The State is the Great Forgetter - The Anarchist Library

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The State is the Great Forgetter
RexrothandGoodmanasAntecedentsofCultural
Ecology,PoliticalEcology,andtheNewCultural
Geography
Gregory Knapp
GregoryKnapp
TheStateistheGreatForgetter
RexrothandGoodmanasAntecedentsofCulturalEcology,
PoliticalEcology,andtheNewCulturalGeography
1997
Retrievedon1January2003fromuts.cc.utexas.edu
theanarchistlibrary.org 1997

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
LifeandWorkofGoodman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Environmentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CulturalGeography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
CulturalEcology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
UrbanismandPoliticalGeography . . . . . . . . . . 11
RelationshiptoOtherIntellectualFigures . . . . . . 13
LifeandWorkofRexroth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
SanFranciscoCultureandRenaissance . . . . . . . 15
Environmentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CulturalGeography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
CulturalEcology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
UrbanismandPoliticalGeography . . . . . . . . . . 22
RexrothandGoodman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3
Rexroth, Kenneth. 1971c. Your Move, Mayor. San Francisco Maga-
zine (November)
Rexroth,Kenneth.1972a.AtLarge.SanFranciscoMagazine (June)
Rexroth,Kenneth.1972b.RadioBroadcast.KPFAbroadcast(Novem-
ber12)
Rexroth,Kenneth.1972c.St.Mary’s,AStrangeCathedral.SanFran-
ciscoMagazine (February)
Rexroth, Kenneth. 1973a. Behind the Silence. San Francisco Maga-
zine (March)
Rexroth,Kenneth.1973b.TheElasticRetort:EssaysinLiteratureand
Ideas.NewYork:SeaburyPress.
Rexroth,Kenneth.1973c.TheLastBohemia(Continued).SanFran-
ciscoMagazine (December)
Rexroth,Kenneth.1973d.RadioBroadcast.KPFARadio.(February)
Rexroth,Kenneth.1991.AnAutobiographicalNovel:RevisedandEx-
panded.NewYork:NewDirections.
Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1995. Review of Three Books on Paul Goodman
byTaylorStoehr.TheNation,260.
Stoehr,Taylor.1990.GrowingUpAbsurd—Again:RereadingPaul
GoodmanintheNineties.Dissent (Fall)486–494
Tritica, John. 1989. Regarding Rexroth: Interviews with Thomas
ParkinsonandWilliamEverson.AmericanPoetry 7(1):71–87.
Widmer, Kingsley. 1980. Paul Goodman. Boston: Twayne Publish-
ers.
29
Bibliography GregoryKnapp
DepartmentofGeography
UniversityofTexasatAustin
Bartlett, Lee. 1991. Kenneth Rexroth and James Laughlin: Selected Austin,TX78712
Letters.NewYork:W.W.NortonandCompany.
Gibson,Morgan.1989.ReviewingRexroth.7(1):88–95. Paper presented at the 93d Annual Meeting of the Association
Goodman,Paul.1960[1947].Communitas.NewYork:Vintage. ofAmericanGeographers,FortWorth,Texas,April2,1997
Goodman,Paul.1969.FiveYears:ThoughtsDuringaUselessTime.:
.NewYork:Vintage. Introduction
Goodman,Paul.1970.NewReformation:NotesofaNeolithicConser-
vative.NewYork:RandomHouse. IwouldliketoseethissessionasamemorialtoJamesParsons,
Goodman, Paul. 1994. Crazy Hope and Finite Experience: Final Es- who pioneered many of the concerns expressed in it and indeed
saysofPaulGoodman.SanFrancisco:Jossey-Bass. helpedinspirethetopicofthispaper(Parsons1996).Jimexempli-
Gutierrez,Donald.1996.TheHolinessoftheReal:TheShortVerseof fiedawiderangingintellectwhotranscendedtheacademicworld;
KennethRexroth.Madison:FarleighDickinsonUniversityPress. hewasalwayssearchingformovementsandideaswhichinvolved
Hamalian,Linda.1991.ALifeofKennethRexroth.NewYork:W.W. fundamentalthemesofgeography.Forhim,geographywasexplo-
NortonandCompany. ration and discovery, with unashamed ties to journalism, popular
Horowitz, Steven P. 1989. An Investigation of Paul Goodman and movements and concerns, and the aspirations and intellectual en-
BlackMountain.AmericanPoetry 7(1):2–30. thusiasmsoftheyoung.
