Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers

Abstract

mind would believe it.Olujic does not accuse the Communist regime forsuchwrongs, but therearemany allusions to injustices, including the one done to Danilo. However, hav ingfoundhimself ina foreign world, he cannot accept fully thatworld because he immeasurably loves his fatherlandand cannot see himself as a traitor. In America, where as a psy chiatrist he studies the "illness of forgetting," Danilo still searches for his brother Peter,who people think had perished in the infamous con centration camp Goli otok (Deserted island). Among the Indians, he finds a boy by the name of Small Cloud, whose red hair resembles that of Danilo and Peter. How can there be a boy with red hair among Indi ans? This reawakens Danilo's hope thatPeter is still alive somewhere, perhaps inAmerica, which affirms the author's idea that theworld is open to everyone, even toSerbs, the eternalmigrants. In the end, Danilo believes thatone day he will return tohis fatherlandand rebuild therich house of theArackis. Glasovi u vetru forces the reader to think about human fate in gen eral, especially about the fact that language saves us from forgetting and thatwords cure the illness of forgetfulness. VasaMihailovich Stamford, Connecticut Richard Powers. Generosity: An Enhancement. New York. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2009. 296 pages. $25. isbn 978-0-374-16114-9 In Richard Powers's Generosity:An Enhancement, the first thing that engages is a narrator. Early on, "he" remarks that the major character, Russell Stone, once read contempo rary fiction that to '^^^^^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l characters. The narratorwith j^B^^^^^^B^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I this notion, telling the reader that ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^B^^^^B he ishaving problems visualizing j^H0 ?0 ' qpaS character. This narrator isboth in k ^ ^ H^^^^H the storywith Russell, giving him '^H ^????^HHw the once-over ina subway car, and ! i w^?^^m^^^ ^^^^^^^1 notin, ashesummarizes andcharIklfl ^^lB? ^^B^^^^l acterizesfroma limited point of ^a^^^^gmgm ^|^^^^H view. A second character, a scientist, ^H^^jH^^^^^^^^Rfe^^^^^^^^^l begun, with profile that has ^^^^^^^H^^^^^^|fl^^^^^|H^^^| noimmediate intersection with Rusfll ^^^^^^fl^^^^^^^^^^^^H^B a third, unrelated ^^^^^^^^^^^^^I^^^^^H^^^^I character the hostess a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^H For Stone ^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^J a stereotype, the frustrated fl^^^^^^^^^^^l^^^^^^H^^^^I who ^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H students fl^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l how to inthis class that^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H he meets the girl Thassa, nicknamed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M Generosity (bythe class), puz- j^^^lHIH^^HHil^H^^^^^^^^H zles over what makes her sohappy, HI Z^v?AV^?rv! ^^^^^^1 so opentothe variety of lifein Fqlk LeGENI^ R^H this citythat, frankly, scares him to m^^^^^h^H^^^H death. SheisanAlgerian refugee ^^H^^^^^^b ^Hi^^^^l whosefather wasmurdered?little ^HA^^^H ^Hl^^^^l to besohappy. The puzzle j^H RHRB^^^Hfl H^^^^^^l isworrisome forthereader who BBhHBBBhI hI^^^^^I wants moreconflict: Willthis bea E9BBhBBBbS ^^^^^^^1 lovestory ora novelofideas? With ^^^^^BBh^BbBB HBI^^^I someone called Generosity, are we HBhBHSBS ^^^^^^^H headedfor allegory? ^H. HHHHHH^Hi 11 1.u u u . tal at B^^^^^^H Eventually, thecharactersbegin jbu^zeki findikociu ^I^^^^^H E*h/Jy|AYNE WARNER ^^^^^^^^^^1 moving closer together as plotlines mSm '.^BM^^^B Stone gets ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H with abeautiful psychiatrist, whom ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K^^^^^? the possibly unhealthily happy^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H Thassa, whohascome tothe attenJHjjj ^^^^HH^^^^HH^^^H^^^^^H the a H^^^^^I^^^^IHl^^^^^^^^^^l inthe genes that might^^^^^K^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^? enhance inturn joining the plot flH^HB?^^Hil^^^^^Hi^^^^l the hostess who has been ^^H^IH^^^^HI^^^I^I^^^^^I working upa programs on ^H^^H^^^^^I^^^^^^^^^^^^I the scientistnow this happy fll^HH^^^^Hfl^^^^^^^^^^^l student). But character integrity, the ^^^HHj^^^^Hj^^^^^^^^^^^^H motive, andself-preservation ^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B tochannel ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 WORLD LITERATURE IN REVIEW ^^^^^ l^^^^^l I * ... .... . ... .. ............ ...... * ........ *...... .. ......* ........... * ... ..... *..*.... . predictable paths, which in turn worries the narrator. While much of thenovel wrestles with the problem Anthony Burgess charted in ClockworkOrange, with conditioning now updated to gene splicing to shape mood and outlook, the impact of the yet unchanged world (environment) on the focal characters is certain?accelerated by the news media, television talk 621World Literature Today shows, and the Internet in Generosity. Interesting reflections come forth on how celebrities are created and the extent towhich one can control one's lifeonce ithas "gone public/' But halfway through thenovel, the readernotices thathe or she isno longer so consistently accompanied by a narrator. And...