Book Notes: The Book That Dare Not Speak Its Name

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Clarissa

May 3, 2016

I won’t name this novel for fear of attracting trolls but I want to point out that the reason why I love contemporary Spanish literature is that it’s alive. Spanish authors write about the transformations of the global economy, the collapse of the concept of work, the erosion of the nation-state, the rise of the precariat, the impact of consumerism on human relationships, etc. Of course, novelists don’t use this terminology because they create works of art and not sociological studies or political manifestos. But they write about real issues faced by real people. Their art is poignant, it’s powerful because it speaks about important stuff.

It makes me sad that I see nothing of the kind in American literature. All that’s ever published these days is either escapist crap about vampires or some other fantasy genre pablum or endless enumeration of the trivial problems of rich people.

I’m very open to hearing that I’m mistaken and that there are American authors who write about important things. I’d love to be mistaken and hear that people are finding American novels that don’t fixate on mansions and vampire crypts.

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10 responses to “Book Notes: The Book That Dare Not Speak Its Name”

cliff arroyo

May 3, 2016

Perhaps you could outsmart the search engines? One common way to get around taboo words is to copy and paste random cyrillic or greek alphabet letters (that look like latin letters). I think there might be coptic or other similar alphabet letters that could be used too.

For example in the following word: сrazy (uses cyrillic с instead of latin c).

You might have to experiment around a little to find something that doesn’t attract google hits, but it’s probably doable.

You can also occasionall lleps a word backwards (a different one each time)

In other breaking news, I’m back from my last foreign intervention (on the black sea and dambovita river this time). Things were extremely busy with houseguests just before departure which is why I didn’t mention anything beforehand.

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1. Clarissa
  
  May 3, 2016
  
  I’ve been wondering where you were! It’s great to have you back. 🙂
  
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NG

May 3, 2016

Speaking of the “endless enumeration of the trivial problems of rich people”, have you read the cover story in the current edition of Atlantic magazine?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/

This guy who has a home in the Hamptons is suffering so much from a lack of liquid funds that he wrote a story about his secret financial shame. I would be interested in your opinion.

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1. Clarissa
  
  May 3, 2016
  
  Yes, I read it. This is actually the evidence of the great sense of security Americans experience. If you feel comfortable enough to waste everything down to the last cent on stuff you could easily do without, that points to nothing but a deep-seated conviction that you’ll be fine no matter what.
  
  But, of course, leave it to Americans to pity themselves for their lavish lifestyles.
  
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  1. NG
    
    May 3, 2016
    
    Atlantic magazine seems to be on a roll this month featuring articles about suffering Americans. Here’s a quote from another story:
    
    “The recovery is a failure. Donald Trump is an IMAX projection of white working-class grievances, calling America “a third-world country.” Bernie Sanders’s supporters describe a country where poverty and financial insecurity are not bugs but rather features of a rigged economy.”
    
    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/05/the-economy-is-great-the-economy-is-terrible/481020/
    
    These folks should travel to Spain or Greece instead of navel gazing. Like Cliff Arrozo, I’m also back from my last foreign trip. I spent part of March in a gated community called Pelican Bay which is about a mile inland from Daytona Beach, Florida. This very large community has over 1800 homes and two golf courses. There are only two security guarded entrances and the rest of the property is enclosed by a water filled moat which, I am told, has alligators. They take the gators out when they reach six feet because it’s ok for the reptiles to nibble on the locals but bad PR to eat them. The community is populated by rich, white Republicans and in the week leading up to the Florida primary, I saw one lonely Bernie Sanders election sign while all the rest were Donald Trump. No Clinton or Rubio signs. The inhabitants felt that a general election win by Hillary would be an apocalyptic event signaling the end of the republic and those horrible Mexicans/Muslims would rush in to steal their art collections. The mass media i.e. NYT depict Trump supporters as knuckle dragging Neanderthals from the back woods of Appalachia but these folks are well educated and successful. I thought that this was an anomaly until I saw an article in Reuters.
    
    “Exit polls from Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland showed Trump winning about half of Republican voters with college degrees, and over half of Republican voters making more than $100,000 (£68,594) a year.
    
    “On its face, it is hard to believe he’d be improving with a demographic group that has been so averse to his style, his denigrating language,” said Randall Miller, a professor of American politics at Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania.”
    
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-election-trump-wealthy-idUKKCN0XP19H
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      May 3, 2016
      
      Jeez. What an experience! I feel very fortunate to live in a place where even a Hillary sign is considered way too conservative. 🙂
      
      Since a small flurry of Ben Carson bumper stickers, there’s been nothing in this area but Bernie, Bernie and some more Bernie.
      
      “The mass media i.e. NYT depict Trump supporters as knuckle dragging Neanderthals from the back woods of Appalachia but these folks are well educated and successful.”
      
      True! We should abandon facile stereotypes because they do not reflect reality.
      
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delagar

May 3, 2016

You might try Richard Russo. His best book is Nobody’s Fool, written some time ago; but his other books are also good.

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1. Clarissa
  
  May 3, 2016
  
  I loved his Empire Falls.What a brilliant novel. If Nobody’s Fool is half as good, I’d love to read it.
  
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  1. delagar
    
    May 4, 2016
    
    I like Empire Falls too — I think I like Nobody’s Fool better because I read it first. They’re his two strongest books, though, I think. His first three books, which are all okay, just not as good as these two, are all set in the same town as Empire Falls.
    
    He’s also got a novel, Straight Man, set in the academy, which is a lot of fun. More a comedy of manners, though.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      May 4, 2016
      
      I’ll definitely read Nobody’s Fool now. Thank you for the recommendation. This is the kind of literature I like more than any other.
      
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