UC Irvine FlashPoints Title The Powers of the False: Reading, Writing, Thinking Beyond Truth and and Fiction Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1bh1q45f ISBN 978-0-8101-3004-3 Author Wiese, Doro Publication Date 2014-09-30 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Powers of the False 8flashpoints The FlashPoints series is devoted to books that consider literature beyond strictly national and disciplinary frameworks, and that are distinguished both by their historical grounding and by their theoretical and conceptual strength. Our books engage theory without losing touch with history and work historically without falling into uncritical positivism. FlashPoints aims for a broad audience within the humanities and the social sciences concerned with moments of cultural emergence and transformation. In a Benjaminian mode, FlashPoints is interested in how literature contributes to forming new constellations of culture and history and in how such formations function critically and politically in the present. Series titles are available online at http://escholarship.org/uc/flashpoints. series editors: Ali Behdad (Comparative Literature and English, UCLA), Founding Editor; Judith Butler (Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley), Founding Editor; Michelle Clayton (Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature, Brown University); Edward Dimendberg (Film and Media Studies, Visual Studies, and European Languages and Studies, UC Irvine), Coordinator; Catherine Gallagher (English, UC Berkeley), Founding Editor; Nouri Gana (Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA); Susan Gillman (Literature, UC Santa Cruz); Jody Greene (Literature, UC Santa Cruz); Richard Terdiman (Literature, UC Santa Cruz) A complete list of titles begins on page 265. The Powers of the False Reading, Writing, Thinking Beyond Truth and Fiction Doro Wiese northwestern university press ❘ evanston, illinois this book is made possible by a collaborative grant from the andrew w. mellon foundation. Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © 2014 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2014. All rights reserved. Cover photo © Petra Gerschner Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wiese, Doro, author. The powers of the false : reading, writing, thinking beyond truth and fiction / Doro Wiese. pages cm. — (Flashpoints) ISBN 978-0-8101-3004-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Foer, Jonathan Safran, 1977– Everything is illuminated. 2. Flanagan, Richard, 1961– Gould’s book of fish. 3. Powers, Richard, 1957– Time of our singing. 4. Foer, Jonathan Safran, 1977– —Criticism and interpretation. 5. Flanagan, Richard, 1961– —Criticism and interpretation. 6. Powers, Richard, 1957– —Criticism and interpretation. 7. American fiction—21st century—History and criticism. 8. English fiction—21st century—History and criticism. 9. History in literature. 10. Truthfulness and falsehood in literature. I. Title. II. Series: FlashPoints (Evanston, Ill.) PS374.H5W55 2014 813.609358—dc23 2014004908 Contents Acknowledgments vii List of Abbreviations xi Introduction 3 1. The Truth of Narration and the Powers of the False 14 2. Accepting Complicated Legacies by Being Once Removed from the World: Everything Is Illuminated (Foer 2002) 41 3. “He Looked for Truth in Facts and Not in Stories”: Crimes of Historiography and Forces of Fabulation in Richard Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish (2003) 98 4. Making Time, Undoing Race: Richard Powers’s The Time of Our Singing (2003) 143 Conclusion 189 Notes 201 Works Cited 227 Index 259 Acknowledgments Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends, I to my own heart, I to seek among phrases and fragments something unbroken. —Virginia Woolf, “The Waves” Like any book, this one could not have been written without the inspi- ration and help of many people. On the academic side, my first thanks go out to Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Buikema and Prof. Dr. Rosi Braidotti. When I was situated at Utrecht University, both always made room in their busy schedules for even the smallest of matters, discussing matter- of-factly or passionately the issues at stake. I am very grateful for the trust and patience they have shown me during the writing process. Prof. Dr. Michaela Hampf and Dr. Gudrun Löhrer of the John F. Kennedy Institute in Berlin, where I went to research Afro-American musicians and the civil rights movement, as well as Prof. Dr. Norbert Finzsch of the University of Cologne and Prof. Dr. Moira Gatens of the University of Sydney have also been incredibly helpful. Their wise advice and good company made this stay very agreeable indeed. The highly efficient and good-humored library personnel at the JFK Institute were a glimmer of light at the end of a tunnel of books I burrowed myself into there. Warm thanks are also due to my sister Christine, who gave me a home in Berlin during this stay. I want to express my gratitude to PD Dr. Heiko Stoff and Prof. Dr. Maren Möhring, who