Abstract: Ben Lerner, Leaving the Atocha Station. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2011. 181pp. $15The remarkable popular and critical success of Leaving the Atocha Station owes much to the lyric sensibility that has already won Ben Lerner recognition as a poet. Yet the smooth veneer of the novel's prose covers over a serious formal defect: the protagonist, Adam Gordon, is an unconvincing character, making the novel' s world and story unconvincing as well. Though the novel has been understood as a narrative of personal development, the psychological presentation of Gordon does not suggest a maturation arc or even a clear means by which maturation could occur.Adam Gordon is much like Lerner himself: an intelligent young man from Topeka, Kansas, raised by two eminent psychologists. Like Lerner did, Gordon spends a year in his mid-20s writing poetry in Spain thanks to a prestigious fellowship. The action of the story, confined entirely to the fellowship term, is minimal: like many fellowship recipients, Gordon finds himself unable to work, and spends his time in idleness and frivolous sociality.Much of Gordon's energy is dedicated to flirtations with two Spanish women, Isabel and Teresa, respectively a language school employee and a translator. He wins their good graces, at first, by the false claim that his mother has died. After being found out in this lie- or strategically confessing to it- he continues to play upon their sympathy by claiming she is seriously ill and much-oppressed by what Gordon calls a fascist father figure. Though his behavior around the urbane Teresa is merely selfish and awkward, his treatment of working-class Isabel is emotionally manipulative. In a classically abusive move, one of many, he stages a public humiliation by inviting Isabel to an extremely fancy restaurant, a gesture designed to make her feel uncomfortable and small while appearing to be a token of affection.This personal drama constitutes the main action of the novel. By the time the 2004 Madrid train bombings interrupt this low-action narration, Gordon has told, by my count, twenty-seven self-serving lies over about 100 pages. As he ponders the attacks, Gordon concludes that he has nothing to say about them, and no personal stake in Spanish affairs. After a disastrous appearance at a conference panel reveals that he has, for a year, neglected the stated purpose of his fellowship, Gordon prepares to return to the US with no lessons learned. He says, I have never been here and I didn't think I'd undergone much change.However, though Gordon is an ugly character who exhibits a minimal amount of self-awareness, Lerner works hard to redeem him. Scenes of petty or callous behavior are followed by moments of lyricism and speculation: an especially egregious lie about his parents is followed by a long riff on Tolstoy, Aristotle, and hash, and then later by a meditation on the nature of translation. Gordon also preempts the reader's condemnation by making abject declarations of his essential worthlessness and vacuity. But these preemptions are finely wrought and emotionally calculating. The novel's fictional world conveniently complies when Gordon needs to be rescued from the reader's judgment. …
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 71
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