Undying: A Novel

by Todd Gitlin

November 2004: George W. Bush is re-elected. Five days later, Alan Meister, a New York professor of philosophy, is diagnosed with lymphoma—not that he can prove the two are connected. While coping with the rigors of chemotherapy, Alan begins work on a long-postponed book titled The Health of a Sick Man, arguing that the core of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical thought was a decades-long attempt to cope with his lifelong incapacities—his blinding headaches, upset stomach, weak vision, and all-around frailty, not least his vexed relations with women. As Alan’s treatment proceeds, he finds relief by imagining Nietzsche not as a historical figure, but as a character in his daily life, a reminder that his own heart continues to beat.

Rooted in the author’s personal experience with lymphoma, this novel is a compound of reminiscences, aphorisms, anecdotes, and encounters: with Alan’s errant daughter Natasha, who has returned home to help care for him; with mortal friends; with a mysterious hospital roommate; with students; with contemporary life as it reaches him through the newspapers and his readings. Steady, spare, and often bracingly funny, Undying cries out in a robust voice: I am.

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Todd Gitlin was an American writer, sociologist, communications scholar, novelist, poet, and not very private intellectual. He was professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University.

Reviews

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was Todd Gitlin’s recent death that led to read this, the last of his three published novels. Since he was a primarily a nonfiction writer, I had limited expectations for his fiction, and I was pleasantly surprised by a very intelligent, well-written novel that is even original in its structure and other aspects.

The principal relationship in the novel is the ailing philosophy professor protagonist’s with Friedrich Nietzsche. No, it’s not a buddy story, but the professor is forced on a couple of occasions to defend the philosopher whose own ailings, he is thinking, were central to his work. Other than the steps to alleviate the protagonist’s ailing and the return of his prodigal daughter, the novel has little plot, and I didn’t miss it at all. I am undying to read more of Gitlin’s fiction.

[Kaje Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very literate and well phrased account of a New York philosophy professor's life as he deals with lymphoma, with the questions of why me and why not me, and with the way life goes along oblivious to the concepts of fairness and logic. The main character is sympathetic, the basic story is interesting. The many, many digressions are erudite, philosophical (appropriately to the main character's profession) and irritating. Maybe I have spent too much time in genre fiction, but I didn't have the patience to pursue the narrator's agile mind down these twisting byways. By the middle of the book I was scanning each paragraph to decide if it pertained to the story in a meaningful way, and skipping those that didn't. Some people will love this book, I think, and they will be better people than I. But for me the bottom line of any read is the ability to glue my attention to the page, and this book fell a little short.

[Judy Gehman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a weird book. Well written and based on the author's battle with lymphoma. Very interesting premise. But way too much philosophy. The subject of the book is a philosophy professor. Very enamored of Nietzsche. I just skim read or skipped those passages. Two plus, three minus? Five for originality.