Parsons,JamesJ.1996.“’Mr.Sauer’andtheWriters,”Geographical Thisparticularpaperrepresentsaworkinprogress;ifanyofyou
Review 86(1):22–41. know of ideas or sources which may pertain to this topic I would
Rexroth,Kenneth.1952.TheDragonandtheUnicorn.Norfolk,Con- enthusiasticallywelcomeyourhelp.
necticut:NewDirectionsPress. The paper grew out of my interest in alternative, decentralist
Rexroth, Kenneth. 1961. Assays. ew York City: New Directions solutions to social and environmental problems — as part of my
Press. intellectualupbringingasastudentatBerkeleyinthe60s,butalso
Rexroth, Kenneth. 1968. Classics Revisited. Chicago: Quadrangle maintainedbymorerecentgenerationsofwritersconcernedwith
Books. these issues. I have been intrigued, and more recently a bit con-
Rexroth, Kenneth. 1969. Revolution Now! San Francisco Magazine cerned,bywhatappearstobeakindofamnesiaaboutwriterswho
(December) flourishedbeforeabout1975.
Rexroth, Kenneth. 1971a. American System’s Way of Death. San My focus is especially on two writers, Paul Goodman and Ken-
FranciscoMagazine (July) nethRexroth,associatedwitheastcoastandwestcoastintellectual
Rexroth,Kenneth.1971b.What’sGoingoninBritain.SanFrancisco life respectively. I believe both were influential in defining issues
Magazine (October) thatarestillwithus;bothrepresentakindofindigenousAmerican
28 5
non-academic radicalism; and both embody a kind of “revolution- [he] was anarchist” (Goodman 1994: 108). Rexroth had similar
ary hope” which pretty much vanished from the scene after the concerns(Gutierrez1996:10).
VietnamWar. Another commonality was generational. Rexroth was born
Thesewritersidentifiedthemeswhichhaveresonancewithcul- in 1905 at “the end of the great experiment in Modernism” and
tural ecology, political ecology, and the new cultural geography. arguably was among the last to share in the academic ostracism
The early identification of these themes is not just of antiquarian whichmodernisminspired.Adultlifewasspentintheatmosphere
interest; the connections imply that the possibility exists of root- oftheGreatDepressionandtheWar(Tritica1989)PaulGoodman
ing cultural ecological work in American literary and intellectual was born in 1911, and graduated from public high school in 1927;
history,aswellaswithcurrentsinFrance,Britain,andGermany. after graduation from the City College of New York in 1931 he
too descended into underemployment in the atmosphere of the
Great Depression. During their old age, both came to apocalyptic
Life and Work of Goodman
conclusionsaboutthefuture.Rexrothpubliclydoubtedthatmuch
of humanity would survive to the year 2000 due to the threat
PaulGoodmanwasborninNewYorkCityonSeptember9,1911,
of nuclear war. Goodman thought the “probability is high (95
or German-Jewish and middle class origins. A fourth child, his fa-
percent) that atom bombs will destroy my friends and children”
ther abandoned the family — making Goodman a classic radical
(Goodman1994:101).
inthecurrentlyfashionablebirth-orderlogic.Hewaseducatedin
Thecommmonalitiesofinterestsareremarkableconsideringthe
public schools and CCNY, and pursued a bohemian life style in
verydifferentbackgroundsofthesetwowriters.Theywereamong
theNewYorkCityarea,publishingstoriesinthePartisanReview
thelasttoseethemselvesaspartoftheavantgardeofmodernWest-
and New Directions. His first major book, Communitas, was writ-
ern Civilization. Their vision of culture and environment, politics
tenwithhisolderbrotherPercivalandpublishedin1947.Hisbook
and religion, the past and the future contain extraordinary paral-
Gestalt Therapy (with Perls and Hefferline) was published in 1951.
