Customer Service, or Lack Thereof

Customer Service

Customer Service
Benoît Duteurtre
Translated from the French by Bruce Benderson

Another great pick from Melville House's Contemporary Art of the Novella Series.* Duteurtre is a French music critic and writer. Here, he focuses his satiric wit on the ever-more-powerful and interconnected business world.

Set in present times, the author describes a world in which corporations have infiltrated every move that their customers make - even when those customers have no idea they are even buying the company's product.

A global telecom company, with the mysterious "Leslie Delmare" as Director of Customer Service, is happy to help the narrator replace his beloved smartphone, which was tragically left in the back of a cab. Of course, there's a price. Not only must he pay for his new phone, and new service, he most also continue to pay for the lost phone service until the contract runs out. This is only the first of many incidents that lead him to a simple conclusion. Companies are attracting customers at cut-rate prices, locking them into unbreakable contracts, and then charging them for the most minor infraction of the rules. This creates a new source of income:

[W]aiting time had been transformed into an economic agent and source of profits.

Why pay more phone operators when you can simply charge your customers $1.99 a minute to wait on hold?

Things take a decidedly more sinister route when our narrator finally meets the supposedly nonexistent Leslie Delmare. Leslie Delmare can be whomever you wish. She can take care of your problem, smooth things over. That's her way - until she decides not to.

The ending of Customer Service was eerily reminiscent of 1984 - only this time, Big Brother isn't the government. Your contract with this overlord is not a theoretical social one, but rather one that is filed away in a monstrous system, the other party waiting for you to violate your terms so it can gleefully profit of your misery.

Full disclosure: Melville House sent this to me for participating in the Art of the Novella reading challenge.

Diversity in Fantasy Writing

Maybe you all have seen the recent discussion sparked by the Salon article If Tolkien were black. One of the authors interviewed, N.K. Jamison, wrote a follow up piece on her blog that's worth checking out as well.

Movie poster for The Return of the King

I confess, I never was into epic fantasy. First of all, I simply wasn't allowed to read anything like that when I was younger. My mom had a very strict no-magic-stuff policy. I do think I may have liked these books, though. I absolutely loved the Narnia series (which I was allowed to read because C.S. Lewis was a Christian). But I never read any Harry Potter until I finally broke down this year and read the first book in the series.

When I have read fantasy books or watched fantasy tv shows or movies, I'm often struck by how male dominated they are. (I'm white, and while I have noticed the troubling racial disparities, that's not the first thing that I notice.) I watched the first season of Game of Thrones, and admittedly, enjoyed some parts of it. But I was reminded again about the seemingly inherent conservatism of the genre that Laura Miller notes in her article. 

I can see why artists are drawn to medieval England as the basis for their work. The setting is well known, and often romantic. Wind swept moors, galloping horses, gorgeous clothes, shining armor - it is appealing. At the same time, this landscape is altered in some way to make it not actual medieval England, but some fantastical version of it. 

My question is, when an author is imagining a fantasy world, with scary monsters beyond a boundary wall, nine year long winters, and dragons that hatch from petrified eggs, walking trees, floating eyeballs, why are race and gender roles still so static? Why is the dominant culture white and patriarchal? Why is it so hard to imagine a world with gender and racial equality?

Even though I'm not a fantasy reader, I will be making an effort to check out N.K. Jamison's work, as well as some of the other authors she mentioned in her post. I invite you to do the dame, especially if fantasy is a favorite genre.

Henri Matisse and Reading

Henri Matisse is one of my favorite artists. He seems to have had a fondness for women reading, as evidenced below.

Woman Reading, 1894

In Woman Reading, I love how he's captured a quite private moment. I identify with the woman here - it's as if she just wants time to herself to spend time absorbed in her favorite book. Of course, I would never choose to sit in a straight-backed chair to do so. Give me a overstuffed couch any day!

In Marguerite Reading, I love how you don't even see the book, but it's clear that Marguerite is, in fact, reading. I'm impressed that Matisse was able to capture so much with just a few pen strokes. It reminds me a bit of Hemingway's "iceberg theory" of writing - I'm paraphrasing, but it's something like if you are writing about a subject you know you can leave out certain things and they will still be communicated to the reader.

Marguerite Reading, c. 1906

The last example here is a much later work, from 1939. It seems that no matter how much Matisse's style may have changed over the years, he was still drawn to the same subjects. Each work, though very different, shares a similar sensibility - the lowered head, the enjoyment of a moment to one's self. The subject in Woman reading, black background, looks like a true bookworm, trying to get a few more minutes of reading in before whomever she's waiting for finally arrives.

Woman reading, black background, 1939

Which is your favorite of the three? Do you have any favorite reading pictures?

A Favorite Reading Spot

I love to go to read on the beach. On windy days, I go to one spot in particular, where I can sit on a bench under a gazebo, listen to the waves, and watch the kite surfers. They're like big, colorful birds swooping through the sky. It's a perfect reading backdrop - although sometimes the scenery is better than the book, which can be distracting!

Kite Surfers from MJ on Vimeo. video description: Several kite surfers out on the waves.

Do you have a favorite spot to read? 

Back to the Classics Challenge

Sarah over at Sarah Reads Too Much is hosting the Back to the Classics Challenge 2012. She's selected nine categories, and there will be prizes for successful completion. Prizes! Woohoo! Of course, I am adding a little twist. All the works I'll read will be by female authors.

