LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias

Instructor's Presentation

Dave Eggers, The Circle
(novel, 2013)

 

Dave Eggers (b. 1970) is a critically acclaimed writer, visual artist, publisher, philanthropist, literacy activist, and novelist who at age 30 became famous for A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000), based on the author's experience as a 21-year-old raising his 9-year-old brother after the deaths in the 1990s of their parents from cancer.

The Circle locates its utopian site on the campus of a Silicon Valley social media corporation and, to less extent, cyberspace itself. If utopian fiction is read for its index to issues confronting its contemporary society, The Circle raises alternately painful and empowering issues like transparancy, surveillance, privacy, privatization, and corporate hegemony over democratic institutions.

Comparable to Brave New World, The Circle appears ambiguously as either or both a utopian and dystopian fiction. The narrative is generally dystopic as the main character appears increasingly compromised by growing involvement in a cult-like corporate society. However, the solutions the community develops to hot-button social problems like child abuse and crime are impressively specific (particularly in identifying troublemakers), eloquently defended in corporate presentations, and enthusiastically supported by social media consumers.

Plot Synopsis

In the near-future in a slightly-alternate universe, Maebelline, nicknamed Mae, a twenty-something graduate of Carleton College encumbered by crushing student debt and working at a no-future public energy utility in California, accepts an entry-level position in Customer Efficiency at The Circle, a California-global social media corporation that appears to have assumed the functions of Facebook and Twitter. Mae is offered the job through the intervention of her college roommate, Annie Allerton, who is one of the Circle's "Gang of 40," a group of innovators and entrepreneurs under the company's founders, the "Three Wise Men."

Literary critique:

Very readable, easy to turn pages

Clever, inventive brand names, contemporary conversations

Excellent mimesis of hip corporate-speak: "Rob from Payroll," "Tania the Notary"; "Let's hug it out";  "I'm just getting a lot of input today."

Problem: Mae not as smart as author. She seems not to register information the author puts before her, making her something of a Candide satire-protagonist, eternally naive and hopeful, potentially cooperating with interests that only exploit her talent or availability.

Reviews

Margaret Atwood, "When Privacy is Theft,"  New York Review of Books 21 November 2013. (review of The Circle): "Utopia, it seems, is an awful lot like high school, but with even more homework."

Ellen Ullman, "Ring of Power" New York Times 1 Nov. 2013 (review of The Circle):

Susanna Luthi, "Brainwash, Condition, Repeat: Dave Eggers's The Circle" Los Angeles Review of Books 27 November 2013:

 

Eggers as utopian author

Obj. 1d. To identify the utopian author both within and beyond traditional literary categories—e.g., as writer + activist, agitator, reformer, prophet / visionary?

Eggers as writer, visual artist, publisher, philanthropist, literacy activist, and novelist

Utopian Conventions: Style

Socratic dialogues with older founder

Public presentations, spectacles revealing information, explaining ideology

Metaphorical representations of society (Corporate aquarium: octopus as curiosity, groping; shark as capitalist aggression, consumption)

mottos, slogants: Community First; PPT: Passion, Participation, Transparency 47

satire: smiles / frowns to Guatemala victim / paramilitaries 243

 

Utopian Conventions: Content

30 The rest of America . . . seemed like some chaotic mess in the developing world. Outside the walls of the Circle, all was noise and struggle, failure and filth. But here, all had been perfected. The best people had made the best systems and the best systems had reaped funds, unlimited funds, that made possible this, the best place to work. And it was natural that it was so, Mae thought. Who else but utopians could make utopia?

"participating": division b/w work and social life collapse

1000 settlers, on campus permanently 332

161 urban reclamation

171 CircleMoney . . . obviate need for paper currency

258 Mercer ("Luddite"): . . . some cult taking over the world. . . . 259 It's the usual utopian vision. . . . it sounds perfect, sounds progressive, but it carries with it more control, more central tracking of everything we do. . . . Individually, you don't know what you're doing collectively.

395 "Now we're all God."

426 ensure behavioral norms

 

Platonic forms (sometimes logos) as symbols for ideal community

248 completing the Circle

287 circle strongest shape

311 All over campus there were signs that hinted at immionent completion. (millennial); 401 the moment where history pivots

 

Contemporary social commentary

art from stressed public museums (privatization; starving of public institutions)

259 no oppressors. No one's forcing you to do this. . . .  you willingly become utterly socially autistic . . . nothing to show for it [work] except for some numbers that won't exist or be remembered in a week.

