What’s the book?
Everybody has read Heart of Darkness. You probably skimmed it in high school, or read the Spark Notes (or Clif’s Notes, since Spark Notes didn’t exist for many of you) and went on with your life. Enter LiteraryHuman. We are here to suggest a different book by Mr. Joseph Conrad, a work whose merits and modernist credentials have really been overshadowed by Joe’s other work, and the torrent of cries of “RACIST!” that have come in its backlash. With a cast of characters that includes Marxists, terrorists, police inspectors, dolts, and evil genii (I think this is the correct plural?), The Secret Agent is an incredible exemplar of modernist technique. It is a tragedy and a work of early 2oth century quintessence.

What’s it about?
The Secret Agent himself, Mr. Verloc, is pretty much the antithesis of the common conception of a secret agent. He is the anti-007, fat, lazy, and ineffective. He lives in a sex shop. No, really, he does, and it is rather funny, especially considering the fact that the book was written 1907. The plot follows Verloc and his deviant clique of revolutionaries, their plans to bomb a London site, and the police that attempt to solve their attempts, but it quickly turns down a road more tragic than the reader may have initially expected. The Professor, a ruthless bombmaker, is truly compelling in his wanton disregard for morality, and the tension of the story carries the reader through to the literary punch without descending into the depths of boredom.

Why should you read it?
The buffoonery of some of its characters and the depravity of others, and the close looks at each one’s inner thoughts make it an intriguing read, but it’s not long enough to seem labored. It packs a lot of emotional punch and pounds its theme of modernist disconnection home with the hammer of innovative perspectives, allowing the reader to view events from many sets of eyes. Okay, that last sentence was a bit melodramatic, but seriously, it’s a good read and you’ll feel much more literary when you are done. Not to take anything away from Heart of Darkness, which is a terrific book, but this overlooked great brings a lot more groundbreaking style to the table.

What’s the book?
We apologize for our ineptness and general lateness in bringing you this fourth Book Worth a Look. Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day may be a novel of which, frankly, you have never heard. Bowen herself flew slightly under the American radar as an Anglo-Irish author of late modernism. Her relative underratedness, however, should not deter you from attempting a read that combines subtle psychological depth with a realistic portrayal of femininity within her protagonist’s upper-crust society life.

What’s it about?

We will only give you a little more back-cover blurb info because, well, it’s already been written by the blurb-writers. Essentially, The Heat of the Day depicts woman living and loving during the blitz of London of the Second World War, and the intrigue (there is possibly a hint of spy-thriller involved) that surrounds her relationship with the important men in her life. The word sensibility comes to mind when one thinks of the main foci of the story–Stella Rodney, the protagonist, is compelling as a character study, a relatively normal widow going about her life in the extraordinary circumstances of WWII.

Why should you read it?

1984 and Death of a Salesman, both of which also came out in 1949, may be more vividly stowed away in your literary Rolodex. But The Heat of the Day only gains appeal from its understated fame–the novel is all about understatement. Its depiction of modern loneliness is tempered by its commitment to dead-on realism, and its author was herself involved in the chaotic world of the London blitz. Free indirect discourse (a word often thrown around by professors that passed on their teachings to SportsHuman ears) is sprinkled throughout the narration to reinforce the importance of perspective to the various characters involved in the occasional spy-thriller-esque moments of the plot. It is also one of a less-populated class of late modern novels written by women, and is unique because of this feminine point of view (on a subject–spies and bombs–typically delved into by men). The development of the intrigue within the high-society/World War II framework makes it a good read that offers a chance to experience a rather uncommon, modern voice.

What’s the book?
Our third Book Worth a Look is Don DeLillo’s White Noise, another 1985 novel and the book that won that year’s National Book Award: quite a year for literature was 1985! White Noise earned such high praise because of its relevant and altogether as-hilarious-as-it-is-recognizable saturation with the absurdity of the post-modern world. We recommend books that are often overlooked, usually because of their relative recency, and this masterpiece, and DeLillo’s first big hit, definitely fits the bill. In fact, perhaps the most compelling thing about this book is its foresight. Although it was written more than twenty years ago, its hauntingly but humorously realistic treatment of the Information Age remains quite relevant.

What’s it about?

The plot follows Jack Gladney, a university professor, through a ridiculous chain of events involving biochemical scares, marriage problems, and over-informed children. The tone of the story walks a fine line between depressingly serious and mockingly satirical: Jack and his wife are each others’ fourth spouse. Et cetera. Jack Gladney and his wife are horribly afraid of death, and as contemporary people are wont to do, Mrs. Jack Gladney seeks a drug to solve this anxiety. When a “toxic event” strikes the university town, the unquenchable angst it causes spurs a chain of events (we apologize for the double use of this word in the sentence; we were unable to come up with a different way of phrasing things [sometimes, LitHuman is lazy too]) involving this drug that challenges Jack’s marriage and illustrates the utter blandness of his world

Why should you read it?

Our third BWaL, like the second Book Worth a Look and the first, continues a rather post-modern trend of being interesting — for White Noise, the interest comes in the form of humorous satire — while still being literarily relevant. These novels are able to do this because they deal with issues that have not exactly gone away since their publishing. White Noise is a terrific example of a work that retains its pertinence even in these later stages of the Information Age. Complete with the post-modern inclusion of occasional random lists of all-things-mundane-and-contemporary, the novel deserves the April 30th spot because it challenges an array of issues from consumerism to sensationalism in a humorous and yet not heavy-handed way. That is really all there is to say without giving away what can only be truly experienced by reading this Book Worth a Look.

