Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, April 22nd, 2008 - 79 comments
Categories: culture -
Tags: culture
As regular readers will know, we’ve long refused to let Robinsod write for us due to his penchant for filth and gutter politics. But seeing as the book he’s offered to review for us is written by Ian Wishart we felt it was somehow appropriate.
Attempting the unreadable
A literary analysis of Absolute Power
I had high hopes for Absolute Power, I really did. If Faulkner taught us anything with The Sound and the Fury it was that a tale told by an idiot could be a masterpiece, if Nabokov’s Pale Fire offers us any lesson it’s that an exposition of paranoia and madness can make for damn fine reading.
So it was with great literary expectation that I picked up on the first of the excerpts published on Cameron Slater’s blog. I have to say I was disappointed and further reading just brought further disappointment. I mean sure the idiocy, madness and paranoia are all there. So too the stream of consciousness prose, the wild Pynchonesque explosion of detail beyond logic and the refusal to be bound by traditional narratological process. It should have all added up to some kind of masterpiece.
But it hasn’t.
Take for example the following line:
Like all good serial killers, H2 seldom leaves her paw prints at the scene of a crime
WTF??? So she’s like a serial killer dog? Right? That’s a metaphor we’re all familiar with. Especially since Lassie was picked up for disappearing all those LA hookers (in fact I think Wishart may have covered this in his ‘labour has mob connections’ section). Wrong. It’s just lousy writing.
In the much better exposition of madness that is Nabokov’s Pale Fire the insanity is introduced gradually through ever expanding annotations to a fictional long poem made by its crazy protagonist until finally the reader is overwhelmed by the madness and it’s done beautifully. In The Sound and the Fury the main narrator is a man/child named Benjy who is, through some form of intellectual disability, unable to distinguish between past and present. The narratives of his passages are entirely associative and yet they can be mapped out and with the contributions of other narrators can be made sense of. Sadly although Wishart’s narrator is clearly mad we are not brought into it gradually and so cannot appreciate a Nabokovian “knight-shift of the mind” and his logic, which also seems to be associative, offers no decodable sense or meaning as Faulkner’s does.
I have tried all sorts of tricks to unpackage the text of Absolute Power and tried all kinds of comparisons. I thought it might have been written in the mode of the metafictionalists and so co-read it with William Gass and Robert Coover. But they have a philosophical meta-text that provides a key to their reading. Wishart hasn’t. I tried reading it as self-reflexive pot-boiler and co-read it with Phillip K Dick but there was no self-reflexivity. I even tried reading as a work of magical realism alongside Jorge Luis Borges but it was just too nasty and dull to fit that fine genre. In the end I tried to read it as a cultural object, a novel-length manifestation of the impotent rage that is the Kiwiblog comments section and, while it started to make sense that way, what was the point and why would I subject myself to that? So I swapped to reading the backs of cereal packets just to find some relief.
If there is a common thread between most of the masterpieces that feature insane or impaired narrators it is that they are full of the sound and the fury signifying nothing. Wishart’s work is certainly this. But not in the good clever and existential way. More in the ‘man who has been let down by community care’ way. I really can’t understand why he bothered
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Thanks, Robinsod, for producing what will surely to be only literary critique of Wishart’s joke of a book.
Might this be the first published review of Absolute Power?
Wow – thanks guys (even if your intro was a bit backhanded!) I’ve got another piece I’m writing entitled “The Peter Burns Project – Rabalasian Situationalism or Lone Nutter?” if you’re interested.
Where are all the righties I thought would be over here defending Wishart’s reputation? By the looks of it even they’ve give up on him…
Wow…. insightful review….good to see the typical attack the messenger mentality is still alive and well…can you refute any allegation made by Ian?
Luke’s right Sod – I hear Labour is rife with mafia connections and Helen Clark’s a lesbian. And that stuff about police officials from 16 years ago was truly riveting, and entirely relevant to a biography of Helen Clark.
“The most explosive political biography ever released in New Zealand”? Nah, Don Brash’s boiled peas and corned beef were more explosive than this poorly written tripe.
