A Hero of our Time - Mikhail Lermontov
The Hero of our Time is, my good sirs, indeed a portrait, but not of a single person. It is the portrait of the vices of our whole generation in their ultimate development.
Pechorin is not your typical hero. Infact he might be amongst the most villainous of characters in the whole of literature, because his acts of treachery and betrayal are conducted not with a selfish motive that can be understood, but rather with a nonchalant attitude that is frightening. That this work was greeted with mass outrage by critics, after its first publication in 1840, is therefore unsurprising. What is surprising however, is that this brief psychological sketch, still manages to ensnare the reader’s mind and with great precision and effectiveness paint the picture of a man who very well might be a product of his generation rather than an aberration.
There is not much to write about the plot; primarily because the book lacks one. It is rather a collection of snippets from the life of the main character. The book in short is not about the plot; it is about Pechorin, its protagonist. It starts with the narrator hearing a story about Pechorin from a fellow traveler in Caucasus. The next episode is the narrator himself meeting Pechorin in person and the final parts are snippets from Pechorin’s diary. The reader thus gets a 360 degree view of the character. As far as I know it is the most complete character description in literature encompassing the first, second and third person’s viewpoints. Readers often complain about one dimensional characters; A Hero of our Time is an exercise in creating a multidimensional one.
Pechorin is the quintessential Byronic hero; someone who is “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. The second and third person viewpoints sketch out the essence of his character for the reader. However, it is in the first person description, that we realize what is it like to be such a character. It is often said that once the problem is known it is an easier problem to fix it. Pechorin diaries show the mind of tormented character, who knows what is wrong and how is it that he has reached this wrong state, but is utterly unconcerned by this apparently wrong state and the consequences of this wrong action. Is this what Lermontov calls “the portrait of vices of out generation in their ultimate development”? But the most damning critique of the societal norms is that in spite of his character flaws and its causes, Pechorin remains a human capable of feeling love, grief, longing and desire.
The way the character is developed reminded me of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg and Viper’s Tangle by Francois Mauriac. Also those who will see shades of Pechorin in Turgenev’s Bazarov (Fathers and Sons) or Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment) are not alone. After reading this work, I am fairly sure all that came after it could not remain unaffected by this great piece of literature.
Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata
Writing about Snow Country, the immediate metaphor that comes to mind is that of a Haiku. The reviews at the end of the book alluding to it, and the Japanese connection, though definitely existent, are not the cause of this comparison; rather the fact of it being a short piece pregnant with such numerous possibilities that prompts it. Also similar to Haiku is the challenge thrown to the reader – of figuring out the complete picture from the description of a small and yet significant portion. The description would allow many explanations, but in very few of those would the described event carry such weight. Snow Country to an extent can be seen as an exercise in figuring out the unknown at various levels; plot, character and even the geography.
Yet Kawabata does leave us with some clues; for he thus outlines the content of his description very early in the novel:
“In the depths of the mirror the evening landscape moved by, the mirror and the reflected figures like motion pictures superimposed one on the other. The figures and the background were unrelated, and yet the figures, transparent and intangible, and the background, dim in the gathering darkness, melted together into a sort of symbolic world not of this world.”
It is this world of juxtapositions and shifting realities, this quicksand of human emotions that Kawabata endeavors to describe.
Snow Country is primarily the tale of two women, Yoko and Komaku, and futility of their relationship with one man, Shimamura. While the theme of a decaying beauty waiting for its beloved is not new, it is Kawabata’s characterizations which lend the novel its uniqueness. Yoko and Komaku provide the buttress for each other characters and the counterpoint for Shimamura’s, much like a haiku again – it is through description of Komaku’s activities that we are asked to deduce Yoko’s character, while their undying flames of passion are contrasted against the cold lassitude and timidity of Shimamura. His annual bouts of remembrance and return to the snow country are beautifully set against the changing seasons. While saying nothing explicitly, the entire setup of the novel points towards one inexorable end.
The only problem with Kawabata is that the reader needs to extremely culturally sensitive. Since the actions described are often mundane, the text can become boring and as a consequence the reader can miss some action that is not culturally significant. However, for if invested with adequate patience Snow Country can be an extremely enriching read.
Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth - Naguib Mafouz
In literary terms, there is very little innovation in this novel. The book essentially consists of a series of interviews conducted by Meriamun, who enraptured by the fallen city of Akhenaten decides to pursue the truth. Every interview goes over the basic plot - Akhenaten rebellion against Amun (the presiding god), the announcement of his new religion, his marriage to Nefertiti, their rule and shifting of the capital and finally his fall from power followed by Akhenaten’s death. The plot itself remains static and the different narratives do not fulfill the purpose of filling up gaps in this plot. Rather each narrative changes the setting and the dramatis personae; thus the causality that is implied by a linear historical narrative is fundamentally challenged. This more than anything else is the greatest achievement of Mafouz in this work.
I would not say, this is a great work of fiction. Mafouz himself has written much better. For the sheer beauty of his prose one need not look beyond Arabian Nights and Days: A Novel, while the aforementioned Cairo trilogy is a testament to his deep understanding of the Arab society. However, Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, is not only a novel. It is also a subtle (but not damning, for the seeker of truth does not judge) attack on an establishment that chooses to see truth as it defines it.
Tracking dystopia
Recently, I have been wondering a fair bit about one of my favorite genres in literature and cinema: dystopia. More particularly, I am wondering what exactly can be called a dystopia.Webster defines dystopia as an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. Classic works in this genre, 1984 and We included, fall right within this definition. A couple of words/phrases in the above definition, I think, are more important than others and are worth a second look.
The first is imaginary. Technical definitions aside, the basic notion of dystopia is something that is “against the grain” of utopia. Now since, utopia itself is an imaginary construction it is easy to see where the “imaginary” of dystopia comes from. But then semantically isn’t real the antonym of imaginary which leads me to wonder why a dystopia has to be necessarily imaginary.
The other interesting phrase is people lead dehumanized and fearful lives. Again the genesis of this phrase comes utopia, where people apparently have no problems in life since in laws, government, and social conditions it is the ideal. I often wondered if there is one size that fits all i.e. if the notion of utopia is an absolute. If it is not then for the beings in the text itself it too cannot be so, however imaginary it might be. Either that or there is exactly one uber-character in the world. But isn’t that what totalitarian societies are all about. Where then is the utopia? Or was it dystopia? Or are they merely the two sides of the same coin?
My contention is the following: a work neither needs to be staged in an imaginary place nor have dehumanized characters to be called a dystopia. The Catcher in the Rye and Catch-22 while not set in imaginary or alternate worlds can be essentially called dystopias while everybody-lives-happily-thereafter texts could be classified as utopias. Life is after-all a two faced liar :).
As an aside an excellent chronology of dystopian (in the traditional sense) fiction and the events that affected it can be found here.
His Dark Materials trilogy - Philip Pullman
As demanded by a task of this magnitude, the trilogy is vast in both scope and scale spanning a number of parallel universes, numerous characters from forgotten races and a final confrontation with God himself in attendance. However, it is in the details that Pullman falters. The plot meanders as we start the second book, every page sees a new character coming in to complicate the already complicated plot. Older characters are conveniently forgotten only to be brought out of oblivion when the situation demands. As a book which argues in favour of the free spirit against the shackled existence under an authority, it pays too little attention to the players other than the main protagonists. Whatever, their world view might be Tolkein ended up inventing an entire history to give each of his characters a place and Lewis never complicated his plot enough to get too many in the first place.
The Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass are interesting fantasy novels with an even more interesting plot line but people expecting a classic of the magnitude of Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter will probably be a little disappointed. For those interested in reading fantasy with a slightly different flavour from that of Lewis and Tolkein should definitely look at the Earthsea novels of Ursula K. Le Guin.
In Concert Performance - Nikolai Dezhnev
Though often described a anti-Soviet-Communism satire, the scope of In Concert Performance far exceeds this narrow definition. It is at once, a treatise on humanist philosophy, a discussion on the nature of good and evil and a magical story of love-at-first-sight. And if it has to be read in one way, I would read it as a damning account of how mindless bureaucracy not only inhibits but butchers free spirits. And this is not true only for the Communist Russia. He does not absolve either the Department of Light or Dark of any blame. The story of Lukary, the protagonist of the story, reminded me of Stanislav Petrov who in 1983 decided that the US missile attack his computer terminal showed was a machine error and not a real attack. Had he been just a cog in the system, he would have been instrumental in starting the third world war. But his decision was made on human instincts. And for it he was/is forgotten and shunted into the shadows not only by his own countrymen but also in the other side. Breaking the chain of command is a crime whichever side you are on. Cold War must had many such heroes, and being a physicist and international diplomat Dezhnev probably knew more about them than us.