lels with the concerns of academic cultural and political ecology
AboutthistimehetaughtatBlackMountainCollege.Hecompleted
andculturalgeography.Iamuncertainastohowmanyacademic
hisPh.D.attheUniversityofChicagoin1954,andthentraveledin
geographersweredirectlyinfluencedbytheirwritings(Iwasone).
Europe.Hiselevenmajorbooksappearedbetween1959and1970:
Apart from the issue of direct influence, these writers responded
The Empire City, Growing Up Absurd, The Society I Live in is Mine,
toaperceivedsituationofenvironmentalandculturalcrisiswhich
CommunityofScholars,UtopianEssaysandPracticalProposals,Mak-
hasbecomefarmorecommonlyshared.Isuspecttheindirectinflu-
ing Do, Compulsory Mis-Education, People or Personnel, Five Years,
enceshavebeenprofound.Itmaybetimetore-readthesewriters
LikeaConqueredProvince,NewReformation.Duringthisperiodhe
andrecognizetheirearlymembershipinourinterpretivecommu-
taught at Sarah Lawrence, University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee
nities.
(UrbanAffairs),SanFranciscoState,andtheUniversityofHawaii.
He purchased a farm in New Hampshire where he lived intermit-
tentlysince1961.Hediedofaheartattackin1972attheageof61
(Widmer1980)
6 27
cross-culturally negotiable ideals, albeit ones subject to further Environmentalism
refinement(Stoehr1990).
Goodmanwasstronglyconcernedwithecology,andhismainar-
They both were post-Leninist anarchist radicals; but, more im-
gumentsaboutthesubjectwerealreadyformulatedby1960(Stoehr
portantly,bothwerealikeinbeingwidelyreadbutsittinglightlyto
1990)Partofhisattitudeisaformofgeo-piety:
theory.Attheendofhislife,Goodmansaid“Istickprettycloseto
“In a passage that I often repeat, Goethe speaks of that patient
theconcreteandfinite,thatcomesinsizablechunkswitharough
finite thing, the Earth. “The poor Earth! — I evermore repeat it —
structureandanongoingtendencyandisimmersedinignorance,a
a little sun, a little rain, and it grows green again.” So the Earth
void that is sometimes fertile”(Goodman 1994: 39). Rexroth noted
repeatsitGoetherepeatsit,andIrepeatit”(Goodman1994:82).
that “…It is wise to keep the pattern of life clear and simple and
Goodmanoftenreferstohistoricallygivennatureorecologyas
filledwithbeautifulandrealthings”(Rexroth1952:167).
the“Creation,”notduetoanyfirmreligiousbeliefbutbecausethe
Although not averse to the magisterial statement, their pro-
termhasbeeninuseforthousandsofyears,hasbeen“polishedby
nouncements were self-evidently not “politically correct”; indeed,
handling,” is “resonant in a poet’s vocabulary,” and is meaningful
both delighted in the mischievously controversial barb. Rather,
for the highly alienated young. In contrast, secular terms for na-
theirpronouncementsweremeantasthe“barbaricyawps”ofvital
tureleadtomorepedanticandpolemicalconversations(Goodman
personalities in conversation with others. Both did not disguise
1994: 91–92). Similarly, the appropriate language for dealing with
their admiration of authors with whom they clearly disagreed
ecology,nature,andeventechnologyisforGoodman“literarylan-
politically or religiously, and both were capable of transcending
guage”(Goodman1994:132).
their time, place, and culture. Yet both were clearly grounded
By1970Goodmanwasspeakingoftheenvironmentintermsof
and centered in Western Civilization, with which both identified.
