Gary,

I'm back - at last, you might say if you've been missing my output. The paper is written for now at least. I'll have to come back to it. I just can't get it quite right. Maybe I'll post a version. I'll think about it.

Let me tell you about the conference - or begin to, at least. As you know, I was involved with Wayne and others in organising a conference called "Messianism, Apocalypse, Redemption: 20th Century German Thought". The idea was to involve philosophers and theologians (and anyone else who might have wanted to pitch in. No one did). It wasn't my idea to talk with religious people but I went along with it, just to see what happens, perhaps, or maybe it was for love...

Anway, I could not have possibly imagined that it would turn out the way it did.

Firstly, it required an enormous adrenaline rush from me, which made me high and low, elated and depressed, slow and speeding by turns. Some of it is mixing with academics in such a concentrated way over so long a time. I'm not that kind of person. There was the organisation I had to attend to as well, and the paper.

The crowd was half and half, accies and religious guys. The accies won the day from my perspective. It was an unfair contest. It was priests against university teachers. There was a theologian from America, who was the keynote speaker. He observed but did not really participate. I don't think it would be unfair to say that he was less attracted to a dialogue with the non-religious over questions about transcendence and values in general.

The presentation took one of two forms, by and large: either an history of ideas or an elaboration on a Christian interpretation. One side was proclaiming a philosophy while the other was painting a picture of a certain time - ne'er the two shall meet.

I made my presentation a provocation. I've been practising at being provocative with you over the past so many months. Indeed, my whole presentation was derived from our discussion. You could say that it was an intervention on the part of this web-page into the conference.

I began with the story I advanced to you, about my connection with Medlin, Australian materialism, analytic philosophy, and the need to find an adequate materialist philosophy for the Marxist and other views he pronounced. It was like Medlin in form, as well. He was always provocative.

The reason for this was to explain why Adorno's philosophy was important to me. And finally I intended to give a brief account of Adorno's metaphysics, principally as an example of materialist philosophy. Before I got to this point I was interrupted by the Chair, however. He wasn't the only person concerned by what was happening, although I wasn't noticing this. When you are an actor on a stage you don't see the audience. If you can you are not concentrating.

This was a third, uncredentialled form of presentation. Was it appropriate? Was it of an acceptable standard? Was the old boy losing it? Should they intervene? These were the feelings flowing though at least the people there who knew me - well, some of them at least. The Chair wasn't the only person who though he should act.

It was the precondition for a riot. I'm exaggerating.

I pressed on, thinking 'fuck you! You cunt!'

But I got a little flustered nevertheless. I'm more of a director than an actor. I cut my story short and told a hurried tale of Adorno and transcendence. I pointed out that according to this tale all culture that re-established itself untransformed after Auschwitz was garbage. It was only a short syllogism from there to the conclusion that they were, well, you work it out. According to Adorno it is their culture, that of the academics and the theologians that led to Auschwitz.

There were some questions, of coures, but the shock effect was considerable. They'd been disarmed. We could no longer talk at the conference in quite the same way. It led to enormous intensity of involvement by almost all the participants. Something close to love welled up in many hearts when it was time to say good bye. They didn't want to part.

Anyway, more anon.

Comments

Posted by: marsie | July 25, 2004 7:10 PM