More Than a Million Little Pieces

Separation and individuation are not only stages of development, but also properties of matter--that matter. Remember the old saw about no two snowflakes being alike? How do CRISPER and before that cloning figure in? The expression sheep to slaughter is challenged by the fact you may create identical ones, to eat and clone. When you think about it, the question of duplication is biblical going back to the Adamic fall and later the Arc which might be looked at as proto-Planned Parenthood. How do plagiarism, appropriation and other forms of literary fraud figure in? Clifford Irving is sui generis since he practiced what, in other literary ages, might be termed meta fiction, particularly since he poached the autobiography of someone who himself might be considered fiction. Same with James Frey who wrote a meta-non-fictional tale about his “recovery.” The indignation over this last is a bit dubious since he was only doing what most alcoholics do in the O'Neill masterpiece, e.g. wait for the Iceman to come.

As American As Cherry Pie and AI

 

photo: Francis Levy

Was Horn and Hardart a precursor to AI? Turing cracked the Enigma code. The Turing Test and decryption are central elements of computer science. Fast food also plays a role. Assembly line production tantamount to "bytes" of information. Not to forget Nedick’s and other “hot spot” precursors to Door Dash. Cart or horse? All around life is moving faster though the planet, lacking sentience, won't get dizzy in its own rotation. The ineluctable more is fuels currents that themselves create a new water mark. Sea level is no longer what it once was. AI will not take over. Rather humans need their Alexa if they're going to live on processed cheese. 

read "Boudu Saved From Drowning" by Francis Levy (with a painting by Hallie Cohen) in The East Hampton Star

Curb Your Enthusiasm or Dog?

Gramercy Park 2013

"Curb your enthusiasm" is the sardonic thing one might say to someone who yawns when you’re offering a critique of Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason." Btw in this age of gaslighting a categorical imperative is what Is missing from the current monologue. Larry David is one of a generation of comic antiheroes that make the experience of failure a success. Imagine a Clint Eastwood type dealing with the fact that someone at the golf club hasn’t paid back the $5 and is  belligerently dismissive when reminded. Does the .44 Magnum really fit into this scenario? The genius of both Curb and Seinfeld is that it's one size fits all--with no exception made for heroes.

read "Boudu Saved From Drowning" by Francis Levy (with a painting by Hallie Cohen) in The East Hampton Star

Monsieur Arno

photo: Francis Levy

Everyone has their Arno, in fact their own private subjective view of everything! Isn't that what makes life living? Perhaps not. Even that homily goes in the crapper along with “we aim to please…”--your Seine, your Nile and even your mythic Euphrates (the longest river in Western Asia, running 1740 miles through Turkey, Syria and Iraq, joining the Tigris to Shatt al-Arab before flowing out into the Persian gulf). In the days of Cartier-Bresson, there were the green bookstalls along the Seine and the lovers—who are also a construction of past imaginings. Ecco! Ecce Homo, voila!

read "Boudu Saved From Drowning" by Francis Levy (with a painting by Hallie Cohen) in The East Hampton Star

Taxinatra

 

Emanuele Della Seta (il Duca 40)

Imagine finding yourself in a taxi in Rome with a driver singing "NewYork, New York". Finally you've arrived in Fellini's Roma where everyone knows everybody. Taxinatra (his real name is Emanuele Della Seta and his Duca 40 cab is legendary) is your Virgil this time and every time you stop for a red light, the window goes down. What seems like an ongoing, almost eternal conversation, picks up where it left off. As you approach Termini to catch your train, Taxinatra who turns out to have his own You Tube channel asks if you have cash. "Yes" you reply. "Cash is king." It's a statement one doesn't need English to understand.

read "Boudu Saved From Drowning" by Francis Levy (with a painting by Hallie Cohen) in The East Hampton Star

The Picture of Dorian Gray

At a certain stage you of life a child realizes the birthday cake is for them. The recognition of one’s own visage in the mirror is a similar developmental signpost. However with age these kinds of eye openers fade to the point where one may become surprised and even think “who is that?" as a reflection comes towards them in a store window lining a sidewalk. Unless you're articulately vain you probably stopped looking at yourself holistically. Sure you shave or apply makeup but these involve a facial compartmentalization that leaves little time for evaluation. Moreover what is one to say? “I’ve aged.” Following that the crushing truth is repressed in order that one may perpetuate the delusion of eternal life.

read the review ofThe Wormhole Society by Francis levy and Joseph Silver in The East Hampton Star 

Making Out

photo: Francis Levy

There is a lot of talk about relationships but relatively little about the kind of love that occurs when you can’t get your hands off each other and think about someone all the time. Relationships are currency with one night stands as the now anachronistic penny, culminating in marriage as the Ben Franklin. Before the advent of the euro you had francs and marks and lire. How would these be translated into sensations such as second base or 69? The Breton Woods Conference of 1944 established the international monetary and financial order which is tantamount to what Cialis and Viagra accomplish despite the dulling effect most serotonin re-uptake inhibitors have on desire.

read the review ofThe Wormhole Society by Francis levy and Joseph Silver in The East Hampton Star