“delicate sequences and balances.” A simplified and modest tech-
RexrothcanbeseenasamanoflettersonlymatchedbyEdmund
nologywouldpermit“theenvironmenttopersistinitscomplexity,
WilsonandMalcolmCowleyinhisgeneration(Tritica1989)
evolved for a billion years”(Goodman 1970: 12–13). This and the
Both were also strongly concerned with environment, ecology,
use of systems terminology seems to make Goodman an “ecosys-
city, place. Their concern for geography was often expressed in
temicist.” Elsewhere, however, Goodman makes clear that he has
terms of “ecology.” Thus Rexroth taught geography to workers in
a strong adaptationist, evolutionary perspective. Creation is not
SanFrancisco.
perfect. “The execution is often exquisitely minute. Yet there are
No doubt their academic neglect is considerably due to their
clumsyorunfinishedsentences,missingtransitions,charactersleft
anti-academicism.Bothwererootedinacademiaandevenadmired
hanging” (Goodman 1994: 96). The complexity makes nature un-
it; Rexroth considered pursuing a Ph.D. (Gibson 1989) and taught
predictable,eventosystemsscience;thereforedecision-makingin-
at UC Santa Barbara, while Goodman had a Ph.D. in aesthetics
volving the environment must be decentralized, modest, and sub-
fromtheUniversityofChicagoandtaughtinavarietyofacademic
jecttocontinualadjustment.Inthiscontext,bothpositivistexper-
settings. But they were isolated from the academic community
imentalmethodsandnaturalhistorymethodshavevalidityinap-
during most of their lives (Tritica 1989) Goodman felt that he
propriatesituations(Goodman1970:12–15).
“was excluded from the profitable literary circles dominated by
the Marxists in the thirties and ex-Marxists in the forties because
26 7
Goodmanfavoredbiologicaloverchemicalpestcontrol,follow- during and after World War II. They moved in different contexts
ingRachelCarson.Goodmanreferredin1970toa“tribeinYucatan” but their paths occasionally overlapped. Rexroth was aware of
that“educatesitschildrentoidentifyandpullupallweeds…then Goodman and spoke of him relatively favorably as early as 1945
what is left is a garden of useful plants that have chosen to be (Bartlett 1991: 60,106–115). However, when he met Goodman for
there.”ThisseemstobeagarbledreferencetothegeographerBur- the first time in 1948, he concluded that Goodman was “really
ton Gordon’s recent discovery of orchard-garden thickets (forest a square”(Hamalian 1991: 174). Goodman was also less than
fallow management); since Gordon taught at San Francisco State completely impressed with Rexroth, calling some of his letters
(where Goodman also taught) this is a potential connection with “mythomniacal” in the 1940s (Hamalian 1991:159). The two have
geographicalculturalecology. deep affinities, however, reflected by American Poetry’s decision
to devote an issue (Volume 7, Number 1, Fall 1989) to essays on
CulturalGeography both of them. And on occasion Goodman helped Rexroth out
(Hamalian1991:322).
ForGoodman,cultureisthesetofsurvivalsofpastthought,spir-
Both were anarcho-pacifists, marked by their opposition to
itualandscientificinsight,andwondertobeglimpsedinreligious
American participation in World War II. After the War both
andcivicoccasions,music,art,architecture,thepracticeoffarming,
somewhat reluctantly became interpreters of the disaffiliated —
cooking, child-rearing, and most other jobs and crafts. However,
Rexrothforthebeats,Goodmanforthejuveniledelinquents,both
for Goodman some cultural achievements are higher than others,
forcollegeprotesters.Neitherofthemwereenthusiasticpartisans
and culture must be continually re-appropriated by each genera-
of the alienated young, however, since both felt that the young
tion, a process which is not always successful. Daily life is not al-
were in some respects the victims of their own lack of culture
ways culturally rich. At critical times, young people may choose
(Goodman1994:63).
