Reality Hunger: A Manifesto

Great as this book is--and make no mistake, it is--I'm a little flummoxed by how straightforwardly it's being read, in some cases. Shields, rather tellingly it seems to me, selects as one of his epigraphs a remark from Graham Greene: "When we are not sure, we are most alive." The epigram appears--again--deeper within the book's pages, and seems, fittingly, to half-contradict the notion of this book as "manifesto." Sure, Shields has keen arguments against certain contemporary conventions--the drab and by now familiar ropes-and-pulleys of "realism"--but for Pete's sake, this book IS a piece of fiction: a giddy, imaginative, bold, immensely pleasurable whirligig that does anything but trot out a set of pieties about how things 'ought' to be. Rather, Shields' book engages a fundamental paradox: how these books that we (yeah, I'm one) fiction writers fashion out of seemingly original clay are inexorably rooted in the works of others, and how our obligation to represent some form of 'reality' might be better served by work that necessarily acknowledges its own artifice. Is that so radical? I kind of doubt it, but Shields' playfulness, accuracy and bristling intelligence make this book delightful from end to end. "Manifesto?" Well, sure. But the book is way too alert to get pinned down by even its own orthodoxies. Ignore the doubtful: this book is an unremediated joy from end to end.

As a burgeoning college literary artist, I found this book one of the best attempts at defining our media generation in contemporary literature. The ever-present media blitz- the unquenchable desire for access and information we don't really want, the misrepresentation of reality that has skewed all attempts at normalcy and definition in our lives- I found that Reality Hunger approached it all in a fresh sense that offered (perhaps accidentally) valuable insight as to how our superficial culture could inspire a return to truth in our creations. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto

The book is a selection of quotations and excerpts plucked from the last five centuries of thought, divided into twenty-six topics to create a comprehensive overview of realism in contemporary literature. Walter Benjamin's //The Arcades Project// is similarly structured (not that I've read the copy I've owned for almost 10 years). What I mean is that much of what is written by Shields in this book was not originally written, rather, taken directly from his previous books, entire paragraphs in come cases. By mixing the obvious with a first scratchy, then beautiful tone that hums and finally overrides what we think we already know about writing, Shields zeroes in on what really matters: empathy, emotional truth, and ideas that crackle and pop. It comes off as its own mash up for a generation that wants everything for free without consequence. I found this book provocative and, at times, inspiring--the push towards newness. It's a real challenge to contemporary artists to make something more relevant to our lives. Shields's main point is that the traditional novel and the short story are dead literary forms, which is all fine and good. Reviewed by Joe Atkins

To enjoy Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, you need three things: 1) a love of abstraction, 2) an interest in contemporary art and culture, and 3) a willingness to keep turning pages even though you don't have the best grasp on what's happening. If you have these, you're in for a treat. Shields brings his customary intelligence and expansiveness to a dizzying array of topics, including Oprah Winfrey, independent filmmakers, Thomas Jefferson, America's Next Top Model, Facebook, and Plutarch. He says he looks increasingly to literature to offer all the epiphanies but none of the machinery (like that dowdy old matron, plot) that storywriters typically use to produce them. Form preoccupies him, especially as it applies to nonfiction. In a few passages, he considers a current trend: the lyric essay. Some lyric essayists seem not to be writing essays at all; they fabricate details and leave events unexplained--usually the privileges of the fiction writer. Some lyric essays flirt with becoming poems, and some make collages. Shields favors collage in particular, describing it as "not a refuge for the compositionally disabled" but as "quite simply an evolution beyond narrative." Reality Hunger itself takes a collage-like structure, and there are noticeable gaps between some sections. All this cutting and pasting can annoy. It's lovely, though, for what Shields wants to do. Shields is "over" the traditional novel, and he implies that those of us who aren't are behind. While I am not about to throw away my McEwan in order to hold myself to some arbitrary standard of postmodern hipness, I think questioning the norm, seeing what's possible in the arrangement of words, is ennobling. We all gain from the energy such questioning releases, and I'm glad this insightful, entertaining book is here to do it.

I was captivated by this slender, smart book. Part cultural studies. Part personal narrative. Part philosophical pursuit. In it, Shields attempts to digest the interactive 21st century, finding meaning in the mess of our disjointed experience. In many ways, this work continually seeks to ascribe human meaning to a world filled with non-human experiences. The book is beautifully written, a series of short, notes and reflections. In many ways, the book tells us, as readers: we're all going to die someday, and with that in mind, here are some things that might help us better understand our lives and how to find fulfillment and meaningful complexity in it. Hip hop. Reality TV. Proust. Becket. Deadwood. Art as deeply personal expression. It's all there. A book that slowly, seductively invites readers into deeply intellectual and completely accessible conversation. -Todd Pierce