Book: The Intuitionist

I read Colson Whitehead in prison. I had heard of him before. I found The Underground Railroad and then I kept reading. And reading. The notes of my readings remain in their handwritten form. I have begun to doubt my PO will approve my laptop. 

So, when I saw Ploughshares published Revisiting The Intuitionist, I had to read it and see what there is to share.

First off, Neil Serven, the essay's author, found Whitehead's first novel as strange, as inventive, as wonderful, as I found it. He does a very good job in summarizing and analyzing the novel. My only quibble is the writer does really touch on the one point that attracted me to Colson Whitehead: his bending and mixing and warping of genre.

Secondly, I agree with Mr. Serven's conclusion:

Over twenty years after its initial publication, The Intuitionist’s message remains relevant: it’s a wise critique of ambition and “progress” and the dark spaces that exist in the in-between.

sch 3/23/22