#dotad

by Arthur Miller

What’s it about?

It’s a stage play about the death of the American Dream.

Surely the canon of Western literature wider than the “death of the American dream” you keep talking about.

That’s fair. In my defence, the entire Western world has become entrenched in the American Dream in one way or another and it’s becoming less and less socially acceptable to question it (something else Miller wrote about). From today, I’m just going to tag them with DotAD. 

I don’t care about your tags. What is this about? 

It’s about a salesman who has bought so hard into the American Dream - work hard and get rich - that he’s sacrificed his entire family to it, including himself.

Willy works all day and does everything he’s supposed to and it’s burning him up that he can’t pay the mortgage. Meanwhile, his brother was a millionaire and all that guy had to do was go to Alaska like a goddamn man.

Miller took a big risk, as heroes of literature tend not to be charmless losers. There is literally nothing heroic about Willy Loman.

So what, he’s an asshole?

Not an “asshole”, exactly. Although, maybe. Yeah, OK. He’s an asshole, but it’s more complicated than that. He’s constantly flat out lying to himself because if he stops, even for a second, then his life is meaningless. Eventually, it all comes crashing down.

Not as relatable as I was hoping for.

We all lie to ourselves about all sorts of things. I’m lying to myself right now that people will find this blog post interesting, or that anything I do matters. Willy Loman’s entire personality is a bunch of these delusions held together with a fevered brain that just can’t keep up anymore. They’re not even dramatic lies; they’re all rather trivial and pathetic. Basically, if you’ve read Game of Thrones and you can’t handle an in-depth exploration of a pathetic loser, you should present yourself to the relevant authorities at first light.   

What should I say to make people think I’ve read it?

“We need to fund the mental health services properly.”

What should I avoid saying when trying to convince people I’ve read it?

“Wait, is Biff gay?”

Should I actually read it?

by Hunter S. Thompson

What’s it about?

It’s the more-or-less true story of one weekend when Hunter (called “Raoul Duke” in the book) and his lawyer Oscar Acosta (called “Dr. Gonzo" in the book) go to Las Vegas to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated. 

And?

And lots of drugs. They spend the entire narrative hopped up on pretty much every drug available in 1971 that you can think of. One of the running jokes is that the reality of the violently superficial Las Vegas nightlife is much worse than any twisted visions their drug binge can produce.

What about the bats?

If you’ve read Game of Thrones and you think Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas has too many non-existent animals flying around overhead, you should present yourself to the relevant authorities at first light.    

I smell the death of the American Dream. Again.

Yes, but at least Thompson is good enough to explicitly tell you in the middle of the book that this is why he wrote the book.

What should I say to make people think I’ve read it?

“After finishing the book, I walked at a 30-degree angle for two days.”

What should I avoid saying when trying to convince people I’ve read it?

“This book glorifies drug use.”

Should I actually read it?

by William Faulkner 

What’s it about?

Like all Great American Novels, it’s about the death of the American Dream.

That doesn’t tell me much.

In particular, it’s about the collapse of the Southern Way of Life, a largely fictional reconstruction of what life was like for white people in the southern states of America (under slavery, which is never mentioned/realised by the kind of people who wave Confederate flags unironically). 

So it’s a political book? 

No. That was just me venting. Sorry. It’s actually the collapse of the South using the microcosm of a single family. We get to watch the very strange relationships they’ve built up among themselves slowly fall apart. There’s a bit of implied brother / sister stuff, but if you’ve read Game of Thrones and you still think the sibling incest overtones are too much, you should present yourself to the relevant authorities at first light.

I’ve started it, but it’s all gibberish.

Right. The first seventy pages or so are written in a style called “stream of consciousness”, the primary example of which is Ulysses by James Joyce. The narrative style tones down to something more comprehensible after that, so stick with it. By the fourth section, you’ll start to realise you remembered more than you thought.

What should I say to make people think I’ve read it?

“A genuinely brilliant attempt to model how human thought processes work and how our memories sometimes control who we are.”

What should I avoid saying when trying to convince people I’ve read it?

“These are the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic.”

Should I actually read it?

by John Steinbeck

What’s it about?

It’s about two migrant farm workers who get a job in California during the Great Depression. George is more or less the carer of Lennie, who is a beautiful person, but congenitally naive and doesn’t understand how physically strong he is.

And what’s it really about?

It’s about the death of The American Dream, again.

The American Dream is the idea that if you work hard, you’ll make a better life for you and your family. For many Americans, this dream is essentially unattainable due to intellectual, economic or social circumstances.

Like most American literature published after World War I (e.g. The Sound and the Fury or Death of a Salesman), the death of The American Dream is parsed through the catastrophic failures of the personal ambitions of the characters.

What should I say to make people think I’ve read it?

“We thought about getting a pet rabbit but Timmy is very big for his age.”

What should I avoid saying when trying to convince people I’ve read it?

“I preferred the part about mice.”

Should I actually read it?