read large parts of this book and gave me highly useful comments and great encouragement. Likewise, Dr. Regina Mühlhäuser, Dr. Gudrun Löhrer, Therese Roth, Dr. Chiara Bonfiglioli, and Dr. Domitilla Olivieri commented on chapters helpfully and effi- ciently in times of pressing questions. Dr. Alana Gillespie has been of viii ❘ Acknowledgments invaluable help in correcting and improving my English. I find it still incredible how much thought and work can go into a thorough reading. Thanks also go out to all my colleagues in Utrecht who supported my work and believed in me. I want to mention especially Dr. Marianne van den Boomen, Dr. Kathrin Thiele, Dr. Birgit Kaiser, Dr. Susanne Knittel, Dr. Sandra Ponzanesi, Dr. Jamie Weinstein, Dr. Babs Boter, and Prof. Dr. Ann Rigney. Dr. José van Aelst was an incredible help, especially when I needed to keep track of administrative tasks. Trude Oorschot, the kind soul and secret brain behind the Gender Studies Department at Utrecht University, has been of invaluable assistance in all kinds of questions, from health insurance in the Netherlands to administrative and personal advice. I appreciate greatly that my research was facilitated by a Marie Curie fellowship (EU) as well as by grants of the OGC (Utrecht University) and the JFK Institute (Freie Universität Berlin). I am grateful to the editors at Northwestern University Press, in particular to Henry Lowell Carrigan and series editor Prof. Edward Dimendberg, who never lost patience with or faith in me. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript, whose insights into Deleuze’s philosophy are unsurpassable. I was moved to tears by the incredibly kind and poetic response of Richard Powers that I found in my letter box barely two weeks after I had sent him this book unsolicited. Prof. Dr. Hayden White has supported me throughout the publishing process of this manuscript by offering his invaluable advice, selfless help, and unswerving belief in my work. Thanks also to CLC Web: Compara- tive Literature and Culture for publishing a previous draft of chapter 2 in issue 14 (4), 2012. I would like to let all of you know that your kind responses to my work taught me that intellectual generosity and helpful- ness truly exist. Thank you for letting me catch a glimpse of this best of all possible academic worlds in which a community of scholars exchange ideas, offer critique, and enrich one’s thought. This book is a hymn of praise about friendship. Without my friends, it would not exist. Wherever they live—Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, Marseille, Montreal, Munich, Toronto, Utrecht, Valencia—my friends have given me inspiration, comfort, kindness, and happiness. They have offered me hot meals and places to stay; they have laughed with me and wept with me. In a period in which I truly changed “countries more often than shoes” (Brecht), they have kept the doors to their homes wide open for me to enter and stay. As such, they have allowed me to square the circle and live in several cities and Acknowledgments ❘ ix countries, languages, and communities. I want to thank Heiko, Silke, Susanna, Anita, Bettina, Lorena, Gudrun, Sophie, Finzsch, Michaela, and Muriel for sharing their hospitality and friendship with me. The Dutch group of Ojala has persuaded me to believe in international soli- darity. The feminist self-defense meetings in Spain have been an inex- haustible source of inspiration, good humor, passionate discussions, and very funny outbursts of performance art. My Shinson Hapkido and Shotokan Karate trainers and partners have given me Ki and Do and taught me again and again that only the sky is the limit. I want to thank Begum and Jule for convincing me that Istanbul and Barcelona have suitable cafés in which to write a book. I have been very moved by the generosity and helpfulness of my Amsterdam landlord and landlady, Letteke and Gerard. Moira, Marianne, Kriss, Marjolein, Susan, Lisa, Maren, Didi, Judith, Lena, Christina, Claude, Regina, Therese, Nina, Jenneke, Ipi, Isa, Titch, Evi, Ulf, Marten, Ilona, Johanna, Joana, Jo, Alexia, Bettina, Andreas, Eberhard, Cilja, Laura, Domitilla, Sabrina, Risk, Chiara, Annabel, Sibylle, Ruth, Michael, and Petra are just some of the people that I need to thank for all the good times we shared (and the bad times we endured together, like horses turning our backs on it). Special thanks go out to my family: Werner, Christine, Anke, and Robin Wiese. While I was writing this book, my mother passed away and we stood firm together. I am deeply grateful to have enjoyed their solidarity and helpfulness, patience and thoughtfulness in this dif- ficult time. To my mother, Marlies, who loved life and faced death fearlessly, who was a truly selfless, giving, sagacious person with great forethought, I dedicate this work. Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used throughout the text and notes for commonly cited references. B Deleuze, Gilles. 1991. Bergsonism. Translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam. New York: Zone Books.