The Law of Enclosures (2006) by Dale Peck

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Law of Enclosures (2006)

by Dale Peck

Long Island, New York

Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island/Staten Island: 12/28

New York: 88/105

    Dale Peck was/is a pretty significant literary critic- which is a type of author that very much interests me- the writers who are both critics and trying to make a serious go of it writing fiction.  The more I write about books, the more I align with the proper philosophy of the critic is to try to increase attention for the books they prefer, while simply turning a blind eye to the negative.  Saying you don't like a specific book is fine, you state your opinion and move on- jumping in to take issue with some kind of critical "conventional wisdom" in an attempt to draw attention to yourself (and your opinion) is, in my opinion, the saddest path to literary notoriety.  It is also extremely bad karma. Peck, for example, is known for calling Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, "The first literal waste of paper, in terms of the trees felled to create the book, that I have encountered."  I mean, ok, lots of people don't like David Foster Wallace but jeez.  

  But then, to be that type of critic- which Peck is, for which he was known for being at the height of his notoriety, and then to turn around an expect people to be nice to his own work.  Well, no.  So I have no problem saying that I found The Law of Enclosures insufferable.   I learned after finishing the book that Peck is a member of the LGBTQ community, and it is funny, because I often thought, before I knew that, that The Law of Enclosures was written by a gay man who has no insight into the dynamics of abusive/failed relationship between hetero suburbanites.   Basically, The Law of Enclosures is a standard take down of the emptiness of suburban existence genus long island, socio economic classification lower middle, ethnic racial classification, white non-ethnic. 

  There are some elements of the mechanics of Peck's storytelling that make The Law of Enclosures both more interesting than an average example of the above genre AND way more annoying- trying to piece everything together like a jigsaw puzzle a la high modernism and post-modernism.   When it comes to the trauma-narratives of mid 20th century American suburbs I'll take my sob stories straight, thank you very much.   I'm really not expecting much from Long Island in terms of literature, since it is already one of my least favorite places in real life.