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Marcin Sarnek Instytut Kultur i Literatur Anglojęzycznych, UŚ marcin.sarnek@us.pl

Dallas’63 and storytelling . JFK  assassination as an exercise in reading of the ‘Great American Novel’. Marcin Sarnek Instytut Kultur i Literatur Anglojęzycznych, UŚ marcin.sarnek@us.edu.pl http://prac.us.edu.pl/~marcin.sarnek. Political violence in the USA. " curses "

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Marcin Sarnek Instytut Kultur i Literatur Anglojęzycznych, UŚ marcin.sarnek@us.pl

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  1. Dallas’63 and storytelling. JFK  assassination as an exercise in reading of the ‘Great American Novel’ Marcin Sarnek Instytut Kultur i Literatur Anglojęzycznych, UŚ marcin.sarnek@us.edu.pl http://prac.us.edu.pl/~marcin.sarnek

  2. Political violence in the USA • "curses" • conspiracytheories • Politicalviolence • Abraham Lincoln • James Garfield • William McKinley • Joseph Smith Jr. • John Fitzgerald Kennedy • Robert Francis Kennedy • HarveyMilk • GerogeMoscone • Leo Ryan • Martin Luther King Jr. • Malcolm X • Edgar Meyers

  3. Political violence in the USA - continued • internalterrorism / militiamovements • Unabomber (1978 - 1995) • Oklahoma Bombing (1995) • religiousradicalism - cults • People'sTemple - Jim Jones (1978) • DavidianBranch - David Koresh (1993) • "schoolmassacres” and other mass shootings • Bath Schooldisaster (1927) • University of Texasmassacre (1966) • Columbine High shootings (1999) • Fort Hood shooting (2006) • Virginia Tech massacre (2007) • Aurora shooting (2012) • Newtownshooting (2012) • Charleston churchshooting (2015) • Orlando nightclub shooting (2016)

  4. "Tecumseh curse" • Tecumseh • Tecumseh's war • Tenskwatawa • TheBattle 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 (attemptedassassinationin 1981) • 2000 - George W. Bush Jr. (at leasttwoseriousassassinationattemtpts)

  5. The Kennedy Curse • 1941 – Rosemary Kennedy, lobotmomised • 12 August 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., diesinOperationAphrodite • 13 May 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marrquess of Hartinton, dies in anairplanecrash • 23 August 1956 –J. F. Kennedy andJacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's,daughter, Arabella Kennedy, isstillborn • 9 August 1963 – J. F. Kennedy andJacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, diestwodaysafterdelivery • 22 November 1963 –John F. Kennedy assassinatedin Dallas • 19 June 1964 –Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy,seriouslyinjured in a planecrash • 6 June1968 – Senator Robert F. Kennedyassassinatedin Los Angeles • 18July1969 –Chappaquiddickincident: Jo Kopechne, late Robert F. Kennedy'sassisstant, diesin a car crash. The car's driver - Ted Kennedy – withdraws from the presidentialcampaign in result • 17November 1973 – Edward M. Kennedy, Jr.,Teda Kennedy's son, loses his leg (bonecancer) attheage of 12 • 25April 1984 – David Anthony Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy's son,diesafterdrugoverdose • 31December 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy's son, diesin a skiingaccidentin Aspen • 16June 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., Johna F. Kennedy'seldest son, dies in a planecrash with his wife and sister-in-law. • September 16, 2011—Kara Kennedy died of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club. • May 16, 2012—Mary Richardson Kennedy committed suicide on the grounds of her home in Bedford, Westchester County, New York. • July 13, 2012 - Kerry Kennedy sideswiped a tractor trailer on Interstate 684 in Westchester County while under the influence of zolpidem, which Kennedy stated she had mistaken for her daily thyroid medication.She was acquitted on all charges on February 28, 2014.