Tane….have you read the book at all?
Yeah, it’s fascinating. I read last night, twice, in the bath. Good to see it’s lived up to all the hype – I hear the leader of the Labour Party had to resign over the corruption it revealed… oh no hang on, that was the other guys wasn’t it?
Happy to defend the book. I started reading it last night – I have finished the second chapter. Wishart details the scheming and ruthlessness of Clark and her Government in respect of DooneGate.
There is no way you would ever write a postive review of a book that damns to Hell, Helen Clark and her senior Ministers (and Heather). Wishart has been thorough in his research, and presents the Doonegate sage with references to back his expose of the corrupt Labour Government.
I look forward to the rest of the book.
Hey Luke – I reviewed it as a piece of fiction because it is indeed a piece of fiction. If you doubt this just take a look at how many of his foot notes use words like “unproven” or “still under investigation”. “Refute any allegation”? What a joke.
Come to think of it Luke – I could say you have been secretly fucking pigs for years, footnote it as “still under investigation” and then ask you to refute it.
So Luke care to offer any evidence you have not been fucking pigs…
Corruption is a concern for every sane New Zealander. A country cannot be built on corruption. We must have political honesty – so we as a society can move forward for the best interests of all New Zealanders. Robinsod your review was pathetic – although you will feel like a pooh bah. Poor deluded chap.
Ever thought of treatment or therapy’s?
I agree with Monty, it is a well researched if somewhat difficult read (more to do with Wisharts writing style).
The revelations are interesting, I was not living in NZ at the time of the Doonegate affair and to find out now what really happened is somewhat concerning given the way dear corrupt leader has developed over the years, the warning signs were all there from day one.
She is clearly a very nasty piece of work, thankfully the public of NZ have woken up to her corrupt ways.
AP – you are a moron. We don’t live in a corrupt society. In fact we regularly rank in the top three for least corrupt countries. That’s the problem with fools like you boy, you don’t live in the real world. In fact it’s worse than that – you willfully spend time and energy convincing yourself everything is awful when it’s not. Here’s a tip – actively lying to yourself in order to make yourself feel even worse about the world is sick.
“So Luke care to offer any evidence you have not been fucking pigs ”
Robinsod, proudly bringing you the same joke since 1982.
Bruv – it’s not a difficult read it’s an awful read. Also see comment to AP above.
Note to self – do not engage with thick righties.
Robinsod,Wisharts allegations all have some basis…
Take the second to last chapter…care to offer and counter argument (with proof) that HC and Labours current social policy wasn’t influenced in a major way by the womens league?
or name-calling?
robinsod police headquarters in Wellington is very corrupt. The book outlines it and other examples from other credible sources convince both me that is the case.
You seem a hard case bloke, but surely you cannot defend police corruption and surely it is in the best interests of the country to have a police force that can relied on as a force of integrity and fairness.?
Helen Clark has manipulated the police for her own political means.
Its an awful read if you are a lying, corrupt Labour supporter or apologist I will give you that.
What it will show the people of NZ is that our media is useless, dear leader is corrupt and people like you have a selfish vested interest in keeping her in power.
I laughed my tea out my nose over this. You guys should make a “Robinsod reviews..” series. I’m sure there’s *lots* of stuff out there that would benefit from his unique rendering of reality.
The book is just as damning of the media as it is concerning police and politicians.
The public have a right to know the truth and no amount of spin can say that is wrong to enlighten the people who didn’t have a clue to all the shameful skullduggeries.
The media hasn’t even bothered to cover the book. Hollow Men brought on the resignation of Brash, Absolute Power can’t even get Granny Herald to pay attention.
robinsod police headquarters in Wellington is very corrupt. The book outlines it and other examples from other credible sources convince both me that is the case.
What it will show the people of NZ is that our media is useless, dear leader is corrupt and people like you have a selfish vested interest in keeping her in power.