The beginning of the novel, when the author is setting all the pieces on the board before letting the story unfold were wonderful. They are written with intensity and force, in a manner that does not let the reader wait to catch his breath while introducing him to a smörgåsbord of characters from from this world and the one beyond. The novel effortlessly flits from the Russia of 90s to the Spanish Inquisition and the Dezhnev seems as adept in portraying the futility of pursuing a Theory of Everything as he is in describing the Anna’s emotions as she sees Lukary for the first time. However, somewhere in the middle Dezhnev’s focus shifts from the story he is telling, what happens to Anna and Lukary’s love, to fairly long winded discussions on the nature of existence, good and evil and such. Of course they are interesting to read but they lead nowhere in the resolution of the main plot which then shifts a gear and moves into Russia of 1932. The novel then suddenly reads like The Day of the Jackal (another one of my favorites, but where does it fit in here) before moving back to 1990s trying to close the narrative.
While both Bulgakov and Dezhnev dealt with essentially the same topics: good vs. evil, nature of time, Russian identity, the notion of sanity in an insane world, to the extent that even many of literary devices used were also the same, where one succeeded the other failed. Dezhnev took his eye (or rather his pen, typewriter, keyboard or whatever he was using) off his characters. The beauty of The Master and Margarita lies in the fact that Bulgakov always moves forward with the story at a breathless pace and that with all the fantasy involved, it always remains a human story. At the end you might not be sure where you are but you had hell of a journey that you can identify with. The same sadly cannot be said of In Concert Performance however which only in its opening chapters matches the brilliance of the Bulgakov’s work and where too many Deux ex machinis make it feel like hiss agent was really on his back to deliver the book to his publishers.
Lest my words be construed as an indication that one should not read this work I shall only cut-and-fit what Roger Ebert wrote while reviewing Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain: In Concert Performance “overreaches on every level” with a “big subject, big canvas” and “big ambitions” while trying to “cram just about everything” into a novel; this is definitely not a recipe for smooth reading “but I’d much rather watch somebody shoot for the moon when the stakes are sky-high than sit back while they play it safe.”
Technorati Tags: russian literature, literature, satire, books
If You Are Afraid of Heights - Raj Kamal Jha
“Look at the picture on the cover, there’s a child, a girl in red dress; there’s a bird, a crow in a blue white sky. And then there are a few things you cannot see“
Thus starts Raj Kamal Jha’s second novel that deals with things one misses in the monotone of day-to-day existence. For how many of us really look at the cover of a book carefully; seeing it as the first page and not merely an appendage. By tempting the reader to go back to the cover Jha sets the tone for the rest of the book; motifs and themes are repeated and three disjointed narratives intertwine at critical junctures. The dog with a stump for a tail, a building that seems to be crying, a building named Paradise Park that reaches to the sky, a crow-rider, the crying of a girl all appear and reappear in the various stories. And the reader might have to go back to see how they connect. If they do at all.
If You Are Afraid of Heights (IYaAoH) is three stories told from three different PoVs. In the first Amir meets with a accident and is nursed back to health by Rima, who just happens to be at the scene. Amir dreams of a girl and her mother drowning and Rima disappears mysteriously without a trace, after having gone to investigate the sound of a girl crying. The second story describes Mala’s investigation of the death of a girl in a remote village. She meets with the doctors, police officers, the mother and neighbors of the girl without any real progress but resuscitating memories of her past. The third is the story of a girl who is afraid that her parents will fall prey to the spate of suicides happening in their neighborhood and her conversation with a crow-rider who has been following her parents the entire day.