  6. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (JFK) (1917 – 1963) • thefamily "clown" • poorhealth • 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

  7. John Fitzgerald Kennedy –foreign policy • Cuba • Castro revolution • OperationMangoose • Bay of PigsInvasion • CubanMissileCrisis • June 1963 – Speech attheAmericanUnivesrity • no "Pax Americana" • June 1963 - Berlin • "Ich bineinBerliner" • GrowinginvolvmentinVietnam

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

  9. JFK assassination • theshooting – 4.8 to 10 seconds • JFK Killed • Gov. Conellywounded • Witness James Taguelightlywoundedfromdebris • Theassumedassassin, LeeHarvey Oswald, shot to death by Jack Ruby, 24. Nov. 1963

  10. JFK assassination – official explanations • 1964 – Warren Commission Report: assassinationthework of a ‘loneassassin’ – LeeHarvey Oswald, shootingat JFK threetimesfromTexasSchoolbookDepositoryBuilding; thefinalshotlethal. • 1979 – US House Select Committee on Assassinations: assassinationprobablytheresult of unknownconspiracy; • L.H. Oswald key

  11. JFK assassination – key inconsistencies • Witnessessseingandhearinggunfirefromlocationsdifferentthan TSBD • Zapruder Film • MagicBulletTheory • LeeHarveyOswald’s story • Jack Ruby’s story • Many others…

  12. The archive • atleast 32 stillandmoviephotographersonDealeyPlaza – altogetherover500 photographstaken • Effortsmade to identifyevery single person inthePlaza • Warren Report – 888 pages • Warren CommissionRecords – 26 volumes • Governmentaldocumentspertaining to JFK assassination: approx200.000 pages plus estimated100.000 pages of classifieddocuments plus anestimatedcourtandCongressrecord of 1.500.000pages

  13. The Newman Family

  14. The archive - continued • As of 1979 – approx. 5000 booksandarticleson JFK assassination • As for 1991 (release of JFK by Oliver Stone) – approx. 10.000 booksandarticles

  15. Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) • 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

  16. 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;yethe suffered from dyslexia. • Oswald's eyes were grey, blue, and brown.

  17. Lee Harvey Oswald • Oswald was 5',5'3",5'7", 5'8", 5'9", 5'10",5'11",6'1",and6'2".

  18. Zapruder Film • Taken by Abraham Zapruderon 8mm camera • Sold to LifeMagazine, copiesmade by the FBI • LifeMagazineaccidentelydamages THREE frames of the Z-Film whencopying – conspiracytheoriesemerge • 1975 – TheZapruder film shown to thepublic for thefirsttime • 1991 – used as footageinJFK by Oliver Stone – firsttimeavailable to largeaudiences • 1997 – Z-Film digitallyrestored

  19. ‘Break’ • Breakingnarratives of authorities: • Discontinuities • Inconsisitencies • Mutuallyexclusiveevidence • DISORDER

  20. ‘Break’ • Jacques Lacan • Frederic Jameson . . . the breakdown of the relationships of signifiersbetweenthemselves, of the "signifying chain" formed by experience/common sense.

  21. if nobody was watching. . . ? ‘Break’ How do I know it is the same ship. . . ?

  22. ‘Break’ • JacquesLacan • Frederic Jameson Schizophreniaisdefined as the breakdown of the relationships of signifiersbetweenthemselves, of the "signifying chain" formed by experience/common sense.

  23. 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 • 11/22/63, Stephen King

  24. 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)

  25. Don DeLillo, Libra • Plots • Oswald’s story • Everett’s story • Branch’s story • Libra’s story

  26. Oswald’s story • Man and history • Oswald is a writer • Historic Diary • Oswald is a creation

  27. Everett’s story • Logic of plots • Everett is a writer • Oswald is a creation • Plot is a creation • Chance and history

  28. 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?

  29. Libra’s story • Men sitting alone in rooms, plotting, creating stories, writing • History / historiography • Historian / writer • Fact / fiction • Can history be told?

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