Escape Routes

Erica Jong and Anaïs Nin were among my getaway authors growing up. The author of this essay reflects on the formative role that a certain canon of mid-20th-century, mostly white male, countercultural novels, think Salinger, Vonnegut, Heller, Kerouac, Kesey, Hesse, and others, played for generations of alienated teenagers seeking meaning, rebellion, and intellectual identity. These “gateway books” offered solace and a sense of belonging to young outsiders, promising entry into a higher realm of experience and camaraderie, even as they romanticized alienation, cynicism, and anti-establishment attitudes. 

I would not place Jong or Nin in that category but they got me seeing things in different light and provided a sharp contrast to my regular reading rotation of that age Thomas Hardy, Graham Green, Somerset Maugham, John Cheever, George Elliott, Pearl Buck and John Irving. Every one of these authors offered me some kind of escape. The author is right to wonder whether today’s youth will find similar literary “gateways” in an era of distraction and curated YA fiction, and whether the subversive thrill of reading “dangerous” books can still be found, or if it has migrated to other corners of culture. Many would question the value of reading "dangerous" books when you are young and impressionable. Looking back, I think it served me well.