What an interesting article. So many reviews treat the online parts of her writing as a mere technical, as opposed to aesthetic and moral, feature of her writing. They didn't seem to get that Rooney writes with the semi-ironic self-loathing that older generations/more "serious" people don't always understand, taking it literally or not literally enough. Like when you roll your eyes at yourself for taking something serious and making it trivial and not even caring even though you know you ought to and sort of do really, or say you do, or believe you ought to. (And that's often supposed to be a sort-of replacement for taking it seriously anyway.)
She's satirising herself, I think, hence the Rooney-type character, as much as her generation. The way her stance can lead to nihilistic ersatz irony in her characters and the tension between online/offline, marxists/non marxists, generations, or whatever, is very "Fathers & Sons" -- but is anyone really clear on whether Rooney's books are satirising her generation seriously or not? Perhaps the lack of plot is relevant. If the message is "how much difference can you make to the impending apocalypse or even to the course of your own life anyway?" (i.e. Rooney satirising her and our value gap between our very big ideals and very small lives) then the open-ended ending at the end of "Conversations with Friends", for example, actually becomes optimistic. You can live a good enough life despite the preceding three-hundred pages and despite your own semi-ironic view of your own seriousness.
So, I don’t always get time to read The Bluestocking but every time I do I am amused, enthused, interested. Thank you Helen. A few weeks back I binged the Van Tulleken’s podcast on your recommendation. Today I have found myself typing ‘popcorn’ into a GIF search so I can say ‘I can’t wait to see how this works out’ on a work chat thread. You nailed it.
What a witty, interesting piece as per usual Helen - thank you!
So very very late to this but couldn't resist the urge to say it's brilliant.
What an interesting article. So many reviews treat the online parts of her writing as a mere technical, as opposed to aesthetic and moral, feature of her writing. They didn't seem to get that Rooney writes with the semi-ironic self-loathing that older generations/more "serious" people don't always understand, taking it literally or not literally enough. Like when you roll your eyes at yourself for taking something serious and making it trivial and not even caring even though you know you ought to and sort of do really, or say you do, or believe you ought to. (And that's often supposed to be a sort-of replacement for taking it seriously anyway.)
She's satirising herself, I think, hence the Rooney-type character, as much as her generation. The way her stance can lead to nihilistic ersatz irony in her characters and the tension between online/offline, marxists/non marxists, generations, or whatever, is very "Fathers & Sons" -- but is anyone really clear on whether Rooney's books are satirising her generation seriously or not? Perhaps the lack of plot is relevant. If the message is "how much difference can you make to the impending apocalypse or even to the course of your own life anyway?" (i.e. Rooney satirising her and our value gap between our very big ideals and very small lives) then the open-ended ending at the end of "Conversations with Friends", for example, actually becomes optimistic. You can live a good enough life despite the preceding three-hundred pages and despite your own semi-ironic view of your own seriousness.
This review was another excellent essay about Rooney: https://slate.com/culture/2021/09/sally-rooney-beautiful-world-where-are-you-new-book.html
The review actually more interesting than the reading!
so clever
So, I don’t always get time to read The Bluestocking but every time I do I am amused, enthused, interested. Thank you Helen. A few weeks back I binged the Van Tulleken’s podcast on your recommendation. Today I have found myself typing ‘popcorn’ into a GIF search so I can say ‘I can’t wait to see how this works out’ on a work chat thread. You nailed it.