History. A Novel.

I have many seriously politically engaged friends and peers who are suffering a form of historical shock that undermines their ability to respond or even orient themselves to the times at hand. I often hear “I can’t believe this happening and happening so fast.” I suffer from this myself while watching the speed at which progress is being repealed and new, corrupt exercises of power are happening. To stand paralyzed in shock in the midst of all this is understandable but thwarts even the contemplation of action let alone real engagement. How do we recover from the shock when our political power feels anemic and motivation is suffering a slow bleed?

The (very temporary) solution I’ve found is reading novels written during the WWII that chronicle life under fascist regimes of Italy and Germany -novels about women, children, and those outside the exercise of direct political power. In these novels characters face the massive forces of history at ground level. Unprepared they negotiate upheaval of the world with limited information and limited social resources. There are no simplistic moralities or polemics in these books. They will not answer questions of what to do now. They can however mitigate the shock of the current era, ground it in a historical continuum, and provide emotional and narrative reference for considering one’s own engagement (or lack of). I can’t say reading these novels and essays will ease any tensions but there is something sustaining and orienting when one feels that history rhymes rather than overwhelms.