Welcome, summer '25 MALA 6050 students

 We have just six weeks, so our plates are full. Lucky us!

We'll all read three novels* together, and each of us will additionally read and report on either a fourth novel or on a specific author's life and works.** 

"Philosophy" = searching for wisdom, clarity, enlightenment, meaning, perspective, purpose, reality, truth, understanding, ... especially with regard to the human impact on nature, the environment, other species, & other humans.

"Recent" = 21st century

*The three novels:

1. Richard Ford, Be Mine
2. Richard Powers, Playground (see below #) 
3. Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

 

**Possible fourth choices, for individual reports: 

• The Sellout by Paul Beatty (2015) - A satirical look at race and identity that won the Man Booker Prize.
• The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (2022) - Explores themes of memory, connection, and digital surveillance. 
• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (2024) - Considers whether the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past. 
• Any of the earlier Frank Bascombe novels by Richard Ford...
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016) - Explores the lasting impacts of slavery and the search for identity across generations.
• Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (2012) - Explores climate change, ecological disruption, and human responsibility. 
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006) - A harrowing journey through a post-apocalyptic landscape, meditating on survival, love, and morality.
• A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet (2020) - Set in a near-apocalyptic world, it examines generational responsibility and environmental collapse.
• Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (2022) - Dystopian fiction about cultural repression and familial bonds.
• The Overstory by Richard Powers (2018) - A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel weaving interrelated stories about trees, nature, and activism. 
• Bewilderment by Richard Powers (2021) - This novel delves deeply into themes of ecological awareness and the human condition through the story of a father and his neurodivergent son.
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (2019) - Investigates issues of race, privilege, and morality in contemporary America.
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) - This narrative explores human creativity and relationships within the context of gaming and artificial intelligence.
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004) - A profound exploration of faith, mortality, and legacy in small-town America.
• Your suggestions...

**Possible authors,  for individual reports:

• Michael Chabon
• Jennifer Egan
• Richard Ford
• Jonathan Franzen
• Barbara Kingsolver
• Rachel Kushner
• Ann Patchett
• Richard Powers
• Marilyn Robinson
• Philip Roth
• Your suggestions...

# And although it's not by an American, this--with its aquatic theme and broadly humane scope--is a great companion to Playground: 

• In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (2023) - "reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence, looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows how – no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope – we will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home."

 

American Existential Fiction, and Frank Bascombe (from chatGPT's pt of view)

Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer is an excellent example of American existentialist fiction. Here are some additional works that explore existential themes within an American context:

1. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
   A profound exploration of identity, individuality, and alienation in a racially divided America. The protagonist's journey parallels the existential search for meaning and authenticity in a world filled with social and ideological constructs.

2. Richard Wright, The Outsider
   This novel explicitly engages existential philosophy, particularly through the protagonist, Cross Damon, who wrestles with freedom, guilt, and the consequences of rejecting conventional morality.

3. Jack Kerouac, On the Road
   While often associated with the Beat movement, this novel is infused with existential questions about the search for meaning, authenticity, and spiritual freedom in a rapidly changing, materialistic world.

4. Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
   O’Connor’s darkly comic story features Hazel Motes, a preacher struggling with faith, doubt, and the absurdity of existence in a grotesque Southern landscape.

5. Don DeLillo, White Noise
   A postmodern take on existential themes, this novel examines the anxieties of modern life, the fear of death, and the search for meaning in a consumer-driven society.

6. Toni Morrison, Beloved
   Morrison delves into existential questions of identity, trauma, and freedom through the haunting story of Sethe, grappling with the legacy of slavery and her choices.

7. Saul Bellow, Herzog
   This novel features Moses Herzog, a man consumed by self-reflection, grappling with existential despair, intellectual isolation, and the need to find personal meaning.

8. John Updike, Rabbit, Run
   Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom’s existential crisis reflects the struggles of the everyman in mid-20th-century America, seeking freedom and purpose in a life constrained by societal expectations.

