I wonder if some of these disputes can be narrowed. On WB I'm in enthusiastic agreement with Max and Louis on the subversive nature of his work and its comic intelligence. One of the things that may have made Burroughs and Ginsburg more insightful than say Kerouac is that they were gay men, & were willing to think through what that meant w/o apology. _On the Road_ by contrast has a boy's-adventure quality to it that, while not devoid of homoerotic qualities, still takes the patriarchal family as a norm from which their road trip is a sort of vacation. Jim C really raises a much broader question of what we should ask of artists. I'd argue that we should be grateful if, as with Fela Kuti's work, there is something unsettling in what an artist offers. There's always been a fine line between rebellion and just copping an attitude & it's the latter that gets commodified. Best, Colin