385 Circle profile > register to vote > 100% participation

388 require every voting age citizen to have a Circle account

483 mob rule, filterless society where secrets are crimes

484 Infoccommunication paired with ruthless capitalitic ambition

485 Rights of the Digital Age

 

 

 

Reading notes

21 everything tied together and tractable and simple

23 Tom Stenton: "He was the anachronism at the Cricle, the flash CEO, and created conlficted feelings among many of the utopian young Circlers.

30 The rest of America . . . seemed like some chaotic mess in the developing world. Outside the walls of the Circle, all was noise and struggle, failure and filth. But here, all had been perfected. The best people had made the best systems and the best systems had reaped funds, unlimited funds, that made possible this, the best place to work. And it was natural that it was so, Mae thought. Who else but utopians could make utopia?

47 mottos, slogants: Community First; PPT: Passion, Participation, Transparency

66 SeeChange (cf. Scientology as corporate religion, "SeeOrg")

68 All that Happens Must be Known (transparence or surveillance?)

76 [dystopian insurance] [alternate universe: Affordable Care Act apparently doesn't exist]

100 PartiRank

105 improve selves, share knowledge

107 "Let's hug it out."

112 "I'm just getting a lot of input today."

134 monetize

144 4th screen

154 swallows sensor > collect data

161 urban reclamation

171 CircleMoney . . . obviate need for paper currency

173 Senator: "Break Up the Circle" > scandals

Senator x-wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

175 social behavior and message sending > totally optional

186 Josiah: " My problem with paper is that all communication dies with it. It holds no possibility of continuity."

200-01 We don't delete at the Circle.

206 Sunshine Laws

214 patent security

222 cave (gothic)

237 Projet 9: random dreaming > organized thinking, real life problem solving

241 SeeChange +- protection of intellectual property

242 6 screens

243 satire: smiles / frowns to Guatemala victim / paramilitaries

248 completing the Circle

251 new screen

252 insurance solved

253 she was now a crucial and measurable driver of world commerce

258 Mercer : . . . some cult taking over the world. . . . 259 It's the usual utopian vision. . . . it sounds perfect, sounds progressive, but it carries with it more control, more central tracking of everything we do. . . . Individually, you don't know what you're doing collectively.

258 sex-porn-witchcraft controversy

259 no oppressors. No one's forcing you to do this. . . .  you willingly become utterly socially autistic . . . nothing to show for it [work] except for some numbers that won't exist or be remembered in a week.

267 What was it about here that made her this curious?

277 secrecy

281 When is a secret a good thing?

287 circle strongest shape

290 finally compelled to be our best selves

292 If all doors are open, only one truth

301 Aphorism

311 All over campus there were signs that hinted at immionent completion.

314 on campera: studied, performative

325 9 screens

elimination of physical money

trackability of internet currency > eliminate huge swaths of crime overnight

328 thousands, millions watching, you perform your best self

329 liberated from bad behavior

332 1000 settlers, on campus permanently

333 tear opening, fathomless blackness

334 This is a day like every other day, in that it is unlike any other day.

334-5 Insurance companies, world health agencies, CDCs, Big Pharma > complete information-sharing among all of these previously disconnected, eve4n adversarieal entities

343 YouthTrack

all student records in one unified database

355 sensitive intellectual property

364 parents request less messaging

367 different evolutionary paths

368 we need options for opting out

370 gamification

371 cease to contact them, unless privately

75 the tear

382 Gang of 40, the group of innovators

385 Circle profile > register to vote > 100% participation

388 require every voting age citizen to have a Circle account

351-2 eliminate Congress, much of Washington

394 How do we get the inevitable sooner?

395 "Now we're all God."

401 the moment where history pivots

415 votes were public

421 NeighborWatch

426 ensure behavioral norms

430 P.O. Friday

465 the tear was not knowing

483 mob rule, filterless society where secrets are crimes

484 Infoccommunication paired with ruthless capitalitic ambition

monetized utopia

485 Rights of the Digital Age

489 Circle devouring all competitors

 

 

Olivia Santos, Rep. District 14

Stewart the Transparent Man