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PARTI SAN REVIEW
dictated to a typist - a techno logical regression , in a way, to the preliterate
o ral; or else an ascendance to the dominant pri estl y single voice. W ells, by
contrast, was magneti zed by th e mac hin e- world . Imagine him our con–
temporary: hi s study is mo bbed by computer, printer , modem , e-mail,
voice-mail , pho tocopi er, fax, cable - th e co nge ri es and conflu ence of
gadgets and conve ni ences that feed w hat the most up-to-date coll eges
advertise as "communi ca ti ons skills."
The truth of o ur little age is thi s: nowadays no o ne gives a damn
about what H enry j ames kn ew. I dare to say our " littl e" age no t to deni–
grate (o r no t only to deni grate) , but beca use w e squat now ove r the
remnant embers of th e last dimini shing decade of th e dying twe nti eth
century , poss ibly the rottenest of all centuri es, and good riddance to it
(despite moderni sm at th e start and moonwa lking nca r the middl e). The
victori es ove r mass murde r and mass delusio n , W est and East, are hardly
permanent. " N ever aga in " is a po intless slogan: o ld atrocities are models
(they give permi ssio n) fo r new o nes. T he wo rst reprodu ces itsel f; the best
is singular. T yrants, it seems, ca n be spewed o ut by the dozens, and their
atrocities by th e tho usands, as by a copy mac hin e; but Kafka, tyranny's
symbolist, is like a fin ge rprint , o r like handwritin g, no t dupli catable. This
is wh at H enry james kn ew : that civili za ti o n is no t bred by mac hines,
whether th e mac hin es are tanks o r mi ss iles, o r w heth er th ey arc laser
copies. C ivili zati o n , like art its handmaid (read : hand-made), is custo l11-
built.
Let thi s no t be mi staken fo r any so rt of languo ro us pre-Raphaelite
deta chme nt from sc ie nce o r techn o lob'Y , o r, hea ven fo rfend , as a
COI11-
plaint aga inst progress and its
reli ef~.
G ratitude fo r anes thesia and angio–
plasty and air trave l, and fo r fa xes and computers and fi'ozen food and the
flu sh to il et and all the rest! G ratitude, in truth , fo r Mr. G radgrind and the
Facts, and fo r those wh o devise th e Fac ts - espec iall y wh en th ose facts
ease th e purel y utilitari an side of life. Wh at di stin gui shes th e data of
medi cin e and sc ience is prec ise ly th at th ey
ra il
be dupli ca ted : an experi–
ment that cann o t be repea ted will be di sca rded as an unreli able fluk e, or,
worse, as a likely fo rgery.
In
the rea lm o f sc ience, w hat is co ll ec ti ve has
authority.
It
is th e same with j o urnalism : if two repo rters witness an inci–
dent , and the two accounts differ, o ne must be w ro ng, o r must at least
promo te di strust. A uniqu e view , un co rrobo rated , is with o ut value.
W ells, in di sc reditin g j ames, was in pursui t of pu bli c and co ll ec ti ve dis–
criminati o ns, as opposed to th e purely id iosyncrati c; he was aft er consen–
sus-witn essin g, bo th in sc ie nce and society, and a mo re recogni zable
record , perh aps, even of lust and whim . De fin ed po liti ca l and reli gious
opinions, clea r partisa nships, persons definitel y lip to sO l1le spec ifi c imper–
sonal thing.
