Daniel Quinn really promises a lot in Ishmael. The gorilla, after whom the novel is titled, communicates telepathically with the narrator through a glass wall. While communicating with the narrator, Ishmael challenges the way modern scientists have studied evolution, and questions anthropology and modern culture entirely. What makes me temporarily pause my reading and scratch my patchy chin scruff is my internally imperative reminder that this is not an omnipotent gorilla trying to challenge modern science. It's Daniel Quinn, an 80 year old environmentalist from Nebraska.
The novel is easy to tap into, as the narrator gives a brief summary of who he is and where he came from, and why he feels as bitter and cold towards the advertisement to "change the world" as he does. I say it's easy to tap into because I think the narrator is a relatable character. He was once interested in challenging society and looking for more meaning in life than "Get a job, make some money, work till you’re sixty, then move to Florida and die" (3). But, as is often the case, he was disillusioned when he entered adulthood, and finds himself conforming to the life of his parents and his friends. The ideas of both seeking a deeper meaning in life and also fearing living a meaningless life and being forgotten with the passage of time is something universal, and it allows the reader to connect to the narrator right away.
Ishmael, our silverbacked Plato, also gives us a short autobiography. During this section, it was interesting to think about life in captivity from an animal's perspective, but, once again, this is where I must remind myself that it's really just Daniel Quinn speculating what it would be like to be an incredibly intelligent primate in captivity. This, for me, is where the book becomes more of a reading that I frequently critique as I read, rather than a true philosophical work that I accept as either fact or breakthrough ideas. Although, 40 pages into the work, I've encountered a number of thought-provoking ideas, and perhaps that's all Mr. Quinn hopes to give his reader, this book is not the work of Stephen Hawking or Aristotle. It's not even a gorilla. We, the reader, are supposed to believe the ideas in the book come from an omnipotent gorilla who outlasted the Great Depression and both Red Scares. I think I'd have an easier time believing that all modern history is a myth if I actually heard it from a gorilla, rather than from Danny Q. That said, there are ideas in the book that are not only thought provoking but also sensible if one makes them self read the novel as a textbook, accepting what Ishmael tells us as the truth.
Following along with some of Ishmael's jungle-rattling ideas is very easy, because, in almost every instance where you read a passage that makes you feel like you're reading the old AP Quantum Physics textbook, the following question asked by the narrator is usually something along the lines of "Come again?" Take, for example, this passage:
“What have people been told that
keeps them from becoming excited, that keeps them relatively calm when they
view the catastrophic damage they’re inflicting on this planet?”
"I don't know." (25)
I wish my science textbooks read like that.
Every once in a while, while sitting in the senior lounge, I begin to think about Ishmael. I begin to think about the origins of our culture, and what culture seems like to a jellyfish (refer to page 32). And that's how I know Ishmael is a good book. It's ideas linger with me even after I've read as much of Quinn's environmentalist philosophy as I think I can handle. Thus far, Ishmael has asked a lot of questions. I would say it has raised more questions than it has answered. But it has also made me think differently about history and culture is studied. I look forward to seeing if Daniel Quinn will rise to the occasion of attempting to answer these questions without seeming like a total wingnut, or if I will finish this novel and feel as disillusioned as our narrator.
P.S. The number of overearnest memes relating to this novel is hilarious. They must have all been created by Daniel Quinn's cult.
Entertaining read. Well done, Joeinator!
ReplyDeleteI felt as though this post was well written, entertaining, and all around an easy post to read. Nice job balancing personality and educational content.
ReplyDeleteA nice discussion of both the characters introduced in the book and some of its thematic ideas.
ReplyDeleteIs there a reason that it is so difficult to suspend your disbelief as you're reading? Is it more difficult than, say, reading Song of Solomon?
You mention in your post that "all modern history is a myth." I assume that's an idea in the book. In what way does the book reference/develop this idea?