All the Sad Young Literary Men

Like the online pornography its characters are too cheap to pay for (they do presumably pay for the gas to fill up the tanks of their parents hand-me-down Japanese cars-- no, not mere stick-shift Tercels and Civics), a reader might be tempted to peak ahead to the chapters with promising titles-- I'd say, these chapters do not disappoint, and although yes, we are reading the neurotic, anxieties of the relatively affluent and suburban, the book is very engaging. It would be fun to read a review of this book from an unabashedly Zionist perspective. "Self loathing" does come to mind at times although with 3 main characters seemingly not unlike the author, "self liking" could be more accurate. If you need to put yourself in the perfect mood for receiving it, try teaching "Guy De Maupassant" 8 years in a row, then reading the relatively recent biography of Alfred Kazin. Then, skip to the Babel chapter; it's somewhat like TC Boyle's "The Overcoat II" but different. Guaranteed something will touch you with more than just light fingers. You'll throw the book across the lawn, envy and appreciate all at once. Maybe no one reads and reacts with strong emotion anymore? Anyway, I recommend. Funny, intellectual and easy to turn the pages.

Let me begin by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this witty and insightful book, because the rest of this is going to be nasty and snarky. The title is pretty accurate. It is about young literary men. (Characters write for the "Nation" and "New Republic" and aspire to the "New York Review of Books.") But it may be false advertising to call it a novel, rather than a collection of short stories. The stories are about three young men, Sam, Mark and Keith who are all Ivy League graduates with parents who are Jewish immigrants from Russia. There's a lot of interesting background about the Jewish experience in the Soviet Union. Some of it was more interesting than the love affairs that make up the main stories and end sadly or inconclusively. Keith is a first person narrator who frames the stories, and finishes a political book about Bush. Mark fails to finish a dissertation about the Mensheviks. Sam fails to finish a novel about the Zionist movement. It has a realistic contemporary setting, in Syracuse, Boston, Baltimore and New York, with some scenes in the West Bank. The three protagonists are loosely linked, largely through their mistresses. I was reminded of the marvelous episode in Aldous Huxley's "Chrome Yellow" written in the 1920's, where a clever and sensitive young man confides to an older critic that he is writing a novel. The older man tells him with "devastating accuracy" exactly what his novel will be about. It will be about a clever and sensitive young man who has a series of love affairs, writes a novel of surpassing brilliance, and "is last seen disappearing into a luminous future." Keith Gessen (the author)is evidently a clever and sensitive young man who is well aware of the clichés of the autobiographical coming-of-age novel and wants to put a new and original spin on them. It is fun watching him try.

Gessen, Keith. "All the Sad Young Literary Men", Viking, 2008. Literary and Romantic Ambitions Amos Lassen I came across Keith Gessen's "All the Sad Young Literary Men" quite by accident but what a wonderful accident that was for me as I discovered a jewel of a novel. It is even more of a prize because it is Gessen's first novel and it literally tears asunder the romantic and literary ambitions of three men who are well educated. I hesitate to call the novel a comedy because it is not a book that makes you laugh consciously. Let me classify it as a black comedy in the form of stories that alternate between the three heroes of the book. First there is Mark who is a doctoral candidate in Russian history. He is disappointed that what he has learned about the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks do nothing for his sexual life. When his marriage fails, he becomes distracted by on-line porn and Internet dating and his attempt to have a successful literary career, satisfying relationships and a PhD in history seems doomed. His activities also do not do much in helping him finish his dissertation. Then there is Sam who gets a contract (while he is still in his twenties) to write the great Zionist epic. When Sam visits Israel to research his book, he realizes that the trip was not so much for the quest for information but rather to get out of a one-sided romance back in Cambridge that he was involved in. As for the advance money that he received, he wastes it and the time on the contract expires and he is due to return the advance. He takes on temp jobs and as he balances spreadsheets, he has less time to spend on the Internet and his identity (i.e. his profile) begins to fade away. Keith, our third "musketeer", is a cultural critic and a Russian immigrant who seems to me to perhaps be Gessen himself. He is a liberal writer who has problems in separating the personal from the political. The three men share ages and desires to arrive on the literary scene and as we watch these three go about reaching their goals we see both savageness and tenderness. I hesitate to call the book a novel because what it reads like is a series of vignettes that are connected by disconnection. Each of the characters is connected only by both literary and romantic failures and they, all three, have yet to develop to full manhood. The men have ambitions to change the world and even though the three never meet, their lives come together as each tries to find his way to manhood. Gessen takes on serious political issues while having a good time poking fun at his characters. He looks at love and history as it applies to his three characters. The writing is subtle yet biting and the humor is caustic. The erudition of the characters is undermined with both affection and cruelty and the portrait of young adults is scathing. As Mark, Sam and Keith attempt to find maturity, responsibility and fame, they trip over themselves but each step that they take is filled with humor and a kind of h