Specimen Days - Michael Cunningham
by Zia ~ December 3rd, 2005. Filed under: Books.
Walt Whitman has always been an enthralling character in American history because he is so ungoverned by any type of constraint whatsoever. No one wrote more convincingly and beautifully about the American experience — and no one wrote as self-indulgently about other matters.
And Walt Whitman is the thread that ties together the three novellas that make up Michael Cunningham’s new novel. One would think that he would be wary of writing about another literary figure following the resounding success of The Hours. We may feel fortunate that he didn’t have such scruples.
Act 1 is a ghost story set at the turn of the century, where the unlikely figure of Walt Whitman provides solace to a grieving boy who takes his dead brother’s place in the factory. Act 2 is a blood-chilling tale of a present-day police officer who succumbs to the wiles of a child who has been raised on Whitman and the conviction that the best thing he can do for those he loves is to kill them. And Act 3 tells of a very human robot who has been programmed with Whitman’s poetry, which ends up giving him something that suspiciously resembles a soul. Beyond that, I will say no more; you should read this one for yourself. It was stunning.
I will, however, say that it’s interesting how traditionally literary authors are veering into the realm of science fiction: Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishigiro, and now Michael Cunningham. And I’m sure there are more …