Jha’s narratives inhabit the world between the real and imaginary, the waking and the dreaming; he describes the world in a sort of hallucinatory haze induced by dope. It describes a state of just broken sleep and with eyes yet to open. The recurring motifs in a apparently random fashion and the temporal dissonance in the narrative, lends credence to the fact that Jha is probably stringing together three dream worlds and asking the reader to deduce the reality using Jungian techniques. Equally probable though is the fact that any or all of the three are real. In my opinion, the obfuscation is intentional allowing each reader to get his own version of the story. IYaAoH is not realism by any stretch of imagination but it is also not magic realism, for the unusual is not dealt with a straightforward manner, but is rather not spoken of. We know something is being swept under the carpet and yet the realization of it seems to just elude our grasps. Jha obliquely hints at incest, insanity, schizophrenia and domestic violence but never brings these themes out in the open. The novels limits itself to describing the contentious rationalism we shroud our daily experiences in, to explain things more “simply”. Jha’s training as a journalist is put to good use here. The gift of describing settings in an eloquent and poetic manner adds to the dream like quality of the narrative while the first person narratives of Amir, Mala and the child add to the immediacy. For it is through their actions in response to the external that the characters are primarily developed.
IYaAoH, for the impatient can be a frustrating novel. Its denouement does not lead to any tangible answers. There are gaps that need to be filled up and the anticipation built up is not always in consonance with the coming revelation. And the writing style might not be that original for the readers of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. But for all its flaws it is a work of great ambition and imagination. It attempts to delve into the psyche of an individual and give voice to the deepest and the darkest of the human states. And this allows the work to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers and appeal to everyone, not just Indians.
Ape and Essence - Aldous Huxley
Just finished reading, what I would now categorize as one of Aldous Huxley’s forgotten masterpieces, Ape and Essence. Describing a dystopian future resembling 1984 of Orwell and We of Zamyatin more than the other Huxley classic Brave New World, Ape and Essence is an attempt to study the causes and effects of human desires. Describing a world in the aftermath of the nuclear havoc wrecked by a Third World War, Huxley’s main theme here is the rationing of happiness in all forms but primarily sexual; for the primary world view now is that, being happy is to submit to the wishes of the Devil who is all set to take over.
Ape and Essence is a film script written by the enigmatic Mr. William Tallis, rejected by the studios of Hollywood and that by sheer luck falls into the hands of a day dreaming film executive. With his friend, he tracks down Mr. Tallis to his residence only to learn that he had died without knowing the fate of his script. The rest of the book is after that, an honest reproduction of Mr. Tallis’s script. This script moves back and forth across time to the period just preceding the third world war and a time many years later, after the world has been destroyed by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Using baboons as a metaphor for the state that human race has descended to in the first period, Tallis describes the blindness and hedonism that seem to be the order of the day. As prisoners and playthings, these baboons have famous scientists, all tied and chained up, who though unwilling do the bidding of their primate masters destroying all humanity. Simultaneously, it tracks a group of New Zealander scientists (whose country escaped the fate of the rest of the world since it was inconsequential) who alight on the shores of California only to encounter a civilization, that now worships the Devil and considers women as unholy vessels since due to the after effects of radiation, the babies they give birth to are deformed. One of the scientific party, Dr. Poole, is captured by the local people and it is through his eyes that the reader experiences the horrific rituals that humanity has fallen back on to ensure its survival in this toughest of times. The book ends with Dr. Poole escaping from the settlement and trying to find a way to the north where supposedly humanity thrives in environs that are more rational. He however is not alone; with him, he takes Loola, and the knowledge that this rule of Devil can only be undone by the rule of love.
While the basic plot and theme of Ape and Essence have the potential of placing it in the pantheon of the great dystopian novels, Huxley’s narrative choices greatly undermine this potential. The point of view for the reader continuously shifts from the initial executive to Mr. Tallis to the director of the movie to finally Dr. Poole. Thereafter also, it does not remain static; Huxley takes care to switch the narrative continuously from Dr. Poole to the camera, always making the reader aware that he is not experiencing a reality but rather a motion picture being shot. The power of a dystopian description lies greatly in the immediacy that the reader feels while experiencing the text. The structure of both Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984 is such that the reader feels himself/herself looking directly into an orb to see the future or an alternate reality. This induces a sense of a very real fear and alarm in the reader that is lost here with the filtering of content through numerous narrative lenses before reaching the reader.
