Every man is the enemy of his country○Basis of book, reason Daniel focuses on government tortureEvery country is the enemy of its citizens○"The final existential condition is citizenship." p. 71•Evidence against them came from Ethel's brother, Greenglass, who confessed to being a spy and claimed to have given them nuclear secrets and conspiring with them in their house□The only incriminating evidence came from a spy who was seeking judicial leniencyThey were convicted for treason and killed□FBI arrested the Rosenbergs and indicted them for conspiracy to transfer nucleear secrets to the SovietsThe 2 Rosenberg orphans were adopted by the composer of Strange Fruit, Abel Meeropol (under the pseudonym Lewis Allan)◊Meeropol died in 1986◊In 1940, due to song/poem Strange Fruit, and his Communism, Meeropol (a NY teacher) was brought to trial◊215 people were indicted under the Smith Act (anti-American activities act)The children became politically active and wrote of their parents' innocenceThere had to be hysteria to get support for the Korean War□"This death sentence is not surprising. It had to be."Ethel Rosenberg had been framed, Greenglass recanted his testimonyAmerican history wasn't consciously the focus of his work, but a slice of time that is valuable○Author introduces real historical figures side-by-side with fictional characters□Selig Mindish stands for GreenglassThe fictional Isaacsons have children Daniel and Susan○Book of Daniel is based on the Rosenberg trial•Using corporate media techniques in lieu of a movement□Levitation of Pentagon would have secondary effect of ending the war in Vietnam□Joy and uniqueness of an era expressed in that protestThe problem with the Isaacsons was: they bought into the setting of the trial when they should have acknowledged the ridiculous mockery of justice that it was - according to SternlichtReuben went to court for un-American activities in a rented American Revolution costume and blew bubbles at the judges□Yippies: used protest as theaterMarch on Washington was met with Federal soldiers and violenceOctober 1967 - levitation of the Pentagon○Predecessors of in-your-face protestsAbsurdist response to absurdist reality of war○Represented a society free from property/buying/sellingHanded out free food and set up free food "stores"□Combined street theater with socialist activityDiggers were group in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district○Daniel writes a book in the midst of the Columbia protests in a library on the campus•Biblical Daniel="Seer": gift of interpreting dreams of Babylonian kings○Daniel writes a book foreseeing the revolution of American culture that he believes will occur (as many students of the time believed)Has apocalyptic visions○Book of Daniel•Not many degrees lower before there is no lifeNot outrageUnion of 5 senses and all feelings◊Reminescent of SeptimusInviability of self/lifeThought to be bad luck because of modern man's mistaking self-sufficiency for death◊5 points of star lead inwardSilence of the starfish□Susan's transformation into a starfish1.Daniel becomes attracted to that response (when mocking it for others)Intertia kid represents total disconnection of the senses◊Total dependence on system◊Total compliance◊Has to detach his heart musclesGiven up any volition of his own, always must be arranged by others□5-part park (like 5-pointed star)Exit Through Gift Shop: quintessential meaning of purchaseIt is Mindish's favorite ride–Mindish: ultimate Disneyland customer, catatonic, repetitive, totally dependent and compliant–Richfield Autopia: offers illustion of steering behind the wheelDebased and pre-digested American mythology of America for mass consumption◊Self-contained world symbolic of American past, present and futureDisneyland□"The Inertia Kid"2.Society is a put-on, so put on the put-onLevitation of the PentagonLike Susan's starfish, but with light (that projects outward)□Arty Sternlicht (Art Starlike)3.Strategies to address○Responses that are available to the citizen that realizes the adversarial relationship to his own country•Professor Lorsch: Book of DanielTuesday, April 29, 201410:12 PM C+E Humanities Page 1Overthrow the US with images, kill with flowers◊Levitation of the PentagonBad landlord→covering up holes in the wall with images in AmericaCollage="God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it" - writing in Nebuchadnezzar's wall that Daniel interprets in the Bible◊Knew that Holden Caulfield = Che GuevaraTeacher assigning Catcher in the Rye in class◊Girlfriend (Baby)'s collage of various images which yield America and redirect the imagesSusan dies of failure of analysis□No monstrousness can't be made reasonable–Good and evil are constructedMaybe one can fight oppression of the government with art◊Inspired to find light; ArtAfter meeting with Sternlicht, he begins writing his doctoral thesis□Has to find midway between Susan's total connection and Inertia Kid's total complianceDuty to investigate recesses of criminal society○Private "I" - Daniel=Criminal of Perception•Both are biased, arbitrary, given power to do harm: political constructionsWrites in different voices/tones/styles of language○There's something wrong with Americans in their failure to apprehend the relationship between art and politics○Daniel illustrates political art•New group of outcasts - black people - are just as alienated as the Jewish Communists who used to live there□Their childhood neighborhood has become a slumThe House○Both die, both failIsaacsons and Susan□Blend people who have no hope of winning (Isaacsons) with those who reject the system altogether (Susan)The Funeral○Doctorow indicates that Daniel's book is more promising than student activists' "liberation"Daniel forced to leave the library he's writing his book in□Columbia University's "liberation"The Library○Three Endings•Idealism, not ejection, from library○Ends with a quote from the Bible:• C+E Humanities Page
View Full Document