A Different Approach to Literature

In Franco Moretti's article "Graphs, Maps, and Trees," he approaches the study of literature in a way that most of us are not accustomed to. Most of us are extremely familiar with the idea of studying several well-known novels by close reading and careful analysis, but Moretti offers a different approach. He integrates scientific methods into the study of literature as a whole, not individual novels. He believes that by only focusing on a few novels we miss out of the majority of what literature has to offer us. We will read less than one percent of all novels, and so he focuses on studying literature in the big picture over time. He incorporates graphs into his article based on studies to show that they are certain trends, or cycles, in the development of literary works. He finds that the trends mark the rise and fall of certain genres and tries to offer explanations as to why these genres rise or fall.

There are several advantages of this method. Graphs can offer a great visual to present information, as sometimes it is easier to see things and to notice trends than trying to read them. Scientific methods for gathering information are also independent of interpretation, or are unbiased. This is a straightforward gathering of true events. This helps us to not miss out on the other 99% of literature if we look at it as a collection. We can also attempt to describe trends in literature according to the time period, and determine if social events had effects on literature. The drawbacks of such a method are that we do not focus on individual novels and the specific messages they have to offer. We only look at the genre as a whole and relate it to events in real life, but each novel has something different to offer.

Social, biological, and physical sciences have much to benefit from a method proposed by Moretti. Making graphs and using scientific methods are unbiased sources that can be used to prove a hypothesis and generalize things such as laws of nature or principles. These fields need to find generalizations, whereas literature may require closer and more careful interpretations.

A different approach to SSTLS could be to first focus on the social context, such as a dystopian movement. We could then try to see if there has been a trend towards literature of the same kind and quickly interpret messages they have to offer in order to relate that to SSTLS.

Compare/Contrast: SSTLS and M. Butterfly

Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story shares both similarities and differences with the film M. Butterfly. Super Sad True Love Story features a middle-aged white man in a quest for true love to satisfy his seemingly deteriorating life. M. Butterfly features a middle-aged white man who falls in love with the lead performer in a play. The play is about a young Oriental woman who falls in love with a white westerner who leaves her, and she is completely overwhelmed by her love for him that she kills herself.

SSTLS and M. Butterfly also portray conflicts of identities. Both Lenny and Rene have reached points in their lives where they are not content with their relationship status. Lenny seems to be aging quickly in a society that praises youth and the window of opportunity to meet a girl seems to be passing by until he finally meets Eunice. He glorifies this young girl and describes her as this perfect human. At one point Lenny talks about how he needs this steady relationship with Eunice in an attempt to keep him young and deny who he really is. Rene, although he is already married, becomes fascinated by Song and sees her as an escape from his old life. He describes her as his butterfly, a perfect woman whom he needs to have. He spends twenty years with this girl and never even realizes that she is actually a man. He is so destroyed by this realization  and the love that he had for her that he kills himself at the end after declaring that he was both Renee Gallimard and Madame Butterfly, an obvious clash of identities.   

The societies portrayed in both of these works are incredibly different. In SSTLS, a near-future America is portrayed where sexuality has become such an open issue. People can access others’ sexual ratings at any point in time, and the thing most people are concerned with is sex. When Noah is streaming video of Lenny talking about Eunice, he says that he is losing ratings and that the people just want to know if he has had sex with her yet or not. In M. Butterfly, sexuality seems to be very closed and personal. Rene and Song had been together for twenty years before he finally found out that she was a man, which means that they were never overly sexual. Song claimed that Rene never saw him naked, so he never could have known. Even though both societies seem to be facing great turmoil, they are completely different when it comes to socialization.

Depictions of Gender

In Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, a near-future American society is portrayed where the roles of gender are completely separate and defined. The interactions between characters demonstrate a central theme in the novel--that of the gender roles. We can see several instances where there seems to be a return to an old-style, traditional, patriarchal society. One example of this theme comes in the multiple times that the males, especially Lenny, refers to Eunice as petite. Eunice is seen as a small, which is very typical in a male-dominated society. This gives Eunice a sense of submissiveness compared to the males and may imply the need for protection. In fact, there are several times where Lenny, who is soft on the inside, pretends to act tough because he wants Eunice to feel a sense of protection from him as they are traveling through Central Park and are witnesses to a quarrel. Oddly enough, it can be argued that throughout the novel Eunice actually seems like the tougher of the too, but Lenny has this idea instilled in him that he NEEDS to protect petite Eunice. Shteyngart also shows us the extent to which women have became objectified. Various times throughout the novel, many of the young girls desire and use very provocative clothing. Also, people are reduced to ratings on "fuckability", and they lose most of the rest of the important things that make up a person. These girls care a lot about their appearances and want to be desired by other men and increase their ratings. These instances all connect to the larger picture that the novel is painting. Our society is moving in a direction where people are starting to lose their identities. The technology and innovations in this future America have reduced people to simple statistics and numbers that anyone can access at anytime. This is even starting to happen now with the advances in social networking. Also, women are feeling more and more pressure from society to be "desirable" to men and think they have to be this impossibly perfect sexual being to the point where nothing else about them even matters anymore. This type of society, as portrayed in the novel, is quickly spiraling downward.