Wisharts allegations all have some basis
See now that’s what I mean by Rabelasien. I really do think you folk are part of some strange performance art project (I call it the Peter Burns Project) and probably have significant arts funding to do what you’re doing. And I appreciate your art. I really, really do. I just don’t understand what point it is making.
Oh and Billy? I wouldn’t need to keep telling the same joke if fools like Wishart didn’t keep running the same boring pig-f**king arguments.
Steve, you forgot Stuff.co.nz’s coverage: Clark dismisses book by ‘creep’
speaking of art…. any evidence against paintergate and the cover up there?…. oh wait its easy just to call Wishart a nut job isn’t it?
Tane, thats pretty typical of Clark…as outlined in the book she hardly ever provides evidence against ANY allegation put up against the government… take the Enviroment Ministry scandal as an example… governments first move was to attack those involved.
Luke, I think what makes your lot a laughing stock is your insistence on harping back to irrelevant mini-scandals as if they have any meaning today.
I mean, who honestly gives a damn about whether Helen Clark signed someone else’s painting years ago for a charity auction? And why would you write a book about it now? There’s a lot Labour can be fairly criticised for after eight and a half years in government, but Wishart’s completely off-target and off-message.
I almost feel sorry for him, he’s obviously put a lot of time and effort into this and all he’s got to show for it is a half-hearted defence from the Kiwiblog Right.
Tane, if paintergate was a one off i would agree with you….however add on corngate, speedogate, doonegate….seeing a common ground here? Labour has trouble with the truth at appears.
Luke – You forgot gategate, gategategate and the fiasco that was gategategategate. I’m certainly seeing common ground here. Perhaps we could bundle them all into Lukegate.
P.S. Gate.
Oh my god! Captcha is “complain become” – it’s like the right’s philosophy of being has finally been revealed! I whinge therefore I am…
I haven’t been paying much attention to “Absolute Power” due to some particularly inane comments; I thought it was a manifestation of some other commentators I’ll forgo mentioning. Are you guys now saying there’s an entire book out by a person with the literary skill to inflict us all with horrors such as ‘shameful skullduggeries‘ and ‘Ever thought of treatment or therapy’s‘? I won’t even start on ‘convince both me that is the case‘…
Tell me this is some kind of joke.
Matt: I’m not sure whether our commenter Absolute Power is Ian Wishart, or just wishes he was. Either way it’s pretty sad.
The media hasn’t even bothered to cover the book. Hollow Men brought on the resignation of Brash, Absolute Power can’t even get Granny Herald to pay attention.
Aye Steve. I took a stroll down memory lane to compare the reception of The Hollow Men vs Absolute Power.
The Hollow Men
There was plenty of pre-publication coverage, including the full text of the preface by ex National MP Marilyn Waring:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10411765
The book had huge pre-orders in major bookshops, and of course the day it was published (Friday November 24 2006) it was the main news story:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10412115
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10412282
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0611/S00418.htm
And of course, the allegations contained in the book were so irrefutable and so damaging that they ended Don Brash’s political career:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10412121
Now let’s compare that with…
Absolute Power
I was going to say nothing nada zip, but that’s not quite true, it did get a mention in an article about the Police Commissioner:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10505173
I hope all those that rushed out and paid for their copy feel they got value for money!
Don’t worry MP – I’m pretty certain it’s some kind of convoluted cultural project. I expect it to be presented at the next Venice bienalle though after et al’s braying dunny piece a few years ago they may start thinking we are an artistic one-trick-pony…
The habit of labelling every mini-scandal ‘x-gate’, no matter how minor or whether it has any similarities to Watergate, is the single worst aspect of New Zealand political debate, except for Peter Dunne.
So unimaginative, so bloody cliche. And it doesn’t even make any sense – the Watergate is the name of the hotel that republican operatives broke into to steal democratic party information. The ‘-gate’ suffix has nothing to do with the fact that this was a scandal (that brought down Nixon). So why the hell do we end scandals in ‘-gate’?
Steve, probably because if you kept banging on about “that time Helen Clark’s car went really fast to get a rugby match on time” you’d be laughed out of the political debate?