![]() ![]() Gordon is a young man who believes in poetry or, at least he thinks he does, but has no idea if his belief is genuine or even valid, especially since he states on a number of occasions: “Poems aren’t about anything.”īy refusing to align himself with the any of the modernist, postmodernist, or nostalgic strategies regarding the gap between the individual and experience, Gordon is left to recognize the constant and seemingly increasing state of disconnections that currently exist between the self (or its non-existent shadow) and the other. Lerner’s alter ego, Adam Gordon, a young poet who is in Madrid on a prestigious literary fellowship, is “worried that is incapable of having a profound experience of art and had trouble believing that anyone had, at least anyone knew.” Although Leaving the Atocha Station might come off as a first person, autobiographical novel about the author’s time in Spain, the primary motivation behind its existence is the consideration of the individual’s relationship to experience and language. Ben Lerner’s first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, which is less than two hundred pages long, observes this condition of disconnectedness and hyperbolic response with a sympathetic, fresh-eyed clarity. Since the death of the self, the author and painting, the desire for significance has led to a daily slew of preposterous claims and downright silly statements. “I’m sure the people of Iraq are looking forward to your poem about Franco and his economy,” Isabel tells the main character, Adam Gordon. ![]()
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