• Any 19th Century Classic: The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot. I really loved Middlemarch and enjoyed The Lifted Veil. I want more Eliot! (done)
• Any 20th Century Classic: Silent Spring, Rachel Carson. This is a book I've wanted to read for a long time, and it's certainly a classic that's left its mark on the world.
• Reread a classic of your choice: Beloved, by Toni Morrison. I read this in high school, but just didn't like it. I recently read another Toni Morrison book, A Mercy, and loved, loved, loved it. Now I want to go back and give Beloved another chance. *Update: replacing this with Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. (done) 
• A Classic Play: The Rover, by Aphra Behn. Okay, this may be a stretch for a classic, since it's not famous like Shakespeare's work, but there aren't many widely read female playwrights. I recently learned about Behn. She was the first English woman to make a living from her writing, after King Charles II stopped paying her for her work as a spy. (done)
• Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction: Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier. I've been inspired by  the Discovering Daphne readalongs hosted by Polly of Novel Insights and Simon at Savidge Reads, and I'm going to give  Dame du Maurier a try. 
• Classic Romance: Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë. I'm sure I read this in high school, but it has not stuck with me at all. I'm hoping a reread will give me more appreciation. 
• Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to your language: Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen, Olympe de Gouges. De Gouges was an outspoken feminist and abolitionist during the French Revolution. She died by guillotine during the Reign of Terror. Her Declaration was a response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which had been adopted by the French General Assembly. It was meant to point out the ways that the French Revolution had failed women. ***Update: I've swapped this one out for The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan. Written in Middle French. (done)
• Classic Award Winner: The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton. This book was awarded the Pulitzer in 1921, which was the first time a book by a female author won the prize. Of course, it was only the third year it was given out, so that's not too shabby! (done)
• Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime: The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck. I would go to China, but it's not anywhere near the top of my list. And I've been wanting to read this, so on the list it goes. (done)

So that's the plan. I can't promise I'll stick to the list exactly, but at least it gives me a starting point.

What's your favorite classic work by a female author?

Local Book Challenged

Shadow

A local father has brought a challenge against Shadow, by Joyce Sweeney. His eleven year old daughter, a sixth grader, checked the book out from her middle school library. Apparently, it contains a sex scene, an abortion, and an "aborted rape" scene (I don't know what that exactly means).

Obviously the book engages with heavy issues. I don't know how well it does this, as I haven't read it. I'd be interested to know how it handles the issues that the parent has problems with. I'd appreciate if we had books that sensitively dealt with issues like rape - especially if they make it clear that rape is unacceptable. It's unfortunate that young people need to know of these horrors, but they do. If you watch or read the news, you know that young people are the victims and perpetrators of awful crimes. 

The book is meant for young people in grades 7 through 10. However, in most Florida schools, grades 6 through 8 are together in middle school. As far as I'm aware, all students have access to the books in their library, regardless of their grade level. That means that sometimes children will get their hands on books that are above their reading or maturity levels.

I appreciate the school district response, which said in part:

"Challenged materials may be removed from use in the school where the complaint was initiated only after the complaint and decision procedures of this policy have been completed. The material in question shall be studied by a school materials review committee. Even with these guidelines, it is possible for students to encounter reading material that is of a mature nature. In this case, the system worked as it is designed: the parent(s) properly engaged with the student, and a family decision was made that the book did not align with the student's family's values. The normal policy-based process is now underway to determine whether the book should be available to other students and families if they select it." (Emphasis mine).

However, the book is still subject to be removed from shelves. The parent says he never thought he'd be the type to challenge a book, and he supports free speech, but he doesn't think that this book is appropriate.

Um, okay? You're either for book censorship or you're not. If you don't want your daughter to read it, then don't let let. End of story. Why deny other students access to the book, especially seventh and either graders who are the book's target audience?

Here's some local news coverage of the issue:

What do you think? Should books be removed from schools because not all students are mature enough to read them?

Gifting books

I like to buy books as gifts for people. When I was growing up, my favorite present was the "book box." Every year, without fail, my mom would have a box full of books for me, waiting under the Christmas tree. It was the one present I was never allowed to open as my Christmas Eve gift. Books are expensive, and often there would be a mix of new and gently used books for me to read. I didn't care - they were all going to be gently used soon!

I think that is, at least in part, what makes me enjoy giving books as presents. I like thinking about what each person would like and trying to get something that matches their tastes. For my littlest family members, it's also about encouraging a love of reading from an early age.

A couple months ago I was at the Cloisters Museum in NYC and saw these awesome books in the gift shop. I made a note for myself to remember them for later in the year. I've decided that I'm buying Encyclopedia Mythologica series books for my elementary age nephews for Christmas. I would buy them for my elementary age nieces, but um...I DON'T HAVE ANY. Seriously, family members. Get on with the girl-producing. (Just kidding! I love my nephews and don't want to pressure anyone to have more children.)

Encyclopedia Mythologica series

The Encyclopedia Mythologica books are written and illustrated by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda. They also may be the most awesome popup books ever. If you can't look at one in a store, here's Matthew Reinhart giving a tour of Gods and Heros:

And remember to support your local independent bookstores and small businesses on Small Business Saturday, and all throughout the year. You can buy God and Heros and the other books in the series at IndieBound. (affiliate link)

Do you buy books as presents? Do you have any ones you've already picked out for this year?