21st Century Literature discussion

This folder is for any Background materials on or Robert Coover in general. I will be adding things as we go along, but I would be curious to hear any personal recollections in relation to Coover or his work. Robert Coover happened to pass away after the book was nominated and I think we may choose to remember, celebrate, and elegize him as well as read one of his last novels.

The novel Huck Out West is a wildcard selection nominated as a literary example from the American western genre. It is pays homage to Mark Twain's and while trying to capture the spirit of Huck Finn, the character, it is also ruthless in its
satire of Twain's flaws and the western in general.

Many don't realize that Twain attempted but did not finish a western sequel to Huck Finn and it is included in
https://books.google.com/books?id=6hu...
The fragment is short and is what prompted Coover's novel.

I'm in! I got a copy of one of Twain's actual sequels, Tom Sawyer Abroad, as a comparison as well.

I plan to join as well, though I won't start for another week yet.

Longtime Coover fan here ever since a literature professor introduced me to Pricksongs and Descants back in the mid- to late-90s. Would like to join you all, but my reading has been behind by weeks to months this entire year, so we'll see...

The electronic book review did a really nice discussion called "Remembering Robert Coover" made up of writers, former students, etc., interspersed with some of Coover's own thoughts/presentations:
https://electronicbookreview.com/essa...

Just started this one today - not far enough yet to know what I'll think

Sam wrote: "Many don't realize that Twain attempted but did not finish a western sequel to Huck Finn and it is included"

Sam, I certainly had no idea about it. Very interesting, and good to know as I start this novel, thanks!

It really disturbed me in chapter 2 (view spoiler)[the casual way Huck betrayed Jim back into slavery. This story is shot through with a lot of savage satire, even more savage than Twain's, like the "civilizing" of the gulch which is clearly quite the opposite . . . a full on descent into greed and lawlessness.

I like the satire, but I'm not sure how I feel about what happens to Jim. It seems to nullify all of Huck's revelations in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In that book, he learned something about the difference between true justice and societal mores of any particular time, the difference between right and legal. But here, he's just fallen back into social norms and going by the way his society judges.

Not sure how I feel about that. I suppose Huck had to separate himself from the society of his day and exist with Jim separately on the raft to mentally escape his society's way of thinking. And now as he re-entered society, he has fallen right back. He buys into Tom's idea that returning to slavery is a good thing for Jim - it's one of those fictions his culture has to tell itself to survive its own double-think.

The falling back is kind of discouraging but it happens I guess. We as a culture are falling backward all the time, in little ways and big (sometimes maybe very big), and we as individuals can do that too. (hide spoiler)]

Greg wrote: "It really disturbed me in chapter 2 the casual way Huck betrayed Jim back into slavery. This story is shot through with a lot of savage satire, even more savage than Twain's, like the "civilizing" ..."

I agree Greg. The savagery in the book is extreme. Coover was a 20th century author and his approach is very much a 20th century approach. Compare this book to Little Big Man. The author is over eighty years old when writing this and I don't feel the approach is as acceptable as in 1964 when Berger wrote that novel. But in his exaggeration, I think Coover's intent is to mock the savagery and prejudices that were existent in the genre. Unfortunately, IMO, this would have worked much better in the 1960s and 1970's when this approach was still fresh and real life Vietnam war violence gave the satire more bite.

Sam wrote: " I think Coover's intent is to mock the savagery and prejudices that were existent in the genre.."

Completely agree with this Sam . . . and also perhaps to mock the unspoken savagery in the social norms of Twain's time (as well as even perhaps the savagery inherent at the roots of our Western tradition as a whole?).

Not sure how I feel yet as to whether his approach is successful or not, but I do get what you mean by it being 20th century at heart. I will think deeper on all of that after I finish.

Cleaning out my e-mails and there was one that linked to a few older articles by Coover, so I'll post links in case they are of interest to anyone else:

- The End of Books
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...

- Cave Writing: New Adventures in Mot-Town (about the impact of technology on books/writing)
https://www.cccb.org/rcs_gene/robert_...

- In Answer to the Question: Why Do You Write?
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rfea_0397-7...

Marc wrote: "Cleaning out my e-mails and there was one that linked to a few older articles by Coover, so I'll post links in case they are of interest to anyone else:

- The End of Books
https://archive.nytimes...."

Thanks Marc. I was familiar with Coover experiments in hypertext, group text ect. The last piece of poetry, "Why I Write" was wonderful.