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  • Though Being There has been on my shelf for a long time, I didn't get around to reading it until Inauguration Day 2009. It was therefore unfortunately impossible to follow the story of Chance—Jerzy Kosinski's dimwitted non-protagonist—without drawing parallels to failed vice presidential can ... Continue

    Though Being There has been on my shelf for a long time, I didn't get around to reading it until Inauguration Day 2009. It was therefore unfortunately impossible to follow the story of Chance—Jerzy Kosinski's dimwitted non-protagonist—without drawing parallels to failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Though the novel predates the millennial craze, Chance is the prototypical reality TV star; he rises to political fame and public adoration (despite his illiteracy) simply by "being there."

    The cover's tagline proclaims him a "new American hero," the praise from Newsweek: "a fabulous creature of our age," and the back cover wonders whether "he know[s] something we don't." Perhaps these descriptions are more in keeping with the film version of the character (who famously walks on water in the movie's final scene), because there's nothing particularly heroic—or even interesting—about this incarnation. Instead, he is exactly as the Russians describe him: a "blank page" upon which the supporting characters project their own interpretations. It's this construct, and its implications for a society that considers itself meritocritous, that make Being There worth reading.

    

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• ― matthew (matthewwithanm) said on Jan 22, 2009 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

A modern classic now available from Grove Press, Being There is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. It is the story of Chauncey Gardiner - Chance, an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy adviser, and a media icon. Truly "a man without qualities," Chance's straightforward responses to popular concerns are heralded as visionary. But though everyone is quoting him, no one is sure what he's really saying. And filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible. Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever.