U Americi
Susan Sontag's latest novel, inspired by the real-life Polish woman Helena Modjeska. Sontag, through an ironic, erudite style, explores emigration as an existential escape: America is not a paradise, but a mirror of European weaknesses.
The story begins in 1876 in Krakow: the famous actress Maryna Zaleska, an icon of patriotic theater, frustrated by the occupation and artistic routine, dreams of a utopia in America. With her husband Bogdan (an impresario), her lover Ryszard (a philosopher) and a group of intellectuals, she emigrates to California, buying the Anaheim plantation for a "colony of free artists" - a mixture of Shakespearean theater, winemaking and socialist experiments.
Maryna, a charismatic heroine, becomes an "American" diva: she plays Ophelia and Lady Macbeth in makeshift tents, facing culture shock - the wilderness of the Wild West, racism towards the Chinese, capitalist greed and the loss of idealism. The colony collapses: the members disperse, Bogdan becomes an entrepreneur, Ryszard a critic, and Maryna returns to Europe, but with new strength - a symbol of female emancipation and the biting American dream.
One copy is available