9. Philip Roth, The Human Stain
   Roth explores themes of identity, freedom, and the consequences of choices in a narrative that delves deeply into personal and cultural existential dilemmas.

10. Cormac McCarthy, The Road
    A harrowing tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic world, this novel contemplates the essence of humanity, moral responsibility, and hope in the face of nihilism.

These works engage with existential concerns in diverse ways, reflecting the unique cultural and historical contexts of American life. Would you like me to focus on any particular themes or authors?

You said:

Would you include Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe novels on that list?

ChatGPT said:

Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe novels—The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land, and Let Me Be Frank with You—certainly engage with existential themes, though they approach them with a quieter, more contemplative tone compared to traditional existentialist fiction.

Frank Bascombe, as a character, embodies a kind of American existentialism:

1. Alienation and Authenticity
   Frank often reflects on the disconnection he feels from others, the world, and even himself. His narrative voice is filled with introspection about his choices, failures, and the search for an authentic way of living.

2. Freedom and Responsibility
   In classic existential fashion, Frank grapples with the freedom to make choices and the responsibilities those choices entail, particularly in his relationships and professional life.

3. The Absurd and Acceptance
   Frank’s life is filled with mundane disappointments and absurdities, yet he exhibits a kind of acceptance, embodying the existential ideal of finding meaning within the chaos of ordinary life.

4. The Search for Meaning
   Like many existential protagonists, Frank struggles to find purpose, often resigning himself to a life defined by its ordinariness rather than any grand design. His reflections reveal an underlying tension between resignation and hope.

While Ford’s novels might not fit the mold of existentialist fiction as explicitly as works by Ellison, Wright, or Percy, they contribute a distinctively American voice to the existential tradition. Frank Bascombe’s journey resonates with themes of freedom, alienation, and the human condition, filtered through the lens of suburban life and middle-aged introspection.

Would you like a deeper dive into how Ford’s writing aligns with existentialist thought?You said:

Yes, and also please discuss his latest novel “Be Mine”

ChatGPT said:

Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe series—and his latest novel, Be Mine—represent a unique, understated form of existentialism, particularly one rooted in the ordinariness of American life. Let’s explore how the series (and Be Mine in particular) aligns with existentialist thought.

Existential Themes in the Frank Bascombe Novels

1. Freedom and Responsibility
   Frank Bascombe is acutely aware of the choices he’s made and the constraints those choices impose. Whether it’s his career as a sportswriter-turned-realtor, his relationships, or his attempts to "settle into" life, Frank wrestles with the existential tension between freedom and responsibility. His freedom to shape his life often collides with the responsibilities and consequences of his actions, especially in his relationships with his ex-wife, children, and friends.

2. The Absurd
   Frank encounters life’s absurdities—not in dramatic or catastrophic ways, but through the small, often comedic, ironies of existence. His detached, wry observations reflect an awareness of life’s lack of inherent meaning, a hallmark of existential thought. Yet Frank doesn’t despair; he navigates these absurdities with a mixture of bemusement, resignation, and occasional flashes of hope.

3. Authenticity and Identity
   A recurring theme in the series is Frank’s attempt to reconcile who he is with who he wants to be—or, perhaps more importantly, who he imagines himself to be. He is a self-aware narrator, often critiquing his own shortcomings, and this introspection aligns with existentialism’s emphasis on authenticity.

4. The Search for Meaning
   Frank’s journey through middle age and beyond can be seen as an extended meditation on how to find meaning in the face of loss, aging, and the realization that life offers no ultimate answers. His focus on small pleasures, personal connections, and the everyday rhythms of life echoes existentialist themes of constructing meaning in a seemingly indifferent world.

---

Existentialism in Be Mine

Be Mine (2023), the final installment of the Frank Bascombe series, deepens these themes as Frank faces some of the most profound challenges of his life.

1. Confronting Mortality
   In Be Mine, Frank is 74 years old, and the narrative is framed by the impending death of his son, Paul, from ALS. Mortality becomes a central focus, both for Paul and for Frank himself. This confrontation with death—the ultimate existential concern—forces Frank to grapple with the meaning of his own life and his role as a father.

