First, I give thanks to George Saunders. In last week’s Story-club, he recommended that members watch the documentary, God and Country.
I watched it last night. Now I can stop trying to understand who voted for Donald Trump. The documentary shows and tells the saga of Christian Nationalism in our country.
The other George is a staff writer with The Atlantic, first published in 1857. I hope that date registers. If you believe in fine prose and meaningful articles, subscribe to the magazine (if you don’t already.) An electronic version is available, too. But I, a paperbound reader, felt joy to find the December 2024 edition at the Wicomico post office on Thursday afternoon. I had stopped for mail after the RCC-RILL book club had its fourth meeting of the year. I’d suggested to members that we consider Colm Tóibín’s The Magician, a work of fiction about the German writer, Thomas Mann, for next year. Earlier this year we had read Tóibín’s The Master about Henry James, so why not another Colm Tóibín?
Anyone who knows me, recognizes that I live for mysterious circumstances. So what happened when I unlocked the mail box at the post office that late afternoon? I saw The Atlantic, along with the 100th anniversary issue of Commonweal Magazine. The Atlantic comes in clear plastic and is bent to fit in our mail box. I moved over to the counter with my two magazines and other mail. I tore off the plastic and opened The Atlantic to flatten the magazine. What did I see? This photo, across from the title of an article on Thomas Mann: “The Magic Mountain Saved My Life.”
George Parker has written many articles this past year related to the 2024 presidential election. But given Trump’s win, in this issue Parker offers his thoughts on a novel he first read in his youth as a Peace Corp volunteer in West Africa. He says, “I recently returned to The Magic Mountain, without the intense identification the first time… but with a larger sense that, a century later (novel first published in 1924), Mann has something important to tell us as a civilization.”
Next week: To be continued…
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