That's how long it's been since the World Wide Web was created.

That's how long it's been since the Lorena Bobbitt incident shocked the country. And really scared adult males.

That's how long it's been since Doom (the first-person shooter that started it all) was released for personal computer.

and…

That's how long it's been since an American won the Nobel Prize in Literature. It happened in 1993 when Toni Morrison won as a still relatively young author after Beloved achieved international fame.

So why should you care? Because the Nobel Prize is basically the epitome of accolades in general in our world today. It is the award to end all awards. It is used in jokes, and its winners are glorified as heroes (Al Gore, for instance. No, seriously. Stop laughing.) and the monetary reward is rather hefty as well. You should care because the most important award of our time is being withheld from some of the greatest authors of our time. The proof that this injustice is more than just a coincidence?

"The US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," said Horace Engdahl, a member of the Swedish selection committee, last year before the award was given out. Take that America! Because your recent government has enraged the world at large, ALL of your citizens must suffer the consequences. Sorry Philip Roth. Your incredible body of work won't cut it.

Insular? That would be as in: related to or deriving from an "island." Apparently, Mr. Engahl was implying that American fiction does not have a worldly appeal. I take offense: read our most recent Book Worth a Look. Blood Meridian focuses on man's inhumanity to man. Isn't that a rather universal issue? Is there no inhuman violence in Europe? I seem to recall a Great War, maybe two…

No, the award won't be given out for several months now. But I have recently written an article elsewhere on the lack of respect given by popular culture and by the university community to contemporary American fiction, and it got me thinking on this subject. When I looked up the numbers (1993 was the last time an American won the award; before that, I think you have to go back to 1962 when Steinbeck for the last person born in the US to win) I was appalled. Morisson is certainly deserving. Steinbeck was good, even if East of Eden is underwhelming. But both are just what the Nobel Prize commission loves: uber-liberal authors with uber-liberal themes. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Not at all. The problem here is that excellent authors are being ignored because of European closed-mindedness. The Modernist movement, perhaps THE great cultural movement of the last century, was spurred by both US citizens and expatriate American authors. Where has the respect gone? The LitHuman opinion (at least as far as the Nobel Prize goes) is that the respect lost by the American foreign policy decisions of the last several years has carried over into other realms as well. In my opinion, Cormac McCarthy's The Road is quite a universal novel, with an appeal that does not rely on its American-ness. Unfortunately, the fact that McCarthy is a card-carrying Southwestern American will probably preclude him from the runnings in December. His post-apocalyptic novel, the setting of which – the US – is only barely recognizable by decaying signs (and was inspired by a trip to IRELAND, which happens to be a European nation), and which brings up questions of father-son companionship and the future of mankind… well it's just too insular.

I suppose we are harping on the Nobel Commission with the hope that you, the reader, will begin either to see it as a less prestigious award (and begin to look for other awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, the PEN awards, etc. for suggestions on what to read) or send angry mail to Sweden declaring our disgust at their own lack of open-mindedness. It would pretty sad if their opinion is derived as a reaction to American intolerance; it would appear that their own behavior reflects a rather hypocritical mindset.

What’s the book?
Our inaugural Book Worth a Look is Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a 20th century work of art that really appeals to fans of diverse tastes. You may remember it from high school as the book you didn’t read that was something like 1984 (that is really the point of the Book Worth a Look segment—giving you a collection of suggested reading that you may have missed earlier in life). And if that’s what you remember, you would be partially right. Its main characters Bernard, Lenina and John live in a dystopian world that is very believably constructed and remains relevant decades after it was written. Crosses have been replaced with T’s for the Model T, given an almost religious respect in its place as the first product of a mass production society. But the book is a lot more than science-fictiony cautionary tale, which is why it earns the spot as this Friday’s Book—and it’s a perfect book for a weekend, because as a read it is more intriguing as your Saturday night was going to be if you went out. In addition to being a dystopian satire, it brings considerable literary merit to the table with both terrific, economical writing, and a provocative approach to life post-original-sin.

What’s it about?
Bernard and Lenina live in what their people consider a utopia at a genetic engineering plant. Bernard has a slightly critical view of the world, and is a bit more curious than his society appreciates. John lives in what Henry Ford would have called “God’s great open spaces,” but his life is interrupted by a visit from Bernard and Lenina, from the civilized world, who extract him from his savagery and take him to their technologically advanced homeland (John lives in what was once America, his new friends are from London, a rather interesting commentary about the direction in which the world was/is headed).

Why should you read it?
Well, we have already enumerated its virtues as a great combination of science fiction and hard literature, executed with solid writing. More so than that, it is pertinent to both America’s contemporary questions of funding genetic engineering and to America’s recent experience with a coercive government. It also has a lot of humor, for those readers who enjoy a little comic relief in their literature. There is drug use, sex, and a bit of violence, for fans of the lower-brow genre fiction. As a work of literature it offers a constant sense of questioning, and perhaps most importantly, in the LitHuman’s opinion it compares favorably to 1984. Not to take anything away from that 20th century classic, but Brave New World offers a whole lot more thematically than its relative in plot, provoking thought about not only a Big Brother type government, but also about life, sin, freedom, and technology. It is definitely worth a look, and it should appeal to fans of a wide variety of styles and subject matter.