Éric Neuhoff’s chronicle: The school of Topeka, by Ben Lerner: an endless adolescence
[ad_1]
CRITICAL – The monologues have something electric here, and the breaks in tone dot a zigzag plot.
There are ups and downs. The book is sometimes too theoretical. You have to hang on, not be afraid to face releases on “biofeedback”. Topeka School is deserved. You can’t always look for Musso at two o’clock. The hero is in his last year of schooling (1997). Adam is a champion in the art of speech. He participates in tournaments.
His parents are renowned psychologists. His father Jonathan works in a famous Kansas foundation, treats critical cases. Jane, the mother, is the author of a feminist bestseller which earned her the hatred of reactionaries. She receives threatening calls from men whom she asks to repeat, to speak louder. Judicious technique: they end up hanging up, all sheepish. Trump’s shadow looms on the horizon. Gender quarrels show the tip of their nose. Language is perhaps the real subject of this rich, complex, ambitious novel.
Read alsoEric Neuhoff’s column: Obviously Martha, by Meg Mason: big depression
Lerner believes in the powers of literature. Alternate voices comment…
[ad_2]
Source link