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PAGE BY PAGE BOOKS
Not Just Politics as Usual
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JACQUES JOUET: MOUNTAIN R (Dalkey Archive Press) OZ SHELACH: PICNIC GROUNDS (City Lights Books) A glance at the best-sellers list in The New York Times or at Amazon.com over the last six months would produce clear proof of the popularity of books about politics. Whether it’s Al Franken’s Liars or Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin Zone, Americans have been reading and writing about our current government from a multitude of political persuasions. While the eleventh-grade civics teacher in me may find seductive pleasures in recent attention given to public consciousness, a closer examination of this zealous genre of books reveals angry rants, loose connections, broad interpretations and little factual documentation. Like viewers of Michael Moore’s films, readers of these books are harassed with noisy social angst in order to find a few key questions that ultimately go unanswered. (Not surprisingly, Moore has offered two of the more popular titles in recent years, Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s My Country?) It seems as if the political diatribe has become commonplace, while the intellectual evaluation of public policy has been forgotten. It is difficult to write eloquently and effectively about current events because the analysis and commentary remain short-sighted by nature. Recent political offerings display exactly how hard it is to comment on complex issues related to societal leadership. While these nonfiction selections have declined to allow the reader to analyze and consider the issues for oneself, two recently published books— Mountain R by Jacques Jouet (translated from the French by Brian Evenson) and Picnic Grounds by Israeli writer Oz Shelach—may offer an informed audience refreshingly new perspectives on political opinions. These two novels consider very different international issues, but their nuance and subtle styles may delight a reading public that’s grown tired of bombastic and superficial analysis. Told from three different perspectives in three short sections, Mountain R details a “Republican Council” in a fictitious country that’s decided to conduct a massive public-works project called
“Mountain R.” Literally a gigantic mound of earth, this government endeavor is plagued with corrupt contracts, political doubletalk, and murderous scandals. In the first section of this ambitious satire, the president informs the public about this 1,500-meter monument that will be dedicated to the nation’s greatness. “Therefore we’ve thought of this great notion of a grand mountain (which is no less a grand notion of a great mountain), which will provide members of the Republic with good air for the lungs, the fragrance of high-country pines, snow for the eye to admire, peace and quiet for our children and skiing for all!” Reminiscent of New Deal deficit spending or cynical views of foreign war as a means of distracting the country from social issues, “Mountain R” is suggested to represent the “future of this grand democracy”; however, it’s unnecessary and designed simply to keep people busy. The second section of the novel describes the construction site, and the reader is made aware of the total dysfunction of this corrupted project by one of its chief engineers, who was guilty of covering up numerous accidental deaths. “They bought Mrs. DiPascale’s silence, but she wouldn’t even have the right to be a widow. Superior interest of the State! There never was any catastrophe on the construction site of Mountain R! Isn’t that clear?” A trial scene provides the novel’s concluding section, in which an investigation is meant to properly assess guilt for several scandals related to the construction of the mountain. Picnic Grounds differs in writing style and subject matter, though it’s still related to current politics. Organized like a collection of short poems, this captivating book provides original insights into daily life in the violent world of Israel. Subtitled A Novel in Fragments, the book’s every page creates a new event, character, or reflection on the simple notion of living amidst a religious and political crisis that has been waged for hundreds of years. Almost like a photographer capturing an exact moment in time or a cartographer locating a precise location, Shelach establishes the mood of a person or group within the subtle context of the complicated issues in
the Middle East. Plotline is dismissed for brief and intimate portrayals of a normal life that lacks our Western sense of normality. In one scene/chapter/ page, a Jewish family vacationing along the Sinai Peninsula encounters an older Bedouin waiter. “We wanted him to address us by our first names, we wanted to give him a generous tip, even a pair of good sandals, but because of the openness with which he told us his story we could see no point in trying to assuage him.” As if feeling a need to connect out of guilt or sadness, the family forces their kindness upon a stranger who has lived in refugee camps established because of the Israeli occupation. In another scene, the author offers an insider’s perspective on the city of Jerusalem. “We, who know our way through all the narrow alleys, as well as the wider winding streets and recently bulldozed express-roads that cut through the mountainous slopes of our city at impossibly straight angles, know also that this sense of being trapped in a maze is the foundation, the very essence even, of Jerusalem.” With other references to mandatory military service, car bombings, and political protests, the reality of the Middle East comes to life on the pages of Picnic Grounds through the words and actions of people that could easily be your own friends or family. Unlike numerous recent works of nonfiction that offer opinions without creative insight, Mountain R and Picnic Grounds allow the reader to explore two different political realms and develop personal interpretations in a more subtle and therefore more convincing manner. Both books break from traditional plot-driven narratives to offer multiple perspectives and various interpretations. Their strengths lie in the nature of literature, allowing the reader to approach serious political topics on their own terms. —Paul Hoelscher REBECCA BROWN: THE END OF YOUTH (City Lights Books) Upon the death of his famous mother, John F. Kennedy, Jr., reportedly said that one doesn’t really become an adult until both parents have died. The narrator of Rebecca Brown’s The End of Youth is in accord, for her passage to adulthood is defined by the explorations of her history and relationships with her late parents. The book opens with the one-page story “Heaven,” in which the narrator—she’s never