not to take on any of the major traditions at all. Such times were
Both were only distantly related to existentialism (Rexroth op-
theendoftheMiddleAgesandthe1960s.Goodman’sperspective
posedit).Bothweredeeplyinvolvedwithreligiousideas;Rexroth
onthisisnuanced—hebelievesthatitisbettertofreelytakeona
with sacramental “high church” Anglicanism and Catholicism,
minor tradition which can be appropriated as experience than be
Goodman with Protestantism (the “Reformers” including Luther,
forced to take on a major tradition which cannot. Yet at the same
plus Schweitzer, Otto, and Barth, although he saw himself as
time,manyofthegreatfiguresofWesternCulture“wererealpeo-
an agnostic). Both were fascinated with Eastern religious ideas,
pleandmeantwhattheydid”(Goodman1994:61–63).
although with Goodman this came late in life and was coupled
In more disinterested terms, Goodman accepted “the old prin-
withhisedgyagnosticism.Bothpracticedakindofgeo-piety.Both
ciple of acculturation” that practical techniques diffused rapidly
identifiedwiththenoblegoalsofWesterncivilizationincludingits
while religious, familial, and aesthetic innovations, based on phe-
modern variant, and both argued (Goodman most eloquently) for
nomenology,diffuseslowly.Thisjustifiedforhimhiscombination
theneedtofinishthemissedandunfinishedgoalsofthistradition.
of practical progressivism combined with a fundamental conser-
Bothcontestedtheviewthatnature,includinghumannature,was
vatismandconservationism(Goodman1994:72).
infinitely malleable, and argued that the past created truly noble,
8 25
thestatefromthebenighted“Southern”politicalcultureofLosAn- Vocation is taking on the business of the community
geles(Rexroth1971a)Ontheotherhand,healsoopposedthepost so it is not a drag … If I find what I am good at and
colonialnationalpartitioningofsuchculturallydiverseareasasIre- goodfor,thatmycommunitycanuseandwillsupport,
land, South Asia, Indochina, and Palestine, which he identified as securely doing this, I can find myself further.” Thus it
primarily rooted in post-War British government policy (Rexroth is “lifeless” to be adaptable to play various roles. The
1971b) onlycommonrolethateveryoneplaysiscitizen,“loyal
Rexroth noted in early 1973, the emergence of a new national prideintheplacewhereheisthrown…evenanidiot
political configuration alien to the goals he had striven for all his patriotism of nationalism is better than none (Good-
life.Thisincludedarightwardmovebystudentsandthepress. man,1994:65).
He rejected the explanations that activism accomplished noth-
ing; that students followed their parents into the camp of Nixon; PlacewasextraordinarilyimportantinGoodman’svisionofcul-
that the CIA and Mafia destroyed the movement with terror, co- tureandeducation.“Forthefirstfiveschoolyearsthereisnomerit
optation, and drugs; that activism had gone off into radical rural inthestandardcurriculum.TorepeatDewey’smaxim,forasmall
communes; that the abolition of the draft had removed the main childeverythingintheenvironmentiseducativeifheattendstoit
reasonfor opposition tothe war; that Universitieshavecorrected withguidance”(Goodman,1970:100).Goodmanproposedamodel
all their problems; and that television had finally conquered the of schooling in which field trips and opportunities in the commu-
massmindofthenewgeneration.Hepointedoutthathesawsimi- nityplayedamajorrole.
larquietudeemerginginFrance,easternEurope.Heultimatelysaw Goodman shared Wordsworth’s “good insight of the beauty
this change as mysterious, a generational change (Rexroth 1973a) and morality of rural life.” “The ecology of a country scene is so
LateinlifehebecameincreasinglyinvolvedinvisitstoJapan,and exquisitely complicated … [it] has been so worked over … that it
becamemoredisgustedwithAmericanlife. isboundtohaveunityandstyle,heroicinscale,minuteindetail”
Rexroth’sworkhascontinuedtosellwell,buthisreputationhas (Goodman1994:70).
