Uncanny Valley: Adventures in the Narrative [Hardcover]

Lawrence Weschler's new collection of non-fiction pieces, subtitled "Adventures in the Narrative," delivers one fascinating adventure after another. These have many flavors, because his set of subjects is quite broad, from human rights campaigners in Rwanda and elsewhere (Monique Mujawamiriya, ICC founder Philippe Kirsch) to filmmakers (Walter Murch, Bill Morrison, Sharon Lockhart), to visual artists (Richard Serra, Donald Judd, Vincent Desiderio, the astonishing Oakes Twins, who've conceived of an entirely new way of considering visual perspective), to writers working in various genres (Mark Salzman, Dario Fo, and others). Despite this breadth, "Uncanny Valley" is united by Weschler's prose style, which always seems to be inviting his readers into a genial, effortless little conspiracy -- just a quiet little chat between friends. Notwithstanding his sometimes weighty subjects, his serious artists and heavy issues, the writing here (and in all his work) has an enviably conversational, raconteurish, humorous quality. Weschler seems to be saying: "Let me tell you a little something, just a story that we don't need to take too seriously, or freight with too much weight, but that's well worth telling just the same. Relax, I'll do all the work, and I promise I won't waste your time." And then ultimately we realize, having read this work, not only that he didn't waste our time, but that we must take it very seriously indeed, and give it a lot of weight, because it's very serious, and it possesses a great deal of consequence. In this, Weschler is a virtuosic conjuror of the highest order, and yet he's also something extremely rare: a conjuror, and by this I of course mean artist, working in the realm of non-fiction. He's one of a handful of writers who prove, again and again, that reality -- so-called non-fiction -- can out-amaze, can out-effect, can outstrip in every way, what we call fiction. What's necessary for it to do this? Well, as his book's subtitle suggests, narrative, or rather, The Narrative. Nobody else writing in the English language today can span -- and thus knit together -- such a diversity of subjects, from Zagreb conceptualist streaker-artist Tomislav Gotovac to Hollywood CGI attempts to create a convincing digital face; from the backstage maneuverings behind the creation of the International Criminal Court to David Wilson, the creative force behind LA's Museum of Jurassic Technology; from the great Nobel prize-winning poet Czeslaw Milosz to -- well, you get the general idea. The net effect is to transmit, with a kind of enraptured Weschlerian intensity (one that simultaneously doesn't take itself too seriously; this is no mean feat), the awesome complexity and the multifarious meanings that can be found in every corner of this world -- not to mention its heartbreaking beauty. We get, in the end, a kind of over-arching narrative that encompasses our dizzyingly various contemporary globe; a gesamtkunstwerke. This book is a must-read.

Weschler is a virtuoso stylist, whose books are always a mystery trip across fascinating human terrain, and crackling with unexpected imagery. "Nonfiction magical realism" (his term) perfectly captures it. Here he travels from one human saga to another, an Autoloycus of the highest order, snapping up some of life's unconsidered trifles, momentous feats, and glaring acts of conscience (or lack of it) that come to haunt and define us-- all in his uncanny brand of humor and conscience. What a delicious and thought-provoking book!

Ren Weschler is one of the most prolific and generous writers in America today and in this new book he proves again that a deep poetic soul can - and perhaps must- be allied with a social conscience. The Uncanny Valley is perhaps the finest of his anthologies to date - which is saying a Lot. Weschler is the author of two uncannily great monographs "Mr Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders" and "Boggs: A Comedy of Values". Few authors can weave so gracefully from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the awe-inspiringly beautiful to the heart-breakingly horrifying. Be prepared for a thrilling ride - one that will make your heart race, and hopefully propel it into action. If only we all could be as tireless as Mr Weschler the world would be a better and more beautiful place.

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