Book 43 - Ian McEwan "The Cockroach"
Jun. 1st, 2020 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzy_daveIan McEwan "The Cockroach" (Vintage)
We thought political satire was dead; how can you satirise figures like Johnson or Trump, who apparently have no shame, no empathy, and no goal other than power for its own sake?
Ian McEwan shows that we can. His reverse telling of Kafka's Metamorphosis posits a cockroach waking in an unfamiliar, unattractive but strangely utilitarian body, with an important job, that of Prime Minister of Great Britain, and an important task to complete. By doing so, he shows a natural propensity for gaslighting, the dissemination of fake news, backstabbing, manipulation of the media, and sundry other dirty tricks that would normally be beneath a cockroach. He does draw the line at murder though.
This novella shows that even today, satire is still possible. The chapter on the doctrine of Reversalism (McEwan's Brexit proxy) is so well imagined, so obviously insane but yet tantalisingly appealing, that I had tears running down my cheeks. Especially as I imagined fans turning up to a Justin Bieber concert, expecting to be paid. And as the Prime Minister tries to determine whether the American President, worryingly inconsistent in his comments, is actually "one of them".
A brilliant riveting book.
We thought political satire was dead; how can you satirise figures like Johnson or Trump, who apparently have no shame, no empathy, and no goal other than power for its own sake?
Ian McEwan shows that we can. His reverse telling of Kafka's Metamorphosis posits a cockroach waking in an unfamiliar, unattractive but strangely utilitarian body, with an important job, that of Prime Minister of Great Britain, and an important task to complete. By doing so, he shows a natural propensity for gaslighting, the dissemination of fake news, backstabbing, manipulation of the media, and sundry other dirty tricks that would normally be beneath a cockroach. He does draw the line at murder though.
This novella shows that even today, satire is still possible. The chapter on the doctrine of Reversalism (McEwan's Brexit proxy) is so well imagined, so obviously insane but yet tantalisingly appealing, that I had tears running down my cheeks. Especially as I imagined fans turning up to a Justin Bieber concert, expecting to be paid. And as the Prime Minister tries to determine whether the American President, worryingly inconsistent in his comments, is actually "one of them".
A brilliant riveting book.
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