| Specimen Days | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Michael Cunningham |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Farrar Straus Giroux |
| Publication date | June 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 308 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-374-29962-5 |
Specimen Days is a 2005 novel by American writer Michael Cunningham. Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an award-winning American Writer, best known for his 1998 Novel The Hours The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Farrar Straus and Giroux is an American book Publishing company founded in 1946 by Roger W A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. The year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an award-winning American Writer, best known for his 1998 Novel The Hours It contains three stories: one that takes place in the past, one in the present and one in the future. Each of the three stories depicts three central, semi-consistent character-types: a young boy, a man, and a woman. Walt Whitman's poetry is also a common thread in each of the three stories. Walter Whitman (May 31 1819 &ndash March 26 1892 was an American poet, Essayist journalist, and humanist.
The film rights to the book have been optioned by American movie producer Scott Rudin who turned Cunningham's previous novel The Hours into an Academy-Award winning movie. Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an Academy Award -winning American Film producer and a Tony Award -winning The Hours is a 1998 Novel written by Michael Cunningham. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1999 PEN/Faulkner "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film.
Contents |
Premise
The novel is divided into what are essentially three discrete short stories, unified by common threads such as character names and types, story location (New York City), story themes (such as shared humanity), and the presence of Walt Whitman (whether through actual physical presence, quotation of his works via narrator or character, or the spirit of his ideas expressed through narrator or character). The City of New York Walter Whitman (May 31 1819 &ndash March 26 1892 was an American poet, Essayist journalist, and humanist.
The first short story, 'In the Machine,' is a Ghost Story. A ghost story may be any piece of Fiction, or Drama, that includes a Ghost, or simply takes as a Premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief 'In the Machine' takes place in New York City during the Industrial Revolution, as human beings confront the alienating realities of the new machine age. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the
The principal characters include Lucas (a disfigured young boy), Catherine (a young woman who was to marry Lucas' elder brother) and Simon (Lucas' recently deceased elder brother).
The second short story, 'The Children's Crusade,' is a Noir Thriller. The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. The story is set in early twenty-first century New York City. The story plays with the conventions of the noir thriller as it tracks the pursuit of a terrorist band that is detonating bombs, seemingly at random, around the city. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
The principle characters include Cat (an African-American woman working in a New York City police department), Simon (Cat's businessman boyfriend) and Luke (a child terrorist). African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa
The third short story, 'Like Beauty,' is futuristic Science Fiction. The story is set in a New York 150 years in the future. In the story, New York City is overwhelmed with refugees from the first inhabited planet to be contacted by the people of Earth.
The principle characters include Simon (an adult male cyborg), Catareen (an adult female alien lizard living as a refugee on earth) and Luke (a homeless boy). A cyborg is a Cybernetic Organism ( ie, an organism that has both artificial and natural systems
Plot summary
'In the Machine'
In the Machine, set in mid-to-late 19th Century New York, begins in the aftermath of a wake. Simon, a young man working in a factory had been accidentally sucked into a factory machine which crushed him to death.
Due to the poverty present in the lower classes during the Industrial Revolution, Simon's family sends Lucas, Simon's disfigured younger brother, to work at the factory in Simon's place.
Lucas has a strange affliction in which he intermittently and uncontrollably spouts the poetry of Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' (Lucas' favourite book). For the 2009 film by this name see Leaves of Grass (film Leaves of Grass (1855 is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman was a contemporary of the time and Lucas meets him during the course of the story. Lucas is also concerned Simon has become a ghost and inhabits not only the machine that killed him but all the machines that are becoming commonplace in the city as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the
This concern leads Lucas to fear for the life of Catherine, Simon's bereaved girlfriend. Lucas believes Simon's ghost may try to inhabit the machines at the factory where Catherine works as a seamstress with a view to take Catherine to the afterlife by killing her through the machine's function. Lucas embarks on a mission to save Catherine by preventing her from going to work.
Lucas' fear of Simon's ghost is, at the same time, a fear of the Machine and, on a larger scale, the Industrial Revolution in New York City itself. The machines replace humans, even kill them, and the industrial revolution has demeaned the importance of each human individual with its positioning of people as cogs in its own giant machine. In this light, Lucas' fears and Whitman's transcendental poetry represent the affirmation of humanity and each individual's importance.
'Specimen Days' Referenced in Pop Culture
The song, “Other Side” off Scissor Sisters' album 'Ta-Dah' is partially based on "In the Machine", the first third of 'Specimen Days'. The Scissor Sisters is a Grammy Award -nominated American band that formed in 2001 Ta-Dah is the second Studio album by American 5-piece band Scissor Sisters, released in September 2006. Michael Cunningham is one of Scissor Sisters' lead singer, Jake Shears, favorite writers and gave Shears an advance copy of Specimen Days. Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an award-winning American Writer, best known for his 1998 Novel The Hours Jake Shears (born Jason Sellards, 3 October 1978, Arizona) is the male lead Vocalist for the American music group Shears wrote "Other Side" right after reading it. [1]
Quotes
- Fear not O Muse! truly new ways and days receive, surround you,
I candidly confess a queer, queer race, of novel fashion,
And yet the same old human race, the same within, without,
Faces and hearts the same, feelings the same, yearning the same,
The same old love, beauty and use the same. Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an award-winning American Writer, best known for his 1998 Novel The Hours
-Walt Whitman -Foreword, (vii, 1st papberback ed 2005)
Footnotes
- ^ Shapiro, Gregg, Cuts Like a Knife: An Interview with Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, After Elton. com, 2006: http://afterelton.com/people/2006/9/shears3.html
External links
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