just went for a run and got totally soaked.
I reviewed Remainder because it kicks ass. it's not quite like anything else I've read. it has no real interest in some of the staples of storytelling - characterization or human relationships. the reason it works as a novel is because of its extreme attention to plot, which is, as Tom McCarthy knows, nothing more than a pattern. this book is very concerned with patterns. mostly, it is about space, and authenticity. the latter idea is the one which connects the whole enterprise to the tradition of philosophy, in my mind.
McCarthy isn't usually a novelist; he runs a theoretical group called the International Necronautical Society, which ostensibly has something to do with death and space, or death as a space, more specifically. this comes up in Remainder, although the novel isn't about death, I don't think (I might change my mind after a re-read). at least on the surface, it's more about that authenticity theme, which is explored through the use of re-enactments and re-creations of scenes.
I'm not sure exactly how McCarthy came upon the idea of writing a novel; I think he's probably trying to promote his theoretical group, which is half-fictional by his own description, in every form and medium possible, and had just come around to the novel form. I really like this idea: creating a philosophy (however much it is really original or just a response to older philosophies) and then distributing it through every form of media available. however, I also like to think that novels are the perfect form for exploring ideas, and that story is a privileged form of information that can be used for the communication of highly complex thought. I have seen this done in a number of ways - Blanchot, one of McCarthy's heroes, writes these distended riffs where nothing at all happens except subtle shifts of philosophy - and I feel like McCarthy's example was one of the more successful. at no point did the drama overwhelm the ideas of the novel, and yet it was still a page-turner. I think there's a lot to be said for the thriller form, which Paul Auster used to his advantage in City of Glass. in fact, a lot of points in Remainder seemed directly related to the moments with the man wandering around the city in Auster's work: that obsession with space, the conviction that it will reveal something essential and transcendent.
this is a video of the INS' Manifesto on Inauthenticity, delivered at the Tate museum in London. I love this video. it seems to be the best outlet for INS, in my opinion; especially if you do a little research and figure out that the man speaking is not actually Tom McCarthy, but an actor. I also think this manifesto gets closest at the themes Remainder is about.
the half-fictional aspect is the other thing I find really fascinating. there are some moments where the Manifesto is clearly imitating staid academic prose and absurd overwrought theory (there's a pretty banal analysis of Queequeg, although I'm actually not certain of how serious McCarthy was about that bit), but then ten seconds later one of the speakers will come out with a really fascinating idea. I love the idea of tragedy being a reconciliation of inauthenticy and authenticity - the recognition of the inevitability of cause and necessity on one hand, and the free acceptance of that on the other.
the awesome part is that it seems to rely on me to determine whether any of it is serious or not; I might find one part insightful and fascinating, but someone else might think that's part of a joke. by making his movement "half-fictional", McCarthy puts the onus on us.
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