The Other Serious

March 9, 2015
The viral success of Princeton professor Wampole’s 2012 New York Times essay on irony likely begat this ambitious but unconvincing collection of observations on American culture. Wampole writes with some insight about the “white noise” of irony in educated American circles as a “First World problem.” She makes other valid points, but tends to undercut them by restlessly jumping from topic to topic, as when she mentions Twitter and plastic surgery, and then quotes Jorge Luis Borges, in just two paragraphs of an essay on the “patina of things.” As a result, her writing often reads like stream-of-consciousness lecture notes peppered with personal anecdotes. She plays variations on themes, as when she discusses tripping over an object and then the etymological origin of the word “scandal” (to trip up one’s social life) to make links to her topic of awkwardness. While this style might be effective for exploring varied and loosely connected topics, it doesn’t conjure up the needed gravitas for addressing “world pain.” Wampole is best when she focuses closely on her topic, as in a debate about PCs vs. Macs, or in an essay that unpacks the meanings of the film Labyrinth. But this book, which is geared to millennials, is too insubstantial to bear the weight of its grandiose subtitle. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

April 1, 2015

Opening with an epigraph from Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Wampole uses weight and lightness as metaphors to examine and critique American culture today. In her introduction, she poses this challenge: "Is it possible to write weightfully about light things?" Thus, she chooses a "light" form, the essay, to approach "heavy" issues: from nihilistic hipster irony to ageism to digital distractions. Building on the personal to make sense of the political, the author uses her own experiences--as a girl growing up in Denton, TX, and now as a French literature professor at Princeton University--as entry points. Wampole is a sharp and original observer. Her essays crackle with metaphor and precision, and the lightness motif tautly ties them all together. The author has studied the essay form, and it shows. Although at times she teeters on romanticizing her subjects, this feature neither distracts nor diminishes the urgency and power of her message. VERDICT Striking a balance between her intellectual and artistic gifts, Wampole is serious without being pedantic, engaging without being superficial. This is essential for anyone who cares about the future of America. [See Prepub Alert, 1/12/15.]--Meagan Lacy, Guttman Community Coll., CUNY

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