The books Briefing: The Place of Politics in Fiction

Novelists are a lot of opinion. They often say things, write tests and sign petitions reflecting political positions that many of their greatest fans may not like. One of the best things about fiction is that it can transmit higher (or at least more complicated) truths than even the author. A reader does not have to connect to the sometimes odious beliefs of VS Naipaul on postcolonial societies to take pleasure in his language and his characters, or to support a boycott of Israel, as Rachel Kushner has publicly, to find in his novel Creation lake A nuanced but scouring representation of extractive capitalists and Callow activists. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie consciously embodies this division between the novelist and the polemicist. His new novel, Number of dreamsis her first in a dozen years – a period during which she wrote and frequently spoken of feminism, sorrow and political dogmas. In a conversation this week with the Atlantic editor -in -chief gal BeckermanAdichie explained how her novel deviates from her beliefs, and why it is a good thing. She also clearly indicated that the compartmentalization of her ideas of “what the world should be” is not as easy as it might seem.

First, here are four new stories of The AtlanticBooks section:

Beckerman and Tyler Austin Harper, who also wrote on Number of dreams this weekCite a casual and perhaps facetious statement that Actihie made in 2016: “We, women, should spend about 20% of our time on men, because it’s fun, but otherwise we should talk about other things.” Why, in defiance of this feminist affirmation, are men so important in his new book, do they wonder? Because “I don’t want to write about the lives of women as I wish,” she told Beckerman. Instead, the novel tries to imagine that real women interact with real men. In fact, Adichie has strong opinions on the question of politics in fiction; As she said to Beckerman, she thinks that many writers are subject to “ideological compliance”, which can hinder their work. Maybe she would support this modest proposal: fiction should spend about 20% of her time imagining the world as the author would like.

But it’s easier to say than to do. We do not live in a time when politics can be completed of art; He permeates the world, and a novel without much would be difficult to believe. In a note from an author at the end of the book, Adichie confirms that the story of his character Kadiatou is closely like the 2011 case of Nafissatou Diallo, the immigrant Guinea who allegedly alleged that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former leader of the International Monetary Fund, attacked her in a series of the New York City hotel. (All criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn were rejected; he ruler Diallo’s civil prosecution against him for an undisclosed sum.) Adichie told Beckerman that she had struggled to “write honestly” on Kadiatou, because “I had” noble ideas “unconscious for her”. And in the note, she admits to having “created a fictitious character as a gesture of dignity returned. Clear realism, but touched by tenderness. »»

The journey of this character is therefore undeniably political, raising the perspective of a person whose allegations against a very powerful man were closed in court. But, adds Adichie, the objective is to be “tirelessly”, not “ideological”: Kadiatou has lost her husband, fighting against American sexual mores, aspires home. To make her carefully, Adichie said to Beckerman, she did prodigious research and watched hours of videos of Guinea women. His portrait reflects the world as Adichie wishes, but also shows a deep recognition of the world as it is. For a novelist, it is more than enough.

Chimamanda Adichie is a romantic without hope

By Gal Beckerman

Discussion Number of dreams, His first novel in 12 years, the Nigerian author shares his reflections on masculinity, political chaos and the future of fiction.

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What to read

TwilightBy Edith Wharton

“Mrs. Wharton” reads a line in The Atlanticexam of his 1927 novel, Twilight“Has never really come down from this plan of excellence which since his beginning has characterized his work.” Implicit in this observation: so far. Although contemporary criticism may not have appreciated Twilight As much as they made the previous books of Wharton, his 17th novel offers a life – variation of jazz updated on a familiar theme and Wharton: social ruin. In Roaring ’20s New York, Pauline Manford, the heroine of the book, settles in the inconvenience of life – including the connection of her second husband with the wife of her stepson, Lita – with an occupied social calendar, but when catastrophe and progress can be discovered, not even her emotional reference by Pauline. Named according to the drug cocktail given to women of the 20th century to avoid the pain of childbirth, which recalls the anesthetized attitude of some of its characters, Twilight was republished at the end of 2024. – Rhian Sasseen

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Hang on your disgust

By Spencer Kornhaber

It was the inauguration weekend, and I was sitting in a restaurant where the bartender exploded a playlist of songs from the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. The music sounded, frankly, brilliant. Most of the songs came from the moment when I considered myself a sound fan, well before renamed the world Hitler’s most famous admirer. I hadn’t heard so much music played in public for years; In private, I above all avoided it. But while I nodded, I thought it might be time to download Yeezus.

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