{"id":1054,"date":"2026-07-03T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T15:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2026-07-03T15:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T15:43:51","slug":"the-have-it-both-ways-theory-of-great-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1054","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Have It Both Ways\u2019 Theory of Great Books"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<div>\n<p><small><em>This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors\u2019 weekly guide to the best in books. <\/em><i>Sign up for it here.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1052\">It Wasn\u2019t Just the Founders<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This week in <i>The Atlantic<\/i>, Michael O\u2019Donnell took aim at a film critic who is himself notorious for takedowns. Point by point, O\u2019Donnell debunks the arguments in <i>A Sudden Flicker of Light<\/i>, David Thomson\u2019s new book about how cinema has harmed society. O\u2019Donnell dispenses quickly with Thomson\u2019s idea that \u201cmovies are more prone to violence\u201d than literature is: \u201cIf depictions of violence truly warp us, then we had better set aside not just gangster pictures but Homer, Shakespeare, Shelley, and Melville too,\u201d he writes. But then he addresses the critic\u2019s \u201cmost interesting point\u201d: Movies \u201cveer toward extremes, favoring crime and spectacle instead of stories about \u2018the frequently amiable muddle.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First, here are five stories from <i>The Atlantic<\/i>\u2019s Books section:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>The surprising return of the blockbuster Trump book<\/li>\n<li>A twist in this year\u2019s strangest literary AI scandal<\/li>\n<li>The incredible freedom of not trying to look good<\/li>\n<li>The \u201ctwo ships\u201d theory of American history<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDark Matter,\u201d a poem by Maya C. Popa<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell questions this dichotomy between gangster fantasy and quiet realism\u2014why should we be forced to choose between <i>The Godfather<\/i> and <i>The Tree of Life<\/i>? He likes each of these movies, as do I. But his invocation of classic literature made me think of another category of work entirely: memorable fiction that critiques <i>and<\/i> indulges the human hunger for lust, violence, and recklessness. Great books can have it both ways.<\/p>\n<p><i>Don Quixote<\/i>, Miguel de Cervantes\u2019s 17th-century epic about a deluded knight, is frequently called the first modern novel. A satire of the fantasy genre of chivalric romances, it became a best seller not only for its pratfalls and biting wit, but also for set pieces full of action, danger, and passion. You could say something similar about Gustave Flaubert\u2019s <i>Madame Bovary<\/i>, which some critics consider the best novel of them all; its tragic housewife keeps chasing lovers after becoming besotted by romance novels. <i>Bovary<\/i> is in some sense a morality tale, but what lifts it above didacticism, along with its bone-deep interiority, is that its romantic plotlines are as addictive as the genre works that have ruined poor Emma Bovary.<\/p>\n<p>From this perspective, a reader can start seeing such doubleness everywhere: in the way Shakespeare turned gory revenge plays into meditations on human folly while satisfying his audiences\u2019 darkest appetites; in Nabokov\u2019s <i>Lolita<\/i>, whose seductive sentences satirize sexual predation while also making the novel irresistible. So much ink has been spilled in debating literary dichotomies: Should fiction provoke empathy, or just pleasure? Is literary fiction inherently better than genre work? Many enduring books, like many classic movies, explode these categories. And they ask important questions about why our lizard brains are so strongly drawn to the stories they are telling.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1050\">Photos of the Week: World Cup, Wine Battle, White Kimono<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Movies Are Good, Actually<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>By Michael O\u2019Donnell<\/i><\/p>\n<p>A film critic\u2019s new book attacks the medium for diminishing culture. Rarely has David Thomson been more wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article.<\/p>\n<h4><b>What to Read<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><b><i>The Suicides<\/i><\/b><b>, by Antonio di Benedetto<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The plot of Di Benedetto\u2019s 1969 novel sounds like a classic hard-boiled mystery: A reporter attempts to find the connection among three seemingly unrelated suicides. But his slipshod investigation yields no tidy conclusions. This book is preoccupied with self-inquiry; its protagonist takes plenty of procedural detours to cross-examine his fascination with death and his troubled relationships with women. I realize that \u201cmoody narrator obsesses over own mortality and the opposite sex\u201d may not seem <i>so<\/i> original to some people, but the prose here\u2014exacting, unsentimental, and ideas-rich\u2014is worth the dip into familiar waters. Di Benedetto\u2019s writing lingers in the brain; to a receptive reader, it can feel like a secret handshake between dryly mordant minds. Years later, in Roberto Bola\u00f1o\u2019s novel <i>The Savage Detectives<\/i>, the Chilean writer would name an obscure, unforgettable brand of mezcal after <i>The Suicides<\/i>\u2014the ultimate \u201cif you know, you know\u201d for those familiar with the value of loving a book that nobody else does.\u00a0 \u2014 Jeremy Gordon<\/p>\n<p>From our list: The summer reading guide<\/p>\n<h4><b>Out Next Week<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><em>\ud83d\udcda The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life<\/em>, by Ian Bogost<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>\ud83d\udcda You Won\u2019t Get Free of It: Stories of Mothers and Daughters<\/em>, by Rachel Aviv<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>\ud83d\udcda Country People,<\/em> by Daniel Mason<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong>Your Weekend Read<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>What AI Will Do to Art<\/p>\n<p><i>By Spencer Kornhaber<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shills are trying to sell something, and tech bros cheer progress at all costs, but Dryhurst and Herndon see themselves as realists. Because AI is already transforming our world, they think the way artists can help guide that transformation is to engage with it. Still, their ambitions are quite idealistic, even verging on evangelical. While many of their peers are worried about saving human culture from destruction, they\u2019re trying to build a new and greater one. At one point Herndon asked me, \u201cWhat if everything you fear, but good?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article.<\/p>\n<p><small><i>Sign up for The Wonder Reader,<\/i><i> a Saturday newsletter in which our editors recommend stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1048\">What This Fourth of July Is Really About<\/a><\/p>\n<p><small><i>Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p><small><i>Explore <\/i><i>all of our newsletters.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many literary classics have a way of appealing to our lizard brains while questioning why we&apos;re so compelled by them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The \u2018Have It Both Ways\u2019 Theory of Great Books - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1054\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u2018Have It Both Ways\u2019 Theory of Great Books - 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