I spent several days pondering Laila Lalami's essay at Powells.com (Fiction in the Age of Poverty) because she struck a chord: I could not recall the last book I read that dealt with poverty on a serious level. The closest I came was Our Napoleon in Rags, and Carrie and Gwenda invited me to horn in on their discussion.
It is overstating the obvious to note that Napoleon is quixotic. Kirby Gann makes that clear in the first sentence -- you are not entering a real world with real problems. Gwenda quoted the author as saying:
And there’s no specific “message” the novel is trying to put across to the reader; what I intended was to raise questions about what sort of commitments should we make to our community, what is within our power to change -- on a personal level; the primary thematic question in my mind during the writing of the book was what do we owe one another?
The novel isn’t intended to answer any of these questions; novels that claim to have answers tend to be bad ones. Finding worthwhile questions that one can put forth dramatically, in a narrative, is very hard and time-consuming work (for me at least). So my limited activism has dwindled to nothing but the writing.
Laila said this about the recent role of poverty in fiction:
Meanwhile, the poor were stuck with silent or supporting roles. Something very tangible happened to American protagonists in the last ten years. Unlike a great many of their fellow countrymen, they stopped worrying about making rent.
And I've been hearing this refrain since the moment I picked up the book:
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.
Yeah, I had to be the first to make the Dylan connection. Gann's characters live on the fringes of society; many of the major characters have no financial safety net. Haycraft Keebler survives thanks to government checks and (bar) community assistance that supplements him when he inevitably runs out of cash before rent is due. Lambret Dillinger lives on the streets, sniffing glue and turning tricks to feed himself and his habit. Mather Williams survives thanks to the kindness of Romeo and Anantha. Hay and Mather have mental and emotional problems as well.
All of these characters live in a fairy tale sort of poverty. It isn't gritty, it isn't realistic, and it isn't seriously addressed. These characters smell better than they should. I'm not taking Gann to task for this because that wasn't the goal of this novel. Digging into the realities of these characters' existence would have required a wholly different novel.
But, but, but, the title is Our Napoleon in Rags, and I kept wanting a deeper connection between the characters on the page and idea that a certain part of society has nothing to lose. Many of Gann's characters are desperate people, and they are the closest fictional connection I've had to poverty this year. What does it feel like to scrounge for your next meal?
I found this post interesting because it reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a well-known agent. He told me that no one wants to read about poverty. Poverty occurs in "uninteresting" places.
I don't believe this is true. I believe that fascinating people live in the cracks of our society and they are often looked over because they don't look like Paris Hilton or talk the pre-approved jargon.
Although I have not had the opportunity to read "Napoleon in Rags" I give kudos to the author who broke the recurring theme in American literature today of being set in a "safe" environment.
Posted by: Lisa Coutant | Oct 13, 2005 at 04:51 PM
As one who spends far too much time observing humans in all their conditions (and far too much time thinking about these same humans and their conditions), I agree that there's a fascinating and underlooked segment of society. It is also a segment that is uncomfortable on many levels -- there aren't many white, middle class writers who have the experience or imagination to go into this world. I couldn't do it with any degree of versimilitude.
I do hope you read "Napoleon" -- it is a look at a different world that, while not gritty, is outside the normal world of fiction.
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Posted by: Phentermine | Sep 22, 2011 at 03:17 PM