1.500.000 pages

The Newman Family

The archive - continued

As of 1979 – approx. 5000 books and articles on JFK assassination

As for 1991 (release of JFK by Oliver Stone) – approx. 10.000 books and articles

Lee Harvey Oswald. . . Shitbird, Ozzie Rabbit,

Oswaldskovich, also spelled Oswaldkovitch, Oswaldskowich, and Oswaldovich.

Harvey Lee Oswald, Harvey Lee, Lee Harvey, Lee Henry Oswald, Harvey Oswald Lee, Harvey Oswald, Leon Oswald, O.H. Lee, H.O. Lee, Leslie Oswald,

Aleksei Oswald, Alik, Hidell, A. Hidell, A.J. Hidell,

Alek J. Hidell, Robert Hidell, Alek James Hidell, Dr. A.J. Hideel, Albert Alexander Osborne, and Howard Osborne.

William Bobo

Lee Harvey Oswald A scar on Oswald's jaw noted on his

Marine Corps physical was not mentioned in his autopsy report.

Oswald was left-handed according to his mother, right-handed according to his brother.

Oswald knew and did not know how to drive a car.

Oswald did and did not have homosexual relationships.

Oswald was "disheveled, unkempt and dirty" and "neat in appearance and dress.”

Oswald briefly had a beard but also had too little facial hair to grow a beard.

Oswald gave public speeches both supporting and opposing the Soviet Union.

Oswald read, spoke, and wrote flawless English and Russian; yet he suffered from dyslexia.

Oswald's eyes were grey, blue, and brown.

Lee Harvey Oswald Oswald was 5', 5'3", 5'7", 5'8", 5'9", 5'10",

5'11", 6'1", and 6'2".

Zapruder Film Taken by Abraham Zapruder on

8mm camera Sold to Life Magazine, copies

made by the FBI Life Magazine accidentely

damages THREE frames of the Z-Film when copying – conspiracy theories emerge

1975 – The Zapruder film shown to the public for the first time

1991 – used as footage in JFK by Oliver Stone – first time available to large audiences

1997 – Z-Film digitally restored

‘Break’

Breaking narratives of authorities: Discontinuities Inconsisitencies Mutually exclusive evidence DISORDER

‘Break’

Jacques Lacan Frederic Jameson

. . . the breakdown of the relationships of signifiers between themselves, of the "signifying chain" formed by experience/common sense.

‘Break’

How do I know it is the same ship. . . ?

if nobody was watching. . . ?

‘Break’

Jacques Lacan Frederic Jameson

Schizophrenia is defined as the breakdown of the relationships of signifiers between themselves, of the "signifying chain" formed by experience/common sense.

JFK assassination in American fiction Winter Kills, Richard Condon American Tabloid, James Ellroy The Cold Six Thousand, James

Ellroy Libra, Don Delillo Illuminatus! The Trilogy,

Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

Idle Warriors, Kerry Thornley

Don DeLillo Americana (1971) End Zone (1972) Great Jones Street (1973) Ratner's Star (1976) Players (1977) Running Dog (1978) Amazons (1980) (under pseudonym "Cleo

Birdwell") The Names (1982) White Noise (1985) Libra (1988) Mao II (1991) Underworld (1997) The Body Artist (2001) Cosmopolis (2003) Falling Man (2007) Point Omega (2010)

Don DeLillo, Libra Plots Oswald’s story Everett’s story Branch’s story

Libra’s story

Oswald’s story

Man and history Oswald is a writer Historic Diary Oswald is a creation

Everett’s story

Logic of plots Everett is a writer Oswald is a creation Plot is a creation Chance and history

Branch’s story

complete secret history of JFK assassination

the archive stories within stories within stories Branch is a writer How to tell the story?

Libra’s story Men sitting alone in rooms, plotting,

creating stories, writing History / historiography Historian / writer Fact / fiction Can history be told?