Lonely on cruise ships and other stories

There is something that particularly strikes me about the fact that the richest people in the world are trying to move to another planet. I don’t understand, I can’t understand how they could get tired of this one so easily.

To be honest, I’m a little envious. If you are bored it is because you have overcome everything, you have solved the highest level of the crossword puzzle of life and you want to close the book to start another one. But I’m not going to talk about these people, I want to talk about just the opposite; those who understand absolutely nothing of what is around them, who look at everything with a certain distrust and never quite know where they belong. They are adrift from social logic, and although they never fully understand it, they follow it for the sake of comfort, and because, after all, it is what it is. Trying to fit in is what they say, but what else can you do; it’s redundant when trying to fit in is what you do every day, when it’s your own life.

Thank God that everything is written; there are a multitude of books that deal with daily loneliness, it is a fairly common theme in literature. But perhaps the most remarkable thing in recent years is the combination of loneliness with post-modern society, which has given rise to exceptional stories in which we can see criticism and narrative. These are three of the books I have found most interesting:

• “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides

I always say that this book is like putting together García Márquez‘s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and Kerouac‘s “On the Road”. The star novel by the author of “The Virgin Suicides” is a story about growing up, discovery and maladjustment. It is a long tale about the family memories of Cal, the protagonist who spent the first years of his life as a woman until he gradually discovered his identity. The story goes back to Cal’s ancestors in South Asia and moves to Detroit. There, the first part of Cal’s life unfolds, a very important part that will mark his future. The innocent voice of the protagonist in front of the world is, in my opinion, the key to the book, which confronts the uniqueness of the character with the norms of a standardised society.

• “Nobody belongs here more than you” by Miranda July

Miranda July is everything: writer, artist, musician, actress and film director. July has a very peculiar style that can be appreciated in any discipline she develops. In this book, made up of sixteen stories, the main characters try to connect with the world around them, to include themselves in the logic of society, but in a somewhat extravagant but very human way. The result is peculiar, funny and tender stories that celebrate life as it is.

• “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again“ de David Foster Wallace

This book is more of an experiment than an article, a chronicle or a story, I think. David Foster Wallace, the quintessential tormented writer of the turn of the century who became famous for his scathing critique of mass culture, embarked on the Nadir, a 7NC luxury cruise ship, and documented it. What for the standard customer is a trip for fun and relaxation, for Foster Wallace is an ordeal marked by the cynicism of fun. This story is an analysis of consumer society and its twisted system of standardisation of human needs, of eccentricity and its pathetic conformism.

If you’ve ever wanted to drop everything and completely disconnect for a while, you’ll be interested in this article I wrote about the necessity of failure.