I had a look at
linefacedscrivener’s video on South Texas oil men, which was the world that
Howard wasn’t necessarily that keen on. Oil feeds the habits of an industrial
civilization lit-up by neon signs and running on superhighways.
The one thing
oil wells aren’t is hygienic, which places them at the very onset of the modern
era. I mean, the rough-and-ready aspect of it might not have been that
unappealing to Howard. Still, at the end of the road is the modern city-based
Man of neon.
The Man of neon
has been, in the 21st century, basically a head that is attached to
a hygiene-machine of some type. An electronic device, something that is encased
in plastic or metal so that the inner works are free of air, water (as in a
sterile lab, an infertile environment).
That seems to
imply that, in order to thrive in the modern scene, reality is essentially
hygienic, or else the semi-conductors wouldn’t be as infallible as they are.
“A vagrant
charge,” said Gutierrez, “A speck of dust, a relay too worn to function right,
and how could you ever know?”
“Julio,” said Erdmann. “You know better. If the slightest thing goes wrong with her she stops automatically and asks for attention.” (The Long Tomorrow, page 188)
“Julio,” said Erdmann. “You know better. If the slightest thing goes wrong with her she stops automatically and asks for attention.” (The Long Tomorrow, page 188)
This is the
“electric-green future”, symbolised by new towns like Babcock Ranch (Tales
of Faith 2). What “they” call green is merely the loss of the elegant
simplicity of the irregular lines of variety found on an archaic map.
Pictorial 65
An electrical
future has no theme save that of straight lines, so cannot have variety. All it
has is infallibility. In order to be infallible in the electronic-sphere – one
needs hygiene-machines, then that reality is a hygiene reality. But –Hyborian
Bridge 86- a hygiene reality tends to be mathematically observed, and is
therefore not "real".
The very fact of
hygiene discounts the physical reality that is bound to cycles of lifedeath,
regeneration. The mathematical detail obtained is therefore a hygienic fantasy
– very convincing but false.
To obtain
truthful data one would have to rejoin seasonal cycles of nature. The evergreen
of Gilgamesh that is frightening to the ego; the ego of acolytes of the electric
arc. It’s frightening also because of its pungency. The 19th century
Shanghai of pig farmers (Tales of Faith 2) is a far cry from the Shanghai
of
But the old Shanghai had a decadent character, a grandeur that feeds
the psyche of inhabitants great and small, of wayfarers.
Al Coutelis
Without the physical decadence that defines place (on Earth, not Mars)
the sense of moral existence fades to nothing, and all one can do is shop
(electronically).
The underlying reason seems to be that electronics is a copy
(reflection) and not a physical reality. The physical reality is Earth, and the
theme is Earth’s. The theme that emanates a psyche, powerful, subtle and
cosmic.
Al Coutelis’s La Dame de Singapour
is musical,
kinetic – and therefore emtional, a variation on an earthly theme of flesh,
bone, stars, seas. That is romance; the geographical and oceanic reality of
place on Earth.
A copy or a reflection only looks realistic; there is no room for the
expression of human psyche as a concomitant of the cosmos. Where there is
variety and the strength of psychic existence, opne sees a sublime economy of
line in the signal cultural artefacts.
This is where Weird Tales – and the
covers of Margaret Brundage – takes its place amongst the singular and archaic
psychic emanations of history.
It could be from Knossos (Wild Horses); 19th century Japanese
prints; Isis and Osiris (Hyborian Bridge 48)..the strength of economy
emanates from a place on the map of Earth, floating through the cosmos of
forgotten idols. The theme that is eternal and is invisible to an electronic
empire.
Granada peasant tiles (family heirloom)
Anything that is a copy (reflection) is both realistic and false! This
is the confusion running round the modern globe. I did mention Hong Kong: the
protests appear to be active, but there is no real rebellion, which means
taking over the reins of power (bloodlessly) and pledging to uphold Basic Law.
A rebellion has consequences, or it is nothing. There’s no point
bandying words (or electronic images). A rebellion is a physical act that has emotional,
psychic consequences – or it is nothing , pictures on a screen.
The pictures we see from history, the covers of Weird
Tales, have this physical and psychic aura that tells us they are real. They
exist in the cosmos, they are not copies, they are eternal.