Break – history as paranoia?
Don DeLillo’s Libra, storytelling, plots and lies
Marcin Sarnek
Instytut Kultur i Literatur Anglojęzycznych, UŚ
marcin.sarnek@us.edu.pl
http://prac.us.edu.pl/~marcin.sarnek
Political violence in the USA
 "curses"
 conspiracy theories
 Political violence
 Abraham Lincoln
 James Garfield
 William McKinley
 Joseph Smith Jr.
 John Fitzgerald Kennedy
 Robert Francis Kennedy
 Harvey Milk
 Geroge Moscone
 Leo Ryan
 Martin Luther King Jr.
 Malcolm X
 Edgar Meyers
Political violence in the USA continued
 internal terrorism / militia
movements
 Unabomber (1978 - 1995)
 Oklahoma Bombing (1995)
 religious radicalism - cults
 People's Temple - Jim Jones (1978)
 Davidian Branch - David Koresh
(1993)
 "school massacres"
 Bath Massacre (1927)
 University of Texas massacre
(1966)
 Columbine High shootings (1999)
 Virginia Tech massacre (2007)
"Tecumseh curse"
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Tecumseh
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Tecumseh's war
Tenskwatawa
The Battle 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 (attempted
assassination in 1981)
2000 - George W. Bush Jr. (at least two
more serious assassination attemtpts)
The Kennedys
 Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
 Rose Elisabeth Fitzgerald
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Joseph P., Jr.
John Ftizgerald
Rosemary
Kathleen
Eunice
Patricia
Robert Francis
Jean
Edward
The Kennedy Curse
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1941 – Rosemary Kennedy, lobotmomised
12 August 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., dies in Operation
Aphrodite
13 May 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marrquess of Hartinton,
dies in an airplane crach
23 August 1956 –J. F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy's, daughter, Arabella Kennedy, is stillborn
9 August 1963 – J. F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy's son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, dies two days after
delivery
22 November 1963 –John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
19 June 1964 –Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, seriously
ionjured in a plane crash
6 June 1968 – Senator Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in
Los Angeles
18 July 1969 –Chappaquiddick incident: Jo Kopechne, late
Robert F. Kennedy's assisstant, dies in a car crash. The car's
driver - Ted Kennedy – withdraws from the presidential
campaign in result/
17 November 1973 – Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., Teda
Kennedy's son, loses his leg (bone cancer) at the age of 12
25 April 1984 – David Anthony Kennedy, Robert F.
Kennedy's son, dies after drug overdose
31 December 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, Robert F.
Kennedy's son, dies in a skiing accident in Aspen
16 June 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., Johna F. Kennedy's
eldest son, dies in a plane crach with his wife and sister-inlaw.
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
(JFK) (1917 – 1963)
the family "clown"
poor health
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
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy –foreign
policy
 Cuba
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Castro revolution
Operation Mangoose
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Cuban Missile Crisis
 June 1963 – Speech at
the American Univesrity
 no "Pax Americana"
 June 1963 - Berlin
 "Ich bin ein Berliner"
 Growing involvment in
Vietnam
Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX, USA
22.Nov.1963, 1225 P.M.
Map
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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."
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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.
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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
Map - A conventionalized
simplification?
Map - Mercator Projection
 Direction / angle: appropriate
 Shape: appropriate
 Size / distance: DISTORTED
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 times larger
Map - Gnomonic Projection
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Great Circles (Meridians and the Equator) presented as
straight lines
The shortest route between two locations in reality
corresponds to that on the map.
Sizes / distances: appropriate
Directions / Angles: DISTORTED
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
Map recquires
 Convention
 Edition
 Coherence
Is history just like that, too?
History of Poland 966-1025
 966 – Baptism of Poland
?
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 . . .
 1000 – Congress of Gniezno
?
Wars with the Czechs, annexation of Moravy, wars with the Germans, Treaty
of Budziszyn, Kiev expedition, annexation of Red Ruthenia, Moravy lost . . .
 1025 – Coronation of Bolesław Chrobry
Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX, USA
22.Nov.1963, 1225 P.M.
JFK assassination
 the shooting – 4.8 to 10
seconds
 JFK Killed
 Gov. Conelly wounded
 Witness James Tague lightly
wounded from debris
 The assumed assassin, Lee
Harvey Oswald, shot to
death by Jack Ruby, 24.
Nov. 1963
JFK assassination – official
explanations
 1964 – Warren Commission
Report: assassination the work of
a ‘lone assassin’ – Lee Harvey
Oswald, shooting at JFK three
times from Texas Schoolbook
Depository Building; the final shot
lethal.
 1979 – US House Select
Committee on Assassinations:
assassination probably the result
of unknown conspiracy;
 L.H. Oswald key
JFK assassination – key
inconsistencies
 Witnessess seing and hearing
gun fire from locations
different than TSBD
 Zapruder Film
 Magic Bullet Theory
 Lee Harvey Oswald’s story
 Jack Ruby’s story
 Many others…
The archive
 at least 32 still and movie
photographers on Dealey Plaza –
altogether over 500 photographs
taken
 Efforts made to identify every
single person in the Plaza
 Warren Report – 888 pages
 Warren Commission Records – 26
volumes
 Governmental documents
pertaining to JFK assassination:
approx 200.000 pages plus
estimated 100.000 pages of
classified documents plus an
estimated court and Congress
record of 1.500.000 pages
The Newman Family
The archive - continued
 As of 1979 – approx.
5000 books and articles
on JFK assassination
 As for 1991 (release of
JFK by Oliver Stone) –
approx. 10.000 books
and articles
Lee Harvey Oswald. . .
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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
Lee Harvey Oswald
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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; yet he suffered
from dyslexia.
Oswald's eyes were grey, blue, and
brown.
Lee Harvey Oswald
 Oswald was 5', 5'3", 5'7", 5'8", 5'9", 5'10",
5'11", 6'1", and 6'2".
Zapruder Film
 Taken by Abraham Zapruder on
8mm camera
 Sold to Life Magazine, copies
made by the FBI
 Life Magazine accidentely
damages THREE frames of the ZFilm when copying – conspiracy
theories emerge
 1975 – The Zapruder film shown
to the public for the first time
 1991 – used as footage in JFK by
Oliver Stone – first time available
to large audiences
 1997 – Z-Film digitally restored
‘Break’
 Breaking narratives of authorities:
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Discontinuities
Inconsisitencies
Mutually exclusive evidence
DISORDER
‘Break’
 Jacques Lacan
 Frederic Jameson
. . . the breakdown of the
relationships of signifiers between
themselves, of the "signifying chain"
formed by experience/common
sense.
‘Break’
How do I know it is the same ship. . . ?
if nobody was watching. . . ?
‘Break’
 Jacques Lacan
 Frederic Jameson
Schizophrenia is defined as the
breakdown of the relationships of
signifiers between themselves, of
the "signifying chain" formed by
experience/common sense.
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
Don DeLillo
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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)
Don DeLillo, Libra
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Plots
Oswald’s story
Everett’s story
Branch’s story
 Libra’s story
Oswald’s story
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Man and history
Oswald is a writer
Historic Diary
Oswald is a creation
Everett’s story
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Logic of plots
Everett is a writer
Oswald is a creation
Plot is a creation
Chance and history
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?
Libra’s story
 Men sitting alone in rooms, plotting,
creating stories, writing
 History / historiography
 Historian / writer
 Fact / fiction
 Can history be told?