Hey! Libra was pretty sweet! Lively characters and plenty of intense conspiracy stuff. In my previous blog post, I talked a little about the beginning threads of Libra in comparison to the unassuming Lee documentary we watched, and I sort of chastised the doc for not entertaining nearly as many theories as DeLillo could in the first few chapters. As it turned out, the book did an awesome job on balancing the additional narratives for the vast majority of the time, though the end was a little underwhelming. I was expecting some kind of mind-blowing, flashy orchestration from DeLillo to conclude the "plot-plot", but he settled for something far more balanced. Specifically, having Lee both guilty of shooting at the president but simultaneously failing at it (he kind of sliced the president's neck and kills Connally, but Raymo delivers JFK's fatal headshot) is both ingenious and a cop-out of sorts, to me at least. It sort of satisfies both dominant narratives but doesn't go either way like I expected it to. I give it a combined rating of "coolame", more provocative than "nicehh" but less controversial than "rawful", if you know what I mean.
Now for something completely different!
Kind of a throwback here, but do y'all remember the Russia chapters? Those were a big curiosity coming into Libra, as they are easily the most mysterious and undocumented sections of Oswald's life. During that time in the novel, we are still warming up to Lee and trying to determine his specific motivations, so chapters In Moscow and In Minsk become a critical juncture for character and plot development. After retreading through Libra, I'd say that Oswald's time in Russia confirms his obsession with becoming a historically important figure takes precedence over his seemingly Marxist values when assessing his actions.
At the beginning of In Moscow, we are introduced to Lee's "Historic Diary", which is exactly as arrogant as it sounds. The priority of Oswald during his stay at Moscow seems to be documentation for his future famous self, artificially trying to establish himself as a historic figure. Every quote, including the title, is absolutely real for this Historic Diary. The chapter also has us witness the first Lee breakdown if you will, easily the saddest form of his personality where he feels like a "zero in the system." His episode is fueled by the "blankness" of response when he tries to get a passport (150). Although the fear is somewhat justified, the fact that this nervous breakdown occurs multiple times in the rest of the novel and is his lowest point in terms of happiness suggests that being noticed and recognized is his absolute priority. This motivation seems to permeate throughout his life, like when he takes a Russian language test "just to get noticed" and does extremely poorly (163). Overall, the vibe from the Russian sections implies that his Marxist/Russian interests are more a vehicle to fame rather than a pure interest. It's a tough subject to argue, just because Oswald is so erratic and seems to have plans for both sides of the pure motives vs. fame hungry depictions. Personally though, these chapters convinced me that becoming a historical figure is much more significant in his mind.
I wish DeLillo had involved more of the Historic Diary. Lee seems to start a lot of things and then leave them unfinished. His life is full of random events and he moves from place to place all of the time, always picking up different lives along the way. If he really wanted live out his Marxist motivated life, I believe he wouldn't have stayed in America for so long. So I generally agree with the idea that in the novel he seemed to be more concerned with being a historical figure than anything else for a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteI think you're totally right. To Lee, Marxism is less of a true political belief than a means to get recognition and create controversy. Lee purposefully shoves his Marxists connections in others' faces in hopes that someone will take him seriously as a threat or see some potential in him. I think that maybe there is a small part of him that truly does have Marxist leanings - I can see how Lee would be attracted to ideology that has egalitarian beliefs - but on the whole, as you said, it's a vehicle.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really hard to separate out Lee's (or anyone's) motives in such a neat way like this: what you're calling the desire for "fame" is also the desire for affirmation, for being taken seriously, for not being a "nothing in the system" but having his bold moves (and they are truly bold, however foundering) acknowledged and rewarded by those in power. This doesn't mean he's less than serious about his Marxist convictions--and he does stick to these pretty consistently throughout the story. (He's critical of the Soviet system, and with some justification sees Cuba as a promising alternative. He remains deeply dissatisfied with the American system throughout.) Look at Lee's (historic) words to his brother, that serve as the epigraph to the novel: he wants genuinely to merge his individual life with the larger struggle, in order to gain meaning. This has some connection to "fame," but it's not fame itself he's after, in a Kardashian kind of way.
ReplyDeleteThe sad irony of the whole thing is that history still refuses to take his Marxism seriously, seeing him either as "crazed and emotionally disturbed" or as being manipulated/duped by men who are more powerful than him. In this sense, his desperate act utterly fails.
It is a theme in the novel that Lee tries to gain some sort of personal agency in his attempts at obtaining an important role in history, and the Russia chapters do show this. Interesting rating system you have there. I did enjoy the novel overall but not sure if I would give it a "coolame".
ReplyDeleteOne of the central points of the novel is how "real" is Lee? How much of his character is genuine and how much of it is it Lee just trying to get attention. And like Mr. Mitchell said, many people didn't take his Marxism seriously. They just saw him as crazy and deranged, not some hardcore Marxist, who's life was centered around getting the workers to rise up. So I found the Russian sections to be interesting. They were very descriptive, and at times comedic. But watching Lee trying to live his ideal life was interesting.
ReplyDelete