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“Act Two for America”: Narcissism, Money, and the Death of American Literature in Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story.
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- Author(s): Bullen, Ross
- Source:
Canadian Review of American Studies; 2018, Vol. 48 Issue 2, p231-253, 23p- Subject Terms:
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- Abstract: Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story is set in a dystopian New York City of the not-so-distant, and uncannily familiar, future. Shteyngart's America is hopelessly indebted to China, has ceded government control of the military to private corporations, and is populated by a citizenry narcissistically enthralled with hand-held media devices called “äppäräti.” In this article, I examine how Shteyngart depicts the collapse of the United States as a global power as a corollary to the devaluation of US currency and the end of American literature as a mode of cultural production. Money, literature, and American national identity are all yoked to the concept of narcissism in Shteyngart's novel. American narcissism has often been supported by narratives of US exceptionalism, which represent the United States as the centre of global geopolitics, New York City as the global centre of culture and commerce, the US dollar as the de facto currency of a global economy, and American literature as valuable cultural capital. However, when the US loses its place as a global superpower in Super Sad True Love Story, it is significant that many of the novel's characters—especially Shteyngart's narrator, Lenny Abramov—note this loss primarily in terms of their changed relationships with both money and literature. I read Shteyngart's novel as a (sometimes failed) critique of the role of narcissism in establishing bonds of national, economic, and literary belonging, and of the ways in which globalization and economic crises can destabilize these affective connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Abstract: Le roman de Gary Shteyngart intitulé Super Sad True Love Story (Super triste histoire d'amour) se déroule dans le New York dystopique d'un avenir proche et curieusement familier. Les États-Unis y sont désespérément endettés envers la Chine, ont cédé le contrôle de l'armée à l'entreprise privée et sont peuplés de citoyens narcissiquement envoutés par des dispositifs portables d'information appelés « äppäräti ». Dans cet article, je m'intéresse au lien que pose Shteyngart entre l'effondrement des États-Unis en tant que superpuissance et la dévaluation de la devise nationale, et à sa description de la fin de la littérature américaine comme mode de production culturelle. Dans le roman, l'auteur rattache l'argent, la littérature et l'identité nationale étatsunienne au concept de narcissisme. Le narcissisme nourrit souvent les récits de l'exceptionnalisme étatsunien, qui décrivent le pays comme le centre géopolitique mondial, New York comme le cœur planétaire de la culture et du commerce, le dollar US comme la devise de facto de l'économie mondialisée et la littérature étatsunienne comme un capital culturel de grande valeur. Mais dans Super triste histoire d'amour, quand les États-Unis sont déchus de leur rang de puissance mondiale, un grand nombre de personnages—et spécialement le narrateur, Lenny Abramov—perçoivent cette déchéance avant tout comme un changement dans leur relation à l'argent et à la littérature, et cela me semble significatif. Le roman de Shteyngart serait en effet une critique (parfois ratée) du rôle du narcissisme dans la formation des liens d'appartenance nationale, économique et littéraire, et une critique également de la façon dont la mondialisation et les crises économiques peuvent déstabiliser ces liens affectifs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Abstract: Copyright of Canadian Review of American Studies is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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