Bobbi Lurie
For / With Marcel Duchamp
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Spring in New York, thinking of Duchamp ... what would he say if he knew of the censorship ... of such simple things ... out of fear of death ... I remembered his remorse at evading The War "I was a deserter," said Duchamp. "I should have worked for La Resistance .... "
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I spoke about political correctness and loss of language to describe confusion in America ... but Duchamp always cut me off whenever I referred to anything less than the fourth dimension.
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“Let’s not talk about it. I don’t know anything about it, I don’t understand anything about politics, and I say it’s really a stupid activity, which leads to nothing. Whether it leads to communism, to monarchy, to a democratic republic, it’s exactly the same thing, as far as I’m concerned. You’re going to tell me that men need politics in order to live in society, but that in no way justifies the idea of politics as a great art in itself. Nevertheless, this is what politicians believe; they imagine themselves doing something extraordinary! It’s like little notaries, like my father. The politician’s style is something like the notary’s. I remember my father’s legal papers; the language was killingly funny; the lawyers in the United States use the same language. I don’t go for politics.”
Bobbi Lurie is the author of four poetry collections, most recently the morphine poems, (Otoliths). She is currently working on a book about Marcel Duchamp.
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For / With Marcel Duchamp
I spoke about political correctness and loss of language to describe confusion in America ... but Duchamp always cut me off whenever I referred to anything less than the fourth dimension.
“Let’s not talk about it. I don’t know anything about it, I don’t understand anything about politics, and I say it’s really a stupid activity, which leads to nothing. Whether it leads to communism, to monarchy, to a democratic republic, it’s exactly the same thing, as far as I’m concerned. You’re going to tell me that men need politics in order to live in society, but that in no way justifies the idea of politics as a great art in itself. Nevertheless, this is what politicians believe; they imagine themselves doing something extraordinary! It’s like little notaries, like my father. The politician’s style is something like the notary’s. I remember my father’s legal papers; the language was killingly funny; the lawyers in the United States use the same language. I don’t go for politics.”
Bobbi Lurie is the author of four poetry collections, most recently the morphine poems, (Otoliths). She is currently working on a book about Marcel Duchamp.