Many of the dystopian descriptions are primarily the descriptions existing worlds, as they exists – Huxley though tries in Brave New World to bridge the gap between the real and the fictional. Ape and Essence on the other hand is not a study of dystopia, as much it is of the reasons for its emergence in the first place. Its foci are not the machinations of the State or any controlling entity but the individuals that inhabit this collective. Huxley’s contention clearly is that it is humanity itself that is responsible for the state of the world, whether it is the presented dystopia or the utopia governed by love that Dr. Poole imagines. Huxley, I do not think was entirely comfortable with the notion that all responsibility lies equally on the shoulders of all individuals rather than primarily on those who control and run the numerous institutions that humanity has built and nurtured over the ages. It is this conflict, that probably lead him to dilute his message with the introduction of the numerous and varying POVs.
Regardless, of Huxley’s comfort levels with this idea, the underlying treatment of the core theme of Ape and Essence, that of the role of human desires in our destiny, laid the groundwork for 1984 and other such groundbreaking works. However, an incisive treatment of the basic theme remains unexplored in the realms of literature as far as I know and one should read this brilliant piece only for this reason.
[Credits: To Satvik for buying the book in the first place. And then convincing me to read it, saying this is better than Brave New World and lending the book without any compunctions.]
The Watchmen - Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?“
Translated as “Who will guard the guards” or “Who will watch the Watchmen”, this question was first asked by Socrates and described by Plato in his Republic. The society Socrates foresaw relied on laborers, slaves and tradesmen, with a guardian class for protection and the implementation of laws. But then who was going to guard these protectors; ensuring that they do not supercede the very law they are protecting or harass the very people they are protecting? This question is at the heart of the rise and the fall of every system of power and state that humankind has ever conceived or will conceive of. It is this same question lies at the heart of The Watchmen.
Alan Moore’s universe is not one set in the future. It is instead a creation of an alternate reality of the current times; much like the works of Philip K. Dick (The Man in the High Castle comes to mind immediately). The year is 1985 and the US of A has won the Vietnam War and Nixon is still the president. Russia and USA have continued to stockpile nuclear arsenals. The
world seems to be a button away from destruction, caused by the mutual
fear between the two superpowers. In this world numerous vigilantes of justice once roamed the city fighting crime (or what they thought was crime); but now they have been forced into retirement. Two of them, The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan, are active but only in the US government’s service. Another one of them, Rorscharch, is now a hunted felon by not giving up his mask when asked to and operating independently. Those who have given up shedded their masks (Night Owl etc) are now trying to fit into the monotone of a normal existence; not able to forget entirely their pasts and not fully embracing the present. The spectre of their own alternate identities continues to haunt them.
In this environment, suddenly the ex-vigilantes lives are threatened. The Comedian is murdered and by strange sequence of events Dr. Manhattan exiles himself to Mars. An attempt is made on the life of Ozymandias. Rorscharch, the still-active-in-underground vigilante sees a possible conspiracy to get the world rid of all its protectors before unleashing a violent bloodbath on the planet. He has a hard time convincing his fellow masked-men on the veracity of his claims but the curious turn of circumstances bring together the old friends at the time of the final showdown and the masked men (and women) back to their masks. All very standard and nice; kill the villain; save the world; maybe even get the chick.
Except that, nothing could be further from truth (except maybe the last statement). The Watchmen is an exploration into the psyche of the masked men and women; their lives, follies and aspirations. Those who set out to save the world and yet over their journey are consumed by their blind zeal and lose their humanity. Enraptured by their successes, surrounded by their fears and prodded on by visions of a half-baked utopia, they are dehumanized; becoming more like the people they are fighting than the people they are protecting. It is often stated that comic book heroes, especially those without superhuman powers (Batman for example), are the propagators of the fascist ideal; where one world view superior to all others and those opposing are the enemies. Frank Miller’s reinvention of Batman (The Dark Knight Returns and therafter) was based mostly on this mental tussle between the humanatarian Bruce Wayne and essentially fascist Batman. In Dr. Manhattan, Moore creates a character with true superhuman powers and his cold rationality and approach to justice serves as a mirror for the other characters exposing them as merely human.
