Penn State University Press
Review: 'The Last Men'
Author(s): Robin Mackay
Review by: Robin Mackay
Source: Journal of Nietzsche Studies, No. 11, Conscience and Pain, Tragedy and Truth (Spring
1996), pp. 72-73
Published by: Penn State University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20717646
Accessed: 24-10-2015 09:34 UTC
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Mac Daly and Ellis Sharp, "Engels on Video"
"TheLast Men'
Robin Mackay
Engels on Video consists of some eight surrealisticandmeandering tales concocted around
Engels, Nietzsche, Freud, and other figures"famousfor theirfacial hair and authorshipof
strange,difficultbooks'. Itsunique admkture of academic spoof and jauntypicaresque relies on
a steadyfabricationof exegetical and apocryphalephemera. Nevertheless,Daly and Sharp's
of prose
generous use of cod-academic gags, gratuitousjuxtaposition, and unnecessary floridity
may ringa fewbells with avid culturevultures. Yes, at last academic philosophers have their
own brand of postmodern trash.
which anyhow is
That such a volume should takeonNietzsche only adds to the irony,
oppressivelypervasive. For of courseNietzsche has long since diagnosed theauthors' condition:
"Pessimism indecline...as growingeffeteness,as a sortof cosmopolitan fingering,as
Will toPower 10)
"tout comprendre"and historicismf(
This post-MontyPython sensibilityis exemplifiedwell enough by thesubjectmatter alone : an
interviewwithNietzsche's moustache, a search forFreud's penis, Trotsky'smovie career and
Engels' historical critiqueof theanarchic tendenciesof thevideo market "In postmodernist
fiction, anything's
a fact.."
But anyonewho thinksthata level of ironycan save jokes such as thefollowing has both feet
post- infestedcamp site,where a knowingwink
planted firmlyin an aB-tc>o-familiar
automaticallyadds quality to any detritus:
The colossal philosopher loomed above them.
"I hear he's a superman," Bulb remarked,as theyparked by theNO SMOKING sign.
(In thesame story,a "muscularyoung disciple ofLyotard' wears wait for it a leotard).Of
or lack of impetus tocome up with
coursewe aremeant to laugh at theauthors indifference
even
less ideas -we cry,only ironic twistson the
anythingbetter. There are no good jokes left
old ones, and half-funnyjokes which are funnyfor thatvery reason.Both tragic(in theworst
we know,
sense) and cheerful (in themost vapid sense),we wheel out littleinventoriesofwhat
and
blink.
We
we
took
when
at
and laugh thedays
say "irony',
anythingseriously.
thecamivalesque breadthof
Daly and Sharp are undoubtedlyknowledgeable and energetic,and
theirwriting is enticing. Indeed, "Theyare clever and know everythingthathas ever happened :
so thereis no end to their
mockery' (ZarathustraPrologue 5). Unfortunately,thosepassages
72
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forexculpation,not least
which suggest somethingbeyond parodic baiting are insufficient
because theyare regularlyfollowed by theinevitableprosaic ormerely silly deflation ,a
classic device forreproducingtiredcynicism.Genuinely amusingobservationbecomes
unfavourablytemperedby thecitational imperative,and oftendegenerates intosardonic
namedropping.
derive (one characterasserts "I'm a character in an
The latentnarcissismof thisself-referential
a
even
to
stretches
Ellis Sharp story")which
last-pageautoreviewf A POSTMODERN TOUR
sometimessuggests thatthis ismerelywriting for the sake ofwriting. Nietzsche
would have been bothvindicated and disappointed to see the ironicrecyclingof residual values
unfoldwith such a sad predictability.But Daly and Sharp know thisof course, and no doubt it
DE FORCE),
raises yet anothersnigger.
The oversaturationof an age with historyseems tome tobe hostile and dangerous to
age intoa dangerousmood of ironyin regardto itselfand subsequently
mood of cynicism.(On theUses and Disadvantages of
into theevenmore dangerous
life...Itleads an
Historyfor Life)
The only danger here is thatof a comprehensiveneutralization,thesecond-handmiming of
irreverent
destruction,a wilful squanderingof energy.Whether throughblind devotion to
or
ephemera lack of courage,Daly and Sharp have knowinglyfurnisheda finely tunedexample
of everythingthat,throughitsall-pervasiveennui, "inexterrninable
as theflea', self-fulfillingly
predicts the impossibilityof real innovation. It's fun,butmore anodyne thandynamite.
Engels on Video is available fromZoilus Press, PO Box 9315, London E17 4UU
73
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