Chip McGrath has an interesting essay on social class in American novels (and culture in general), suggeesting that the poor were quite invisible in fiction until the turn of the 19th century and that a substantial portion of 20th century novels have been devoted to a long tradition of upward mobility worship. McGrath accuses American culture of turning its back on blue-collar life and suggests, "If Gatsby were to come back today, he would come back as Donald Trump and would want a date not with Daisy but with Britney. And if Edith Wharton were still writing, how could she not include a heavily blinged hip-hop mogul?"
Posted by DrMabuse at June 7, 2005 05:38 PMtheres no way gatsby would come back as trump - trump inherited his money - he would have to be a modern day bootlegger (ie a Coke dealer)and he of course wouldn't be after Britney Spears as that makes no sense in the context of the book. This article seems to be simply a snobby diss of modern rich people who don't have the decency to be 'classy' without even the brains to tie it up with the tired overused novels and novelists used.
Shit.
Posted by: jazza at June 8, 2005 08:25 AM