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

1. Break – history as paranoia?Don DeLillo’sLibra, storytelling, plots and lies 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" • BathMassacre (1927) • University of Texasmassacre (1966) • Columbine High shootings (1999) • VirginiaTechmassacre (2007)

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. (atleasttwomoreseriousassassinationattemtpts)

5. The Kennedys • Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. • RoseElisabethFitzgerald • Joseph P., Jr. • John Ftizgerald • Rosemary • Kathleen • Eunice • Patricia • Robert Francis • Jean • Edward

6. The Kennedy Curse • 1941 – Rosemary Kennedy, lobotmomised • 12 August 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., diesinOperationAphrodite • 13 May 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marrquess of Hartinton, diesinanairplanecrach • 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,seriouslyionjuredin a planecrash • 6 June1968 – Senator Robert F. Kennedyassassinatedin Los Angeles • 18July1969 –Chappaquiddickincident: Jo Kopechne, late Robert F. Kennedy'sassisstant, diesin a car crash. Thecar's driver - Ted Kennedy – withdrawsfromthepresidentialcampaigninresult/ • 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, diesin a planecrachwith his wifeandsister-in-law.

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. Map - A conventionalized simplification?

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

13. 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 timeslarger

14. Map - Gnomonic Projection • GreatCircles (MeridiansandtheEquator) presented as straightlines • The shortest route between two locations in reality corresponds to that on the map. • Sizes / distances: appropriate • Directions / Angles: DISTORTED

15. Map Every 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

16. Map recquires • Convention • Edition • Coherence Is history just like that, too?

17. 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 . . . ? History of Poland 966-1025 • 966 – Baptism of Poland • 1000 – Congress of Gniezno • 1025 – Coronation of Bolesław Chrobry

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

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. 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

23. The Newman Family

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

25. 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

26. 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.

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

28. 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

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

30. ‘Break’ • JacquesLacan • FredericJameson . . . the breakdown of the relationships of signifiersbetweenthemselves, of the "signifying chain" formed by experience/common sense.

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

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

33. 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

34. 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)

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

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

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

38. 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?

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