2. The Absurdity of Loss
   Frank's wry, understated humor remains intact even in the face of tragedy. His observations about the absurdity of caregiving, the bureaucracy of illness, and the emotional demands of saying goodbye underscore existentialism’s focus on finding meaning amidst life’s inherent chaos.

3. Freedom and Choice in the Face of Tragedy
   Despite the overwhelming weight of his son’s illness, Frank makes deliberate choices about how to live and how to support Paul. His decision to accompany Paul to Montana—fulfilling a bucket-list dream—reflects existentialism’s call to affirm life even in the face of suffering.

4. Hope and Redemption
   Be Mine strikes a poignant balance between despair and hope. While Paul’s death is inevitable, the novel’s focus on the father-son relationship and Frank’s attempts to be present for his son suggest a redemptive quality to human connection. Frank’s capacity to love and care for Paul affirms the existentialist ideal that meaning can be created through acts of compassion and commitment.

---

Ford’s Quiet Existentialism

Richard Ford’s writing doesn’t traffic in grand existential gestures or philosophical abstractions. Instead, he brings existentialism into the realm of the ordinary. Frank Bascombe is an everyman, grappling with the same questions many of us face: How should I live? How do I navigate loss? What makes life meaningful?

Ford’s prose, marked by its meticulous attention to detail and Frank’s wry, reflective voice, exemplifies how existential themes can be explored through the minutiae of daily life. Be Mine is a fitting conclusion to Frank’s journey, offering a deeply human meditation on aging, mortality, and the enduring power of love in the face of life’s uncertainties.

Would you like to explore specific passages or quotes from Be Mine that illustrate these themesYou said:

Yes

ChatGPT said:

Certainly, here are some passages from Richard Ford's Be Mine that illustrate the existential themes we've discussed:

1. Confronting Mortality:
   Frank reflects on the inevitability of death and the human tendency to avoid acknowledging it:

   "I've reached the point in life at which no woman I'm ever going to be attracted to is ever going to be attracted to me—so the sky's the limit? That for much longer than my son's been sick, I've occasionally waked—as always, at 2:46 a.m., the precise hour of my birth—and wondered: How do you stand it, these dismal facts of life, without some durable fantasy or deception or dissembling?"

   Goodreads

2. The Absurdity of Loss:
   Frank contemplates the challenges of moving forward after significant loss:

   "I gave a thought to travel. Though the problem with travel is eventually you arrive—with your old self lagging behind a few hours or nights or days, and finally catching up with all the same shit on his mind—at which point all you can do is travel on to someplace else."

   Goodreads

3. Freedom and Choice in the Face of Tragedy:
   Frank muses on the complexities of decision-making and the human tendency to avoid actions that might lead to regret:

   "Though finally the worst thing about regret is that it makes you duck the chance of suffering new regret just as you get a glimmer that nothing's worth doing unless it has the potential to fuck up your whole life."

   Goodreads

4. Hope and Redemption:
   Frank reflects on the nature of life and the importance of embracing its mysteries:

   "There is mystery everywhere, even in a vulgar, urine-scented, suburban depot such as this. You have only to let yourself in for it. You can never know what's coming next. Always there is the chance it will be—miraculous to say—something you want."

   Goodreads

These passages highlight Frank Bascombe's introspective journey as he navigates the complexities of life, loss, and the search for meaning, embodying the existential themes that permeate Richard Ford's work. 