becomemorecomplexwiththepublicationofamagisterialbiogra- ThisperspectiveonculturestimulatedinGoodmanacontinual
phybyLindaHamalian(Hamalian1991).Thisbiographyrevealed reflectiononarchitectureandurbanlandscapesasproductsofthe
theangryandoftenviolentmanbehindtheimagehepresentedin battle between authenticity and arid structure, means and ends.
his writings; it at once emphasized the magnitude of his achieve- This reflection is most visible in his travelwriting and journalism
mentsandtheflawswhichcausedmanyofhisclosestfriendsand ofthe1950s,especiallythebooksFiveYears andTheSocietyILive
associatestoturnaway. inisMine.
Thefocusin1947wasonfitbetweenarchitecture,plan,andso-
ciety:
Rexroth and Goodman
The background of the physical plant and the
Kenneth Rexroth and Paul Goodman were discontents to
foreground of human activity are profoundly and
modernistcentralismanditsecologicalandculturalconsequences
intimately dependent on one another … Men have
24 9
foughtwarsandshedtheirbloodfor…detailsofplan Much of Rexroth’s earlier social writing is based on the
and decoration. Just so, if we look at the town plan Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft distinction of Tonnies and Martin
of New Delhi we can immediately read off much of Buber. In view of the radical schism between community and
the history and social values of a late date of British collectivity, the appropriate action is to attach the institutions of
imperialism. And if we look at the Garden City plan collectivityandnourishsmallscale,localcommunity:
ofGreenbelt,Md.,wecanunderstandsomethingvery
…Itis
important about the present American era of the
Wisetokeepthepatternof
‘organizationman’(Goodman,1960[1947):3–4).
Lifeclearandsimpleandfilled
Soon afterward, however, Goodman delighted in observing the Withbeautifulandrealthings.
surprisingelementsofchanceandadaptationinthehumanhabitat: Theroundmaybenarrowenough.
The rounds of the world are narrower (Rexroth 1952:
The childishness of St. Mark’s [Venice] comes from
167).
howtheypickedupprettypebblesonallthosebeaches
they plundered. The prettiest are here; the left-overs Later in life, Rexroth called for a “revolutionary ecology of the
are scattered in the other churches. Nothing fits to- moderncity”basedonthecityplanningliterature(likeGoodman,
gether exactly, yet the conception is strong and cun- he stressed the continuity of reformist ideas since 1800). This
ning and the whole glitters harmoniously (Goodman planning would emphasize environmental protection, a coordi-
1969:110). nated system of rapid transit and roads, banning automobiles
fromcertainareas,plannedcommunitycentersintunewithlocal
Hitler’sconcretebunkersthatdotthebeacharepopu- needs, an end to high-rise commercial and residential buildings,
larretreatsforquickielove,agoodexampleofbeating and an attack on crime in the streets (which Rexroth identified
swordsintoplowshares(Goodman1969:112). as “just the slopover” of organized crime) (Rexroth 1971c) This
planning would have to be politically grounded on marginalizing
The Florentine monuments are not very adaptable to
the influence of organized crime, narcotics traffickers, banks, and
communityneed…Nevertheless,theFlorentineshave
especially the small and ignorant suburban taxpayers who were
gone on among them and do not live as if in a mu-
the power base of Reagan republicanism in southern California
seum … it might be seriously worthwhile to question
at the end of the sixties (Rexroth 1971a) Rexroth’s analysis of the
the man in the street and ask … What has been the
political and economic forces attacking the environment was as
effectoflivingwiththeirpastthewaytheydo(Good-
relentless as any political ecologist, but more likely to include
man1969:116).
organized crime and criminal big labor, as well as dysfunctional
cultures and subcultures, as part of the corrupt mix influencing
CulturalEcology
eventsandpolicy.
Goodman saw the human organism and environment in dy- OnemeasureproposedbyRexrothwasapartitionofCalifornia
namicrelationship.“Ifweenvisageananimalmoving,continually toprotectthemoreenlightenedbodypoliticofthenorthernhalfof
10 23