Middlesex

 MIDDLESEX

Jeffrey Eugenides

Books for Bigots

I normally wait until finishing a book before commenting on its value to a Bigot; on whether supporting Bigotry or vilifying it as unworthy.  In the case of Middlesex though, I am forced to smile at a Bigot attempting to read the novel.  I realize it is an act of fiction to even suggest a bigot reading a novel, especially this particular novel; but I suppose it could occur under the most unusual of circumstances.

First, the first person narrator is a hermaphrodite - hence the title.  This would be the first concern of any Bigot, to think that there is such a thing as a person with both sexual attributes.  But the concern would be alleviated in some fashion by the understanding that this hermaphroditism was caused by the grievous sin of brother and sister marrying and having a child.

The unfortunate biology did not appear until the third generation; but even so as it was caused by sin and since sin of the father is visited on the children for unnumbered generations, it was bound to occur.  Ergo, most satisfying to any true Bigot.

Desdemona and Lefty, of Greek origin, living in Turkey and the subject to probable death by Turks who were reclaiming land in Turkey seized by the Greeks. joined relatives in Detroit.  Since they were now adults but without consensual or nonconsensual sexual comfort decided, they had each other and would make due.  One would need a smidgen of knowledge about the animosity between the Greeks and the Turks which has been in existence long before there was a Greece or Turkey with periods of mass slaughter on both sides occurring over the centuries..  It is one of those things that in the Balkan area of the world seems to be rather prevalent - - if you are not one of us, we are going to kill you - - if given a chance.

So we have immigrants at the heart of the story, we have incest, and beyond that Lefty is assisting Zizmo running liquor from Canada during prohibition.  I am assuming that although illegal, it does not cause as much anguish in the mind of the normal Bigot as what previously occurred, i.e. bigamy.  Booze is an iffy subject for bigots (and can go either way), but since sex is not involved, we can give it a pass as something which many Bigots, although non-approving, usually don't consign the participants to the infernal regions.

We are not even halfway in the novel and able to make a judgement on the appropriateness of MIDDLESEX for the usual Bigot.  Now you say, why do you think you are such an expert on what Bigots would read or not read.  Well, I am surrounded by them and know them well.  I do understand that most Bigots don't read, let alone read novels, especially current ones; and this particular novel would be no exception to that general rule.  So why bother, you say?

I bother for the reason that if a Bigot were to read this book, they (and I use that pronoun purposefully) might say to themselves, "I am not a Bigot and I will prove it by reading a book".  The mere idea that one is a Bigot and maybe, just maybe, recognizes  it, seems to me a good thing. In general, as a general rule, having one less Bigot in the world is always an improvement.  Whether or not reading Middlesex would cause one to give up Bigotry might be a rather slim possibility, but it should  be a positive if it were to occur,  I would think.  To realize that there are people in the world, not like you, but who spend their lives much as you do, with the same concerns, problems, and anxieties whether a hermaphrodite or not, would hopefully,  have a positive effect. 

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo

The State of Things

 THE STATE OF THINGS

Occasionally, one must look around and take note.  It really isn't difficult to do if one actually makes an effort.  We really only get things piece by piece from our sources of information whether it be newspaper, TV, or the internet.  Such and such happened to today or the legislature did such and such today.  The only escape from this is our national channels of Fox, MSNBC, or CNN and these sources don't give you anything but outrage.

Nowhere do you see any objective analysis of the events taking place.  Take for example the Iowa legislature.  The Iowa legislature has been and continues the effort to destroy the changes that have occurred in our society and our thinking over the past several decades.  They want a return; they want a belief system that mirrors that of their parents and to which they are familiar and comfortable.  

A prime example is that of self-identity.  Our legislators are insistent that we, as individuals, have only certain options when we define ourselves.  We have one option when it comes to sex:  we are either male or female.  The only reason that homosexuality is off the screen is because of the new identifications, such as transgender, which have replaced it with new ideas of what a human can be whether biological or simply of choice or experimentation.  

This idea that our legislature can simply by passing laws prescribe how I am to think about myself or my ability to accept others for what they think of themselves, is to give themselves a power which they do not possess, or should.  Our legislature is no longer about how to benefit the public which they purport to represent; they have determined that their function is to prohibit things they do not understand nor care to.  They no longer have the usual purpose nor do they function as intended.  The goal should not be to pass X number of laws every year, but to deliberate on the matters that will benefit the electorate.  The laws they are passing are not of benefit to anyone - - they are restrictive: they are meant to prohibit ideas and beliefs.  Our legislature has turned against the people they purport to represent.

Our legislators, the majority of them, have certain beliefs and in their minds it is their function to enforce these beliefs on that part of the public which do not share them.  The fact that a book does not proscribe or be consistent with their beliefs, that a university department teaches contrary to their beliefs, that our cities reflect certain concerns not present in rural Iowa, are now the focus of our legislature.  This is not a healthy situation and we should be disturbed.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo

Zoo City II

 ZOO CITY II

LAUREN BEUKES

BOOKS F0R BIGOTS

ZOO CITY deserves a second notice.  It is a book that has as its main character a somewhat mottled existence.  We are to see that she is a person of good instincts, not unkind, scrounging for a subsistence with the ability to find lost things which is her main source of income.  Living on the top floor of a basically abandoned building with water sometimes and electricity sometimes and associates that come and go as they find ways, mostly unethical, of making some cash.

