{"id":165530,"date":"2025-03-31T07:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T07:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-march-31-2025-foolish-texts-a-fools-errand\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T07:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T07:19:09","slug":"americanstudies-march-31-2025-foolish-texts-a-fools-errand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=165530","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: March 31, 2025: Foolish Texts: A Fool\u2019s Errand"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[For this
\nyear\u2019s April Fool\u2019s series, I\u2019ll be AmericanStudying cultural works with \u201cfool\u201d
\nin the title. Share your thoughts on foolish texts, with or without the word,
\nfor a fool-hearty crowd-sourced weekend post!]<\/p>\n

On two
\ninspiring layers to one of our most unique novels.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>this early
\npost<\/span><\/a>, I wrote about the life and career of Albion Tourg\u00e9e, one of my
\nfavorite Americans for a wide variety of reasons (including but not limited to
\nthose I detailed in that post). I had a good bit to say there about his first
\nnovel <\/span>A Fool\u2019s
\nErrand, by One of the Fools<\/span><\/i><\/a> (1879), so I\u2019d ask you to check out
\nthat post if you would and then come on back for some further thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Welcome
\nback! As I discussed in that post, the title of Tourg\u00e9e\u2019s novel is not
\nmisleading, as it takes a consistently ironic and self-deprecating perspective
\non its autobiographical protagonist\u2019s efforts to contribute positively to
\nReconstruction\u2019s efforts. To be very clear, that doesn\u2019t mean Tourg\u00e9e is
\ncritical of Reconstruction\u2019s goals when it comes to African Americans and
\nequality (he dedicated his life to those goals, as I hope that prior post
\nillustrated at length), but rather that he recognizes that his own youthful, lofty
\nambitions and sense of self-importance were severely punctured by his
\nexperiences during Reconstruction and his recognition of the limitations of
\nboth any individual\u2019s reach and (more complicatedly to be sure) societal change.
\nI remain less cynical and more optimistic than the tone of Fool\u2019s Errand<\/i>
\n(yes, even in early 2025), but I nonetheless think being able to reflect
\nthoughtfully and critically on our own ambitions and arc is an important and
\ninspiring skill to model.<\/span><\/p>\n

In both
\nthat prior post and the paragraph above I focused on the real-life elements of Tourg\u00e9e\u2019s
\nbook\u2014the autobiographical echoes and the political and cultural contexts of
\nReconstruction. But while those are undoubtedly present and perhaps even paramount
\nin the book, it\u2019s important to add that it is a novel, a work of fiction, as
\nwas Tourg\u00e9e\u2019s follow-up second book about the Black experience of
\nReconstruction, Bricks
\nWithout Straw<\/a><\/i> (1880). Which is to say, having spent years serving as a
\nlawyer, politician, and journalist (careers he would continue fully and
\nsuccessfully for the rest of his life), at the age of 40 Tourg\u00e9e turned his
\nhand to creative writing and published not one but two novels in a two-year
\nspan. And they\u2019re good, with really interesting creative choices (such as the distanced
\nthird-person narration of Fool\u2019s<\/i>) that engage his readers and get them
\nthinking about those aforementioned personal and political contexts. As someone
\nwho\u2019s own career and writing have evolved a good bit over the decades, and who
\nhopes that trend continues for the rest of my life, I find this aspect of Tourg\u00e9e\u2019s
\nnot-at-all foolish books particularly inspiring as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next
\nfoolish text tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? Foolish texts you\u2019d share?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[For this year\u2019s April Fool\u2019s series, I\u2019ll be AmericanStudying cultural works with \u201cfool\u201d in the title. Share your thoughts on foolish texts, with or without the word, for a fool-hearty crowd-sourced weekend post!] On two inspiring layers to one of our most unique novels. 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