Book Reviews: The Road by Cormac McCarthy & Roderick Random by Tobias Smollet

the road


RELATED MATERIAL

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, full text.(GOOGLE BOOK SEARCH)
Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding, Book Review(.CAT DIRT SEZ)
Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift, Book Review.(CAT DIRT SEZ)
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe, Book Review.(CAT DIRT SEZ)
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, Book Review.(CAT DIRT SEZ)



If there is one thing I've learned from reading several 18th century classics of British literature: The English novel basically owes its existence to Don Quixote by Cervantes. I'm talking about the style of narrative called the "picaresque." You can define it in terms of Don Quixote or in more general terms as, "The English-language term can simply refer to an episodic recounting of the adventures of an anti-hero on the road."

The style continues to hold its power: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. On the Road, maybe? It's a style of novel. It's important to focus on the generic forms of novelistic style, because if you happen to be a kick-ass writer like Cormac McCarthy you can set that shit in a post apocalyptic wasteland and forget the punctuation and score a Pulitzer in... 2006. Winner! The Road is in fact being made into a movie as we speak. It could be great like No Country for Old Men, or terrible like "the Postman" a sci-fi variation on the exact same story (but different) that was a decent piece of genre fiction and a TERRIBLE movie starring Kevin Costner.

Roderick Random is an example of the style at the very beginning: It is the anti-hero/hero on the road having adventures. Roderick is a bastard nobel man, raised in Scotland. He's well educated but poor, and he spends the rest of the novel trying to get paid circa 1740 or so. It's a delirious, exhausting ride. It's also four hundred pages long and written in 18th style language.

The Road, on the other hand, is practically a short story. I read it in 2 hours? It won the Pulitzer Prize AND was a pick for Oprah's Book Club in 2007. A film adaptation of the novel is currently in production. It is directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall. The film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Man and the Boy, respectively. It's a really big deal, in other words.

But it's basically a picaresque focusing on an unnamed protagonist and his son. It's set in a post-apocalyptic version of the south eastern states of the east coast. It is probably the best piece of post apocalyptic literature ever. However it's the way it ties together genre fiction premise with a hallowed literary form and impeccable craftsmanship that makes it a classic.

It's amazing to be talking about two novels with a similar narrative shape that exist three centuries apart. It's pretty cool if you stop and think about it. The form actually influences the way people think about life. Read one, then the other. Post apocalyptic.

That's not to say that Roderick Random lacks any comic chops. The funniest part in the whole book comes at around p. 225 when Doctor Wagtail shows up. (GOOGLE LIBRARY RODERICK RANDOM FULL TEXT) He is a ridiculous fop.

While he thus indulged his own talkative vein, and at the same
time, no doubt, expected a retaliation from me, a young man
entered, dressed in black velvet and an enormous tie-wig, with an
air in which natural levity and affected solemnity were so jumbled
together, that on the whole he appeared a burlesque on all decorum.
This ridiculous oddity danced up to the table at which we sat, and
after a thousand grimaces, asked my friend, by the name of Mr.
Medlar, if we were not engaged on business.

That is the description of a ridiculous fop circa 1740s-50s, whatever. That's modern fashion society nearly three centuries ago. Anyway, the form allows you to explore a wide varieties of events within a single work. It's the kind of story people want to hear. It's as basic as "travelling on a boat." You just take an interesting dude and spool him through a series of locations and interactions. Simple. Both Roderick Random and The Road are excellent examples, separated by time.

Fluffy Bunny Crew Troubles Phoenix Cops

Phoenix Skyline

RELATED CONTENT

16 Simon City Royal's Indicted in Milwaukee(CAT DIRT SEZ)
Latin Kings v. Latin Dragons in Chicago Gang Violence (crime of the day)(CAT DIRT SEZ)
"Hey- Is that a... bag of tongues?"(CAT DIRT SEZ)

Is there anything more annoying then privileged whites affecting the behaviors of ethnically based street gangs? Not to defend ethnically based street gangs, but if you grow up in urban areas like South Los Angeles, East Oakland or the Bronx, it's easy to see how you could become embroiled in gang activity at a young age. There can be no similar justification for these suburban "crews." Take, for example, the Phoenix based "Fluffy Bunny Crew."

The Fluffy Bunny Crew, a street gang, was formed years ago on upscale high-school campuses in the northeast Valley. Members of the predominantly White gang of suburban young people first attracted police attention by mugging classmates at northeast Phoenix parties. During the past two years, they have evolved from a party crew into a street gang known for armed robberies, drug deals and violent crime, police say.

Phoenix police Lt. Larry Giebelhausen said investigators at the Desert Horizon Precinct want more parents to be aware of the gang that started as a joke before escalating into a public-safety threat.

"They're getting more and more violent," said Giebelhausen, adding that the Fluffy Bunny Crew is now a recognized Arizona street gang. Members boast about their exploits or "Web bang" on social-networking sites, where they challenge police and threaten rival gangs and members of the public.

"These guys are moving more and more into traditional gang crimes. We have drug transactions on a regular basis."

Non-Hispanic White gangs are rare, according to the National Youth Gang Center, an organization that compiles gang-related statistics from law-enforcement agencies across the U.S.

The organization estimated that 49 percent of gang members in the U.S. were Hispanic and 34 percent were Black. Nearly 10 percent were non-Hispanic White, the group said.

Bruce Ferrell, president of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, said he noticed a rise in gangs similar to the Fluffy Bunny Crew in Omaha, Neb., where he worked as a gang-intelligence investigator.

"The biggest problem is we undercut and minimize what these kids are about."

(ARIZONA REPUBLIC)\

Wrong, I think the biggest problem is that law enforcement in these suburban areas are a bunch of rubes, and the feds in these geographical areas have bigger fish to fry, i.e. real street gangs and non-gang violent organized crime. In other words, "Hey- you've got a home invasion robbery- go solve the damn crime instead of complaining to the news paper about these so-called 'gangs.' Try putting some of these guys in prison and see how long the "gang" holds up."

In California, they call these "emerging" or "undocumented" gangs. The use of the word "crew" is telling- it shows a lack of awareness of the group as an organized entity by both law enforcement AND the public. You don't say "the latin kings crew." It's just "the latin kings." Or, to take another example, you don't say "West Coast Crips gang," just "West Coast Crips."

What about this "statistic":

The organization estimated that 49 percent of gang members in the U.S. were Hispanic and 34 percent were Black. Nearly 10 percent were non-Hispanic White, the group said.

That leaves only 7% for everything else: Asians, Pacific Islanders, Eastern Europeans, South Americans. Sounds fishy to me.