We don't learn that Zinzi December will do what is necessary to retain some sense of maintenance until later in the book.  Helping to scam an elderly couple which clearly will devastate them gives us an immediate sense of unease.  Until that point, we feel Zinzi is a really ok person regardless of minor flaws simply trying to survive in a barely survivable world.  

Zoo City is named such because people have an animal with them as they go about their business.  Zinzi's animal is a sloth which perches on her shoulder as she goes about her business.  Others have their animals as well.  For instance, one of her associates has a mongoose.  These critters all seem content to sit on the shoulders of the person they are with and seem to be able to communicate with their ride.

Johannesburg is a nightmare with those with money hidden behind walls and barbed wire.  Johannesburg is also full of refugees from other parts of africa.  Strange place to congregate.  If Johannesburg is a Mecca for refugees, the rest of Africa must really be a nightmare. Now, none of this a Bigot wants to hear.  Acknowledging a world that is not fixable by prayer, is not something that can be tolerated - - so ignored.  Johannesburg and the life presented can not be fixed by prayer and one gets the impression as one proceeds through the book that it can not be fixed.

A major part of the action involves teenagers making records and becoming rich beyond their competency.  The idea that totally worthless teenagers (and they are totally unable to function in any way reminiscent of normal human conduct)  can become megastars by recording an album is a further commentary on life in the city, or anywhere for that matter.  The book has a plot that devolves into a final hurry up and lets get this thing over, but the plot is irrelevant to the scene - - something merely to carry it along.  

The book is worth reading which, alone, makes it unavailable to Bigots.  One of the chief characteristics of Bigots is to not read literature - - it causes too much angst to understand that the world is not what they make it out to be.

Richard E H Phelps II
Mingo

Zoo City

                                                                     ZOO CITY

Lauren Beukes

Books for Bigots

It is time for another effort to find a Book for Bigots.  Such efforts are always timely, especially during legislative sessions.  Here in Iowa we are making a valiant effort to reinvent biblical times in the land of corn and soybeans.  Somehow our voters support this effort continuing to elect those so inclined.

This effort is so intertwined with obvious racism, protestant radicalism, formerly known as Puritanism. and the fear of sex one wonders how we as a society are functioning in a world run by scientific and technological achievements.  I will have to say, it is remarkable that the majority of a population can simply castigate the world they live in and create a make-believe one.

The world will not be a better place in a return to medieval fictions that no longer have any credence.  Neither Aquinas, Augustine or Luther could visualize or cope with the internet and many of us can not do so now.  The former world was not better than the current one.  For those who are dissatisfied with either their own lives or the lives they see around them, returning to a dismal past will not solve their insecurities and the meaningless of their existence.

The last, a meaningful existence, has lost all credence in a capitalist society.  We rely entirely on our economic machinery continuing to work efficiently.  This economic machinery is an absolute necessity for employment, income, housing, medical assistance, safety ad infinitum.  Bringing back the ten commandments will not help.  Beliefs have never kept us safe; they are in fact proven dangerous.  We, as individuals, are totally dependent on our economic system functioning and this fact causes anxiety.  

Back to Books for Bigots.  My latest offering is ZOO CITY by Lauren Beukes.  The scene is Johannesburg, South Africa, a city divided between those who have and those who have not.  In the book, we live in that part of the city which has  not - - a really unhealthy place: a place where the people live on the remnants of what once was.

This is a place Bigots as well as us decent folk would prefer not to live or experience.  It is a society that has failed in every way. Our current flock of Bigots have it in mind that life in America is failing them and they believe bringing god back into our lives will somehow fix it.  Reading FOX CITY would benefit them in several ways.  One would be that they can visualize a world much worse than their own; a world however, that looms in front of them as a possibility - - possibly even a probability.

The efforts of our legislature here in Iowa will not fix the anxiety of the people who vote for them.  Realizing that their lives are totally dependent on others causes anxiety.  Their deities are not able to reach down and fix something that eventually will fall.  Our economic system and consequentially, our lives, will not continue unabated simply because  biblical precepts are once again taught in our schools and the pledge of allegiance is again required to start the day.   Make-believe is not the answer: make-believe always seems better until it is not.

In a society where all are dependent on others for their existence, exchanging that dependence from those others to some fictional being will not be of much help.  The notion that our life here on earth is only a stopping point in an eternal existence may give some relief to those of more than ordinary anxiety, but what it does, since it is simply a matter of make-believe, is to require an effort to enforce such belief on others.  One cannot have doubters in a world operated by belief.  

As Bertrand Russell intimated, people don't kill other people over whether two plus two is four, people kill each other over the belief in different gods or whatnot.  Belief has been and will continue to be the thing that causes the most grief to the human race.  Unfortunately believing is really simple: anyone can do it. It is exceedingly easy to adopt a belief;  but to change a belief or to denounce a belief is another matter.  Beliefs get stuck in place which is causing the current legislative efforts here in the land of corn and soybeans.  

I realize this is a long way from a discussion of ZOO CITY, but what is the purpose of reading a book unless it is to make you think, not only about the book, but the world around you.  This, Z00 CITY accomplishes.  ZOO CITY portrays an existence we all want to avoid.  Unfortunately, current efforts here in Iowa will not succeed in doing this.  Our legislature may think they can stall off the future with legislation, but this has never been successful and it will not be successful now.  It would really be good if our legislators could recognize this.  Bigots should read this book.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo