February 2010's Post-Apocalyptic Book Discussion: Blindness

A recent piece by Scott Timberg on io9 raises interesting questions about the post-apocalyptic sub-genre. He poses that the scenarios depicted in these novels can be broken down into "hard" and "soft" (i.e. the world of The Road is clearly a bleak, unyielding environment, whereas Neil Gaiman's American Gods suggests softer, more habitable future landscape).

For this month's discussion we will see if Saramago's Blindness passes the litmus test. Sounds soft to me, but is it even a post-apocalyptic novel? Or just dystopic?

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers--among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears--through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness is a powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses--and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit.

Meeting Thursday, February 25, 2010, at 7:30 pm

Sunday, February 28th, 7pm

You know you want to listen in on your neighbors. Now is your chance: Come hear local writers read their work developed at Freebird Workshops, a grassroots creative writing workshop that meets weekly at the store. The 8 week workshop is devised to bring Brooklyn writers from development to publication. Hear what we have to say, and drink some wine while you're at it.




Sunday, March 21, 7 pm

Ira Robbins reads from Kick It Till It Breaks

A veteran music journalist, Ira Robbins co-founded Trouser Press magazine in 1974 and has edited five editions of the Trouser Press Record Guide. He was the pop critic of Newsday and has written about music and media for countless publications in the US and UK. Kick It Till It Breaks is his first novel.

In Kick It Till It Breaks: A Belated Novel of the 1960’s, Ira Robbins performs as literary lepidopterist as he pins a roving cast of radicals, wannabes, double agents, academics, and guileless bumblers to the specimen board of his novel, letting the reader examine each in turn. This approach, a finely honed magnification, allows us to see every little flaw and failure in the characters—a clever choice, considering Robbins is sharply limning the role of the individual within the sprawling hue and cry of 1960’s activism. His almost clinical study of these characters is at a far remove; one gets the sense that Robbins would like to have more empathy for them but is finding it a little difficult. He treads a fine line here, one that is poised between biting satire and the kind of bemused tenderness often bestowed upon children, who know not what they do. No matter how sharp the satire, however, Robbins seems to espouse a keen awareness and fondness for his players; there is a Swiftian flavor in the work.

Past Freebird Readers, Performers, etc... in no particular order.

Watch David Hajdu and Lou Masur (past speakers at Freebird) discuss their books on Titlepage.tv

Brian Francis Slattery, author of Liberation (November 20, 2008)--hear the podcast
Gregory Pardlo and Priscilla Becker (November 16, 2008)
John Joseph Adams, editor of Wastelands (October 23, 2008)
Matthew Sharpe, author of Jamestown (September 25, 2008)--hear the podcast
Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel To Be a Problem? (September 18, 2008)--hear the podcast
Jonathan Miles, author of Dear American Airlines (July 30, 2008)--hear the podcast
Pat Willard, author of America Eats! (July 27, 2008)
Nuar Alsadir and Nick Flynn (July 6, 2008)
Jess Winfield, author of My Name Is Will (July 19, 2008)--watch the video
Lara Vapnyar, author of Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love (June 26, 2008)
Mike Edison, author of I Have Fun Everywhere I Go (June 12, 2008)--watch the video
Joshua Furst and Jim Shepard (June 8, 2008)--hear the podcast
Sarah Goodyear and Fiona Maazel (May 18, 2008)--hear the podcast
David Hajdu, author of The Ten-Cent Plague (May 8, 2008)--hear the podcast
Thomas Pynchon birthday fax (May 4, 2008)--see the press
Anya Ulinich, author of Petropolis (April 24, 2008)
Gregory Gibson, author of Hubert's Freaks (April 3, 2008)--hear the podcast
Ken Wohlrob, Brian Cogan, Tim Hall, and Mike Faloon (March 22, 2008)--watch the video:

Louis Masur, author of The Soiling of Old Glory (March 20, 2008)--hear the podcast
Richard Zoglin, author of Comedy at the Edge (February 28, 2008)--hear the podcast
Ian Toll and Jordan Zinovich (February 24, 2008)
Matvei Yankelevich (February 21, 2008)--hear the podcast
The Indypendent's Arun Gupta, Nick Powers, and Steven Wishnia (February 7, 2008)--hear the podcast
Thomas Kerr (March 2, 2006)
Lee Klein
Samantha Hunt
Amanda Gersh
Alex Dezen
Howard Fishman
Gillian McCain
Aracelis Girmay
Julian Velard
Gary Gattullo
Thomas Sayers Ellis
David Gates
James Mason
Arthur Bradford
Priscilla Becker
Colum McCann
Gindy Bladen
Michael DeCapite
Jim O'Brien
Gregory Pardlow
Douglas Goetsch
Travis Caine
Kythe Heller
Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Anne Landsman
Brian Blanchfield
Robert Lopez
Beth Zasloff
Maxine Swann
David Hollander
Dennis Diclaudio
Tim Mcloughlin
Tara Bray Smith
Thisbe Nissen
Luciano Guerrero
Justin Jamail
Jonathan Dixon
Christian Hawkey
Starlee Kine
J Milligan
Martin Dockery
Meghan Hatch
Eric B. Martin
Johanna Wagner
Dayne Sherman
Amanda Fillipacchi
Rene Steinke
Amy Blair
Christopher Sorrentino
D. Gaitling Price
Joseph Salvatore
Patrick Phillips
David Roth
Jane Greenway Carr
Jonathan Ames
Amanda Stern
Lisa Selin Davis
Jeremy Mercer
Kirstin Allio
Leslie Campisi
Tom Lombardi
Nikki Westfall
D. Foy O'Brien
Karen de Weille
Kara Kramer
Mike Albo
Heather Cox
Robert Sullivan
Phillip Lopate
Kathryn Harrison
Alex Lemon
John Haskell
Brian Cogan,
Ken Wohlrob
Mike Faloon
Gina Zucker
Davidson Garett
Yojimbo