Revolutionary road
"A deft, ironic, beautiful novel that deserves to be a classic." --William StyronFrom the moment of its publication in 1961, Revolutionary Road was hailed as a masterpiece of realistic fiction and as the most evocative portrayal of the opulent desolation of the American suburbs. It's the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, beautiful, and talented couple who have lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.In his introduction to this edition, novelist Richard Ford pays homage to the lasting influence and enduring power of Revolutionary Road.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Stats for nerds
7recommend
21mentions
10people
2010–2026years
52% recommend48% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- 1) Not new. 2) Not just for remote workers.
Check out Revolutionary Road by Yates for someone writing about it in the context of a recognizably modern office environment of the late 50s / early 60s (book published in 1961). The whole work-side portion of that book revolves around "boreout" and an office culture that normalized and enabled work-avoidance, this was already familiar territory for office workers then. I guarantee you can find earlier examples.
On another note:
> “What they don’t realize is that they’re draining people. You don’t need to see people’s faces at every meeting,” Grant says. “Particularly if it’s a smaller group of people who know each other well. Going cameras off is actually a great way to let people recharge, and then they show up more excited to connect when they do.”
I have to assume anyone who thinks having a camera trained on your face while looking at a wall of Brady Bunch videos of people who appear to all be staring at your neck is at all comparable to actually being in a physical meeting sitting around a table, haven't spent much time reflecting on it. Yeah, it's draining and awful in anything but tiny doses, and frankly creepy as hell.
- "Revolutionary Road", by Richard Yates. Because it uncovers the greatest conspiracy of our time. Also "The Moviegoer" by Walker Percy, for the same reason.
The real so called "mindfuck" comes when what you read unravels the reality around you, not when it sends you in some utopia with the promise of a metaphor built to solve a great mistery you actually don't give a f... about.
P.S.This is just one of the HN threads which is more valuable than the article it refers to.
Thank you for all the good books mentioned here, HN!
- Read 34 books (and audiobooks, I guess that counts) so far this year. Best have been
Fiction:
- Revolutionary road by Richard Yates
- Anathem by Neal Stephenson
- Silence by Shusaku Endo
Non fiction:
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Man’s search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl
- People take issue with them, but picking something off Adler's or Harvard's (five-foot-shelf) or Bloom's Great Books lists will almost never lead you wrong.
But, here we go anyway (and yeah, some of these are just off those lists):
1) Shakespeare's big four tragedies are, in fact, out-fucking-standing. Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth. IMO Hamlet reads the best of those. Any would be fine to watch, as well, and may be better that way. The language, especially, is easier to understand when performed, because you have body language, tone, and other context to work with.
2) Gilgamesh. I like Mitchell's edition.
3) The Odyssey. Iliad's a bit of a bore, but with a few incredible scenes that really stick with you. The Odyssey, though, is great. Screw the haters, even the "Telemachy" portion is good.
4) Revolutionary Road by Yates, for a certain kind of struggle with identity & purpose that I suspect will resonate and provide a useful mirror for lots of folks on here.
5) Woolf's To the Lighthouse is probably my favorite book, so I'll throw that on here.
6) The 20th century gave us tons of essayists (some of whom also wrote novels and such) who are great reads. Orwell, C.S. Lewis, and Forster all come to mind.
7) Maugham wrote a lot of novels, and most of them are well worth a read.
8) Farmer's Riverworld series are probably my favorite very dumb books.
- Try Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road (1961).
It reads almost like it could have been written today. Definitely deserves to be more popular.
- Consider the types of goals you have pursued, what effect these have had on you, and those you'd like to pursue:
http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/07/18/pushing-and-pulling-goa...
It's becoming neglected at this point, but the archives are solid: http://thelastpsychiatrist.com
Helps one cultivate a little perspective and introspection.
Maybe read Yates' Revolutionary Road. TL;DR is that having a self image and/or dreams that don't match your actual ambition, commitment, and situation is fucking poisonous. Read the novel though, if you've got time.
Think about how you can be happy. Like, what happiness even is or would be for you. Consider consulting: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epicurus and other Epicureans, Ecclesiastes. Try Eastern sources if you like, but be aware it's much harder to sort the wheat from the crystal-healing-easy-zen chaff than it is with Western works. Don't expect too much with anything short of a sustained, intense, difficult struggle over years or decades—in other words, lower your the expectations of what you'll get out part-time work on material aimed at monks who immersed themselves in this stuff all the time. It can be really good even just dipping your toes in it, but don't expect magic or quick solutions—or solutions at all, for that matter.
