Monday, March 17, 2008
Colson Whitehead's New York
I'm here because I'm born here and thus ruined for anywhere else, but I don't know about you." This is the first sentence from Colson Whitehead's The Colossus of New York, a collection of thirteen short sketches on New York locations (Port Authority, Broadway, Brooklyn Bridge) or conditions (Rain, Rush Hour). The voices in this book are intimate. The essays feel a bit like jazz solos in the way they set up, explore and extrapolate.
These portrait essays are indeed full of great riffs. "You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now." "Hipsters seek refuge in church, Our lady of Perpetual Subculture." Of Times Square he writes: "Simmer the idea of metropolis until it is reduced to a few blocks, sprinkle in a dash of hype and a tablespoon of woe. Add hubris to taste. Serving size: a lot."
This is a post 9/11 book that doesn't mention that event. It is filled with the internal monologue of how people cope with the city's environment and conditions. It isn't really poetry or jazz or memoir or impressionism, but it includes elements of all of those. Colson probably best defines what the book is on its final page: "Talking about New York is a way of talking about the world."
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:34 PM
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