https://chatgpt.com/share/6775a634-cd0c-8007-a7c2-d05f263a34ee

The fragment novel

"...William Gass complained about the effects of the American penchant for simplicity on the country’s writing, so often reduced to the meat and potatoes of straightforward storytelling. In the contemporary fragment novel, the inverse has occurred. What a plainly narrated adventure was to Gass’s pioneers, a performance of profundity is to the fragment novelist. Oracularities, the more muddled and gently elegiac the better, are offered as evidence of sophistication. “Can you think of writing as a gaze?” the narrator of Drifts asks her students. “Maybe writing was about being visible when I felt invisible,” she reflects later. “Or maybe writing was about becoming invisible again after having become too visible. Maybe it was both. I wasn’t sure anymore.” Zambreno comes close to clarifying that her method hinges on her resistance to clarity—though of course the method itself rebuffs clarification. “One of the notes I take that spring: ‘vagueness.’ Another: ‘signs,’” she writes. Maybe what this means is that vagueness is a sign of poignance, but then it is not altogether clear what it means. After all, why think when you can mimic thinking? And why write a novel when you can meditate on the difficulty of writing a novel? Fragment novels are in effect reflections on novels that, by their own admission, their authors never end up finishing: “What prevents me from writing the book?” asks the protagonist of Drifts. “The heat, the dog, the day, air-conditioning, desiring to exist in the present tense,” and so on and on. It is less a novel than a gesture at a novel. At first glance, the fragment novel’s structural equivocations about how its pieces hang together and substantive equivocations about all its internal architecture appear antithetical to two of the declutterer’s foremost tics: her allergy to euphemism and her request that everything be stashed in its proper place. But in fact the novel’s studied evasiveness is the product of its commitment to tabling wants and honoring needs, in accordance with the minimalist’s most cherished directive. There is no plot, no food, no friends, and very little dialogue. Perhaps the fragment novel is not in fact constructed by way of removal, but it might as well be, for it is no more than an accumulation of negations."

"All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess": https://a.co/caQ5YMc

Crime Fiction and Social Justice - Five Books Expert Recommendations

Let's talk about the five books you've chosen for us on the theme of crime fiction and social justice. Are they all crime fiction would you say? 

I would. With the Barbara Kingsolver, people might say it's a bit of a stretch, but the best novels that talk about crime are hybrids. She would say herself she's writing about social justice. The Poisonwood Bible is about social justice. Demon Copperhead has been called the Appalachian David Copperfield. It reminds me of Shuggie Bain, actually, with a little of Huck Finn. And Odysseus, because this character goes on these odysseys and keeps meeting interesting people. 

I've been to parts of Appalachia; I do a lot of library outreach. It's dirt-poor. If you were transported there from New York or Atlanta, you would think you were in some sort of alternate universe, because the poverty is so extreme. The neglect, the drugs, and the opioid crisis—all of those are crimes. The kid in Demon Copperhead is in such a horrible situation that he's taken away from his family...

https://fivebooks.com/best-books/crime-fiction-social-justice-karin-slaughter/

read a book

When the news is one report of human suffering — or environmental degradation, or violation of democratic norms — after another, people might be forgiven for averting their eyes from the headlines in favor of getting a better night's sleep. The only problem: In a democracy, tuning out means giving the foxes full run of the henhouse.

In recent years, I've been looking for a solution to this conundrum. How is it possible to be a well-informed citizen and simultaneously a calm, mostly cheerful, more or less sane human being?

The closest thing I've found to a workaround is the right dosing. I follow the news during daylight hours. At night, I read a book...

Margaret Renkl 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/opinion/reading-novellas-short-novels.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

"A new novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France—a propulsive page-turner of glittering insights and dark humor.Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to do dirty work in France. "Sadie Smith" is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader. Sadie has met her love, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by "cold bump"—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone Sadie targets, Lucien is useful to her and used by her. Sadie operates by strategy and dissimulation, based on what her "contacts"—shadowy figures in business and government—instruct. First, these contacts want her to incite provocation. Then they want more. In this region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes that the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past. Just as Sadie is certain she's the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story. Written in short, vaulting sections, Rachel Kushner's rendition of "noir" is taut and dazzling. Creation Lake is Kushner's finest achievement yet as a novelist, a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure."

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/207300960-creation-lake

The Greatest Fiction Books Since 2000

(according to one algorithm)

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 411 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page... (continues)