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Ugh, this book. This was not a "bath" book and I made the mistake of trying to read it in increments while keeping one eye on my kid in the bath. It's not the right book for that, although I am amassing a collection of great things to read in 15-20 minute chunks.
Pym demands the reader's full attention and then asks for a bit more. It's an infuriating book because its deeply frustrated narrator is supported by a narrative that understands that his frustration is hilarious and it's hilarious because if you don't laugh, you're going to scream. Pym asks you to do both and the humor and horror and deep annoyance all boil to the surface only for something new and even more improbably to occur and for the cycle to restart.
You would think that it would be necessary to read Poe's Narrative of the Life of Arthur Gordon Pym to get what Johnson is doing here and, while a familiarity with Poe's work would help, you don't really need it. But if you're going to use any author's work to understand Johnson's, it has to be Sianne Ngai's [b:Ugly Feelings|1142476|Ugly Feelings|Sianne Ngai|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348109217s/1142476.jpg|1294305]. Ngai writes about the non-fulfilling, non-cathartic feelings. The feelings of frustration, annoyance, boredom, animatedness (see Ngai for a full explanation) that don't transmute into anything and just sit with you kinda uncomfortably. Johnson is basically using humor and a sharp sense of parody to engage those ugly feelings, to make them manifest in all sorts of completely preposterous ways. The book's ending perfectly encapsulates this--and makes it clear he's being quite deliberate with the non-catharsis of the story--while still ending in a way that provides a way out. Johnson doesn't take you there, not really, but the way out of the still pretty funny emotional morass that he has crafted is nonetheless offered.
Not that I'm teaching literature these days, but this feels like an excellent candidate for a course on subversive equels. (I'd probably throw in Jane Eyre/Wide Sargasso Sea...I have to think about what else.)
Pym demands the reader's full attention and then asks for a bit more. It's an infuriating book because its deeply frustrated narrator is supported by a narrative that understands that his frustration is hilarious and it's hilarious because if you don't laugh, you're going to scream. Pym asks you to do both and the humor and horror and deep annoyance all boil to the surface only for something new and even more improbably to occur and for the cycle to restart.
You would think that it would be necessary to read Poe's Narrative of the Life of Arthur Gordon Pym to get what Johnson is doing here and, while a familiarity with Poe's work would help, you don't really need it. But if you're going to use any author's work to understand Johnson's, it has to be Sianne Ngai's [b:Ugly Feelings|1142476|Ugly Feelings|Sianne Ngai|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348109217s/1142476.jpg|1294305]. Ngai writes about the non-fulfilling, non-cathartic feelings. The feelings of frustration, annoyance, boredom, animatedness (see Ngai for a full explanation) that don't transmute into anything and just sit with you kinda uncomfortably. Johnson is basically using humor and a sharp sense of parody to engage those ugly feelings, to make them manifest in all sorts of completely preposterous ways. The book's ending perfectly encapsulates this--and makes it clear he's being quite deliberate with the non-catharsis of the story--while still ending in a way that provides a way out. Johnson doesn't take you there, not really, but the way out of the still pretty funny emotional morass that he has crafted is nonetheless offered.
Not that I'm teaching literature these days, but this feels like an excellent candidate for a course on subversive equels. (I'd probably throw in Jane Eyre/Wide Sargasso Sea...I have to think about what else.)