Over 12 chapters, Moore grapples with the question that came at the beginning of the post. Moore’s world is in a way self-contained; its own God (Dr. Manhattan) included. The Deux ex machina does not come in here at the denouement to help tie the threads but is prevalent throughout. After all when you have a character capable of playing with atoms, the very building blocks of this universe, one does not need an external agent to wrap things up. Moore’s solution is essentially the same that Plato proposed, albiet proposed reluctantly and giving the reader enough space to derive his own conclusions. The guardians have to be convinced of their superiority. They must never fear the humans or the fact their power is contigent on any external factors not in their control. In essence they must become true superheroes.
Does killing millions to save billions make sense? Is perpetrating a gruesome horror justified in the name of awakening the latent goodness in all of us? Can only a false specter of superiority, prevent the protectors from turning oppressors? These questions, and not the answers that Moore provides for them are at the heart of The Watchmen. And in this world, when certain individuals on the strength of the offices they hold are taking on the mantles of protectors of justice, freedom, democracy and all the good sounding words, they are more pertinent than ever.
Apart from its obvious attractions to the philosophically inclined, The Watchmen is eminently readable. Moore relies on a narrative that is reminiscent of cinema more than literature. The kid reading The Marooned issue of the series The Tales of the Black Freighter takes the viewer back and forth amongst worlds; each seamlessly blending into the other, conveying the same basic ideas. The reader is merely the part of another world where the same words and ideas would fit in. Dave Gibbons also relies heavily on the cinematic language in terms of his frame designs when the narrative shifts in time and space. If they ever made a movie of this, it would have the highest number of match cuts.
After reading V for Vendetta, I was not sure what to expect from the Alan Moore work. Yet another defense of anarchism, a regular comic strip with villains and world-dominating schemes or soemething else. It was something else, allright; but I never imagined this. Whatever it was, it will definitely figure when I make another list like this again.
technorati tags:comics, watchmen, graphic, novels
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The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
A work that has often been compared to Catcher in the Rye, because of similar subject matter - disillusionment and rebellion against the mores of the society, The Bell Jar, is an account of Esther Greenwood’s descent into and ascent from madness. The plot and the major characters all mirror real life people in Plath’s life on some degree. As a result the novel was initially published under the pseudoynm Victoria Lucas and was not published in America till 1970s.
While the work itself deals with the “going crazy” and “coming back” of Esther, it portrays at the same time the conflicting demands placed on the woman in the sixties - family vs. career, individuality vs. conformance to the ideal image and dreams vs. perceived reality. Esther’s descent into madness starts in the summer of her third year in college when she is in New York working for a fashion magazine - supposed to be the chance of a lifetime, a make or break moment in her career. Here she finds herself disinterested and torn between the hedonistic Doreen and conformant Betsy. Returning back to home, she realizes that she would have to spend the summer with her mother since her application for a writing course was rejected. Esther decides to write a novel, but surely and steadily the bell jar of depression descends on her and she tries to kill herself. The later part of the book deals with her recovery at the asylum. A concurrently running plotline deals with Esther’s relationship with Buddy, her “boyfriend”, his socially accepted treachery and her obsession with virginity and maternity. These are not indepedent threads, with events in one affecting the events in the other, but merely follow concurrent timelines.
The publishing of this book and Plath’s subsequent suicide have made her and Bell Jar the icon of feminist movements. Had it not been so, The Bell Jar would have still remained a masterpiece and probably the most lucid and rational description of the mind of a depressed person on paper. The first person narrative arrests the reader, forcing him/her to look at what Esther is looking, to feel what the protaginist is feeling. Esther’s descent into depression becomes one’s own and does not feel as an aberration but a logical outcome of the events preceding it. The reader shares the claustrophobic feeling, the repugnance at the double standards and outdated ideals of the society and the wish to be free of Esther.
As said earlier, The Bell Jar is often cited as the feminine version of that other society-is-completely-F***** book, The Catcher in the Rye. Yet while, Holden Caulfield looks perenially outward and apportions blame as per his wishes, Esther looks inward, trying to understand herself and why she was the way she was or was not. All the same, The Bell Jar like Catcher…, remains the voice of a generation, wishing to break out, make its own way and find its own path. The issues Plath raises in her only novel, remain as pertinent today as they were during her lifetime, with men and women still grappling with their roles in the modern, “non-sexist” society.
technorati tags:literature, books, plath
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