[.ca] Being There (ISBN 0802136346)

Das Wunschbild: A Fable for our Times:
I first became aware of this book as the basis for the remarkable film starring Peter Sellers and Melvyn Douglas. Kosinski_s book, however, is just as remarkable in its own right. The hero of the book is Chance, a mentally retarded adult who works as the gardener at the home of a wealthy retired New York lawyer. During the whole of his adult life, Chance has never left the house and garden; his only contact with the outside world is through television, which he watches obsessively. His life changes, however, when his employer dies, the house is sold and he is forced to leave. Chance is slightly injured when he is hit by a car belonging to Elizabeth Eve (_EE_), the wife of Benjamin Rand, a rich and influential Wall Street financier and a friend of the President. EE, mishearing _Chance the gardener_ as _Chauncey Gardiner_ and mistakenly believing Chance to be a successful businessman, invites him to stay with her and her husband at their home. A series of misunderstandings leads all concerned to believe that Chance is not only a businessman but also an economic prophet. He is invited to speak on national television where he talks about the only thing he understands, gardening. A series of platitudes about the changing of the seasons in the garden is taken to be an extended metaphor forecasting an upturn in the economy, and his supposed optimism strikes a chord with the viewing public. The book ends with the elderly, terminally ill, Rand about to name Chance as his heir and successor, and the President about to nominate him as his vice-presidential running-mate. The book is short, a novella rather than a novel, of around 100 pages. The style is direct, simple and like a fable. It has been interpreted as a satire on the role of television in the modern age or on the American political system. Those elements are certainly present and were emphasised more in the film than in the book. (In Britain the film was widely taken to be a direct attack on the Reagan administration, even though it was actually made during the Carter years but not released here until after the presidential election). The significance of the book, however, is a deeper one. In the film, Peter Sellers portrayed Chance as a lonely, pitiable character in late middle age, young only by comparison with his aged employer and the ageing Rand. It is an affecting performance, but subtly different from the Chance of Kosinski_s book. Kosinski_s Chance is relatively young, good-looking and emotionally detached from his surroundings. This detachment allows others to treat him as what in German would be called a Wunschbild, that is to say a picture of one_s wishes, a blank canvas onto which one can paint one_s own desires. Each of the other characters sees in the supposed Chauncey Gardiner whatever he or she wishes to see. Rand, who has no children with EE and who is estranged from the children of his first marriage, sees him as a potential successor to his business empire and almost as an adopted son. EE, sexually frustrated in a marriage to a much older man, sees him as a lover and a possible second husband after Rand_s death. The President sees him as the ideal candidate for Vice-President, a position he has been struggling to fill. The Soviet Ambassador to the UN sees him as a liberal, Russophile capitalist who will use his influence to further east-west relations. The American TV audience see him as the man who will lead them out of recession and into prosperity. The book certainly is, in part, a commentary on the television age. It certainly is, in part, a political satire. (We can all think of politicians who have the ability to be all things to all men). Most importantly, however, it is a brilliant fable on the human capacity for self-delusion and for seeing others not for what they are but for what we would wish them to be.

surprisingly dull:
This is another of those novels that is less good than the film that was made from it. After I saw the film, I read the book and it utterly lacked the wit and irony of the performance by Sellers in the film. The novel moves slowly, is not very funny, and the writing style utterly lacks flavor. In contrast, the film was the perfect parody of the beginning of the Reagan era, in which appearences and the assumptions of the observers mix in the most surprising ways. Oh well. It appears to me that Kosinsky did his thing and had nothing much to say after The Painted Bird. Not recommended.

Why he walks on water:
To keep this brief. I am a great fan of Being There and have been so for several decades. I would like to express my opinion about the significance of the last scene in the move where Chance walks on water. I believe this to be a complete surprise ending that opens up an entirely new perspective of the book. If anyone has seen the brilliant and hilarious Monty Python's "Life Of Brian" they can appreciate the concept of people perceiving realitly to suite their own desires. "Life of Brian", which came out around the same time as the novel/movie "being there", depicts the Roman empire at the time of Chirst with a demoralized frustrated population of jews desparately seeking a Messiah to end their misery. Brian of Nazareth, a regular innocent joe, is choosen to be the Messiah by a group of people that interprets everything he does as magical and holly. There are several parrallels to "Being There" where Chance, an innocent and dim-witted bystandard, is mistaken by a desperate and corrupt society to be their next "Messiah" and leader. Hence. he walks on water at the end of the movie.

Relevant to current times!:
Is it a coincidence that Chance is a gardener, and we have a President Bush? *wink* Quick, dry, and fun to read. Humorous look on American society. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Other reviewers miss the point:
During the time period portrayed by the book, people would hide and not acknowledge their retarded offspring. The author goes to great lengths to show physical similarities between the "old man" and Chauncey "the gardener". The old man's discarded clothing fit Chauncey absolutely perfectly as if they were tailored for Chauncey. Chauncey was not listed as an employee. No one knew who Chauncey's father was. There was no records for Chauncey. People of that time period were not known for taking in retarded strangers, the retarded were either institutionalized or otherwise hidden away. Not even the old man's business parter knew about Chauncey. The only possible explaination for these facts would be that Chauncey was the old man's child. Otherwise you would have to credit the old man, a retired lawyer, of having Chauncey working in his house as a gardener for over 40 years, starting when Chauncey was a little boy, as unpaid slave labor. At the end of the book, Chauncey is himself an old man visiting his garden, just like the "old man" used to do (another parallel drawn by the author). When reading this book, please keep it in perspective of the time period that is represented.