One of the many reasons I enjoy reading is that books can be prisms through which I view the world.  Great works of fiction can help me understand and reflect upon any given period of time and circumstance.  A Passage to India by E.M. Forster is an insight into relations between the colonizer and the colonized in British India.  One Hundred Years of Solitude is an intimate portrayal of Colombian family and culture.  So many of the classic novels that we are both required and love to read have found a timeless place on bookshelves all over the world because their themes are universal and, well, timeless.

As I set out to write my second blog, I referred back to what I wrote last week on technological innovation and how it has transformed us as a society, in some ways detrimentally.  Snowballing off of that, I find it striking how many contemporary works of American fiction have started incorporating tech themes into their narratives.  A Visit from the Goon Squad had an entire chapter told via a PowerPoint presentation.  Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon is about how easily identities are swiped over the Internet.  Lisbeth Salander embezzles millions by computer hacking in the Millennium Trilogy.

Perhaps without consciously taking into account my opinion on the insidiousness of technology, one of the best books I read last year was Don DeLillo’s The Angel Esmeralda.  The book, a collection of nine short stories touching upon a multitude of themes, is entirely removed from the tech trends – so much so that reading on an eReader almost detracted from the ambiance of the book.  While it has mostly been excluded from Pulitzer prediction lists and best of short-lists, I hope that it is not left unnoticed.  Each story can be revisited over again, and even the earliest written story is relatable.  The themes of loneliness, isolation, sexuality, intimacy, anger, and youth make for an engaging read.  While no story is alike, a mysterious atmosphere permeates throughout the collection.

My favorite story is “Human Moments in World War III,” a futuristic depiction of two young men in orbit aimlessly (and mindlessly) firing at “targets” on Earth during a cataclysmic period of war.  They have a collection of “human moments” with them in their vessel – photographs, trophies, clothing, etc. to remind them of their past, and probably of their humanity.  Without any sense of time or place the characters rely on their languor to estimate the day of the week.  When they believe to hear a human voice crackle through their transmission, the doubt and confusion they feel is eerie to read.  The thought of human culture being so far removed compared with the isolating experiences of the two boys is so powerful, I thought about the story for hours after despite its mere 15 or odd pages in length.

The book stands out not only in the oeuvre of DeLillo’s work but in the array of books released last year because of the human moments – and I’m not necessarily talking about the one story.  If I am right, and fiction indeed can help us reflect upon and relate to each other, one need not look further than this book.  I promise you, the intimacy is in every paragraph and punctuation mark.  It reminded me how important, frightening, moving, and exhilarating relationships can be at times.   Not to beat a dead horse, but it really is remarkable how different relationships were when we relied not so heavily on technologically supported interaction but on human interaction.

Basically, if I’m ever stuck with a stranger in a spaceship sometime in the future launching missiles into the atmosphere, one of my “human moments” would definitely be this book.

– BB