The modern heroic epoch…
Cities & Countries by Roman Payne
ModeRoom Press, 2007
A heroic departure into new literary territory!
“Cities & Countries” is a refreshing book on many levels. Not only is it a fun read – a pleasurable novel for those who appreciate well-written sentences and beautiful “story architecture,” but it is also a fascinating adventure into a modern literary world not yet explored. For it begins an excursion into what I will call the “modern heroic epoch.”
The 20th century was by no means a poetic dark age. Literature spread it roots like a famished tree in all directions in this last, highly-experimental century. Interesting books were produced, new modes of expression were discovered. There was, however, a theme that pervaded the literature of this time; a theme that could easily be attributed to the genocide of two World Wars. It was the theme of weakness, helplessness – the feeble expression of being a victim.
Many critics persuasively argue that all 20th century literature has stemmed from the writings of the great Norwegian Nobel Prize-winning novelist, Knut Hamsun, with his monumental narrative “Hunger.” This argument is sound when we discover that another of the greatest authors to ever set foot in 20th century soil, Franz Kafka, considered Hamsun to be his own greatest influence. And Kafka’s effect on modern literature can hardly be over-emphasized. They say the whole of western philosophy is just a series of footnotes to the works of Plato. Likewise, I could argue that 20th century literature is a series of footnotes to the works of Kafka and Hamsun.
Here we have two writers whose novels describe the lives of the ‘meek victim.’ Hamsun, in his amazing book “Hunger,” follows the path of his unheroic ‘hero’ – a vagabond who cannot feed himself, and so is driven mad by hunger. This inspired Kafka to write a couple brilliant novels: “The Trial,” in which the protagonist is the victim of a veiled legal system stronger than himself; and, “The Castle,” in which the ‘hero’ is pushed like feeble plankton around in a society that is stronger than himself and malevolent towards his ambiguous interests. What follows Hamsun’s and Kafka’s examples are years of Modernist oeuvres that explore the condition of victimhood.
Now it is the 21st century and we are out of the shadows of our World Wars. We are no longer confused or frightened by the newness introduced into society by the Industrial Revolution. We are, as a society as a whole, in a position where we can be once again bold and strong, as life permits us to be – to choose happiness over suffering. This is the great message in Payne’s “Cities & Countries.” Just like in Kafka’s and Hamsun’s books, Payne’s protagonist is a loner, a cast-away, thrown into this world to find his place in ‘the family of things.’ But unlike the 20th century protagonists, Payne’s character, ‘Alexis’ is a heroic individual who chooses to succeed, to act boldly, and to have the consequence of his actions be a happy and meaningful life.
In response to any of Payne’s couch-cushion-critics – these Nietzschean ‘Last Men’ – who call his writing ‘self-indulgent,’ or ‘egotistical,’ I would suggest they peel themselves off of the bottom of the shoe of the last heavy century and come of age – into this lighter and happier time when writers can celebrate themselves – as did America’s first great bard, Walt Whitman, in his own heroic age (“I celebrate myself, and sing myself” [“Leaves of Grass”]). This is what Payne is doing in “Cities & Countries” – he is celebrating himself as he sings a beautiful ode to a new heroic age in literature that he is helping to create. And it is a pleasure to watch and to read!
