''Specimen Days'' is a

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

by American writer

Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is Professor in th ...

. It contains three stories: one that takes place in the past, one in the present, and one in the future. Each of the three stories depicts three central, semi-consistent character-types: a young boy, a man, and a woman.

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

's poetry is also a common thread in each of the three stories, and the title is from Whitman's own prose works. The film rights to the book have been optioned by American movie producer

Scott Rudin Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award Best Picture-winning ''No Country for Old Men'', as well as '' Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird'', '' Fences'', ''The Girl with ...

, who has turned Cunningham's previous novel ''The Hours'' into an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

Premise

The novel is divided into what are essentially three discrete short stories, unified by common threads such as character names and types, story location (

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

), story themes (such as shared humanity), and the presence of

(whether through actual physical presence, quotation of his works via narrator or character, or the spirit of his ideas expressed through narrator or character). The first short story, "In the Machine", is a

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

. "In the Machine" takes place in New York City during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, as human beings confront the alienating realities of the new machine age. The principal characters are Lucas (a disfigured young boy), Catherine (a young woman who was to marry Lucas' elder brother), and Simon (Lucas' recently deceased elder brother). The second short story, "The Children's Crusade", is a noir

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

. The story is set in early-21st-century New York City. The story plays with the conventions of the noir thriller as it tracks the pursuit of a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

band that is detonating bombs, seemingly at random, around the city. The principal characters are Cat (an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

woman working in a New York City police department), Simon (Cat's businessman boyfriend), and Luke (a child terrorist). The third short story, "Like Beauty", is futuristic

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

. The story is set in a New York 150 years in the future. In the story, New York City is overwhelmed with refugees from the first inhabited planet to be contacted by the people of Earth. The principal characters are Simon (an adult male

cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

"In the Machine", set in mid-to-late 19th Century New York, begins in the aftermath of a wake. Simon, a young man working in a factory had been accidentally sucked into a factory machine which crushed him to death. Due to the poverty present in the lower classes during the Industrial Revolution, Simon's family sends Lucas, Simon's disfigured younger brother, to work at the factory in Simon's place. Lucas has a strange affliction in which he intermittently and uncontrollably spouts the poetry of Walt Whitman's '

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separa ...

' (Lucas' favourite book). Walt Whitman was a contemporary of the time and Lucas meets him during the course of the story. Lucas is also concerned Simon has become a ghost and inhabits not only the machine that killed him but all the machines that are becoming commonplace in the city as a result of the

. This concern leads Lucas to fear for the life of Catherine, Simon's bereaved girlfriend. Lucas believes Simon's ghost may try to inhabit the machines at the factory where Catherine works as a seamstress with a view to take Catherine to the afterlife by killing her through the machine's function. Lucas embarks on a mission to save Catherine by preventing her from going to work. . Lucas' fear of Simon's ghost is, at the same time, a fear of the Machine and, on a larger scale, the Industrial Revolution in New York City itself. The machines replace humans, even kill them, and the industrial revolution has demeaned the importance of each human individual with its positioning of people as cogs in its own giant machine. In this light, Lucas' fears and Whitman's transcendental poetry represent the affirmation of humanity and each individual's importance.

References and influence

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters are an American pop rock band formed in 2000. The band's current line-up consists of Jake Shears (vocals), Babydaddy (various instruments), Del Marquis (guitar, bass) and Randy Real (drums). Former members include vocalist A ...

's "The Other Side" from the album ''

Ta-Dah ''Ta-Dah'' is the second studio album by American alternative band Scissor Sisters, released on September 15, 2006. It was produced by the band and includes collaborations with Elton John, Carlos Alomar, and Paul Williams. The album debuted at nu ...

'' is partially based on "In the Machine", the first third of ''Specimen Days''. Michael Cunningham is a favorite writer of one of Scissor Sisters' lead singers,

Jake Shears Jason Sellards (born October 3, 1978), known professionally by the stage name Jake Shears, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist of New York City pop-rock band Scissor Sisters, who achi ...

, and gave Shears an advance copy of ''Specimen Days''. Shears wrote "The Other Side" right after reading it.

Hanya Yanagihara Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) is an American novelist, editor, and travel writer. She grew up in Hawaii. She is best known for her bestselling novel ''A Little Life'', which was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize, and for being the editor-in-c ...

has said she considers her novel '' To Paradise'' to be "in conversation" with ''Specimen Days''.

Quotes

* ''Fear not O Muse! truly new ways and days receive, surround you,'' :''I candidly confess a queer, queer race, of novel fashion,'' :''And yet the same old human race, the same within, without,'' :''Faces and hearts the same, feelings the same, yearning the same,'' :''The same old love, beauty and use the same.'' :—Walt Whitman :—Foreword, (vii, 1st paperback ed., 2005)

Footnotes

External links

New York Magazine Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Specimen Days 2005 American novels Novels by Michael Cunningham Novels set in New York City Farrar, Straus and Giroux books Walt Whitman