On Re-reading Paul Fussell...

Fate does funny things to us.
Many years ago, when Edie was a blithe, attitudinal teen, she (I) read a book called Class by a guy named Paul Fussell. It made a significant impression on me. I read it many times over the years, and even discussed it with people who I felt would be interested in having such a conversation (not many). The book was about the American class system; it’s sort of sociology, but written without so many footnotes, with amusing line illustrations, and with a marvelously snotty sense of humor. (I’m betraying my own class, of course, by describing the book as such. Sue me.)
Now, Paul Fussell has been the subject of considerable debate in more recent years; his first wife Betty has written about his, I guess, somewhat icky personal life, and Fussell’s writing has moved on to other topics (I should really say, “moved back to other topics,” since he is really a literature/history guy, not a sociologist). I guess there are going to be people who find Fussell and his subject matter distasteful. If you’re one of those people, go somewhere else for a while.

This month I found myself re-reading Class and I enjoyed it thoroughly, as usual. It had been several years since I’d had a look at it, and I started thinking, “This is all very good, but – what would this book be like if it were written today? Fact is, things have changed a lot.”
Then, out of nowhere, I received an email from an old college friend. He lives in New York, where he works as a writer/editor (sounds familiar) and maintains a blog which might be of interest to the sort of people who’d read this blog (all two of you, right?) – you can find it at ronmwangaguhunga.blogspot.com, it’s called The Corsair. Anyway, Ron sent me an email, the title of which nearly made me fall out of my chair: Paul Fussell and Class.
I thought, “How the fuck did he know?”
And then I started writing a reply, which evolved into this thing you’re reading now.

The book was originally published in the early 1980s – the era of The Preppy Handbook (a book which I had the pleasure of lending to an employee at current-Prep favorite clothing company Vineyard Vines (vineyardvines.com, for those of you looking for a really expensive tie) – she had never heard of it, and found it hilarious and disturbing) – and so many aspects of American culture have moved, shifted, been created, really, since that time. Fussell wrote another book called BAD: The Dumbing of America, which could also use an update probably. But it’s Class that’s really worth revisiting.
The book is clearly a minor classic. Examining its listing at Amazon.com, I discovered that its sales rank is (as of today, a date in early February 2007) in the low 13,000s; this is significantly higher than that of another book I wrote about recently, Maryjane’s Ideabook, which was published in 2005 and has a sales ranking of 50,000 or so. (This is an arbitrary comparison, I grant you, but I just wanted to see what the rankings would be like for another book I’d been thinking about. I’m also re-reading The Portable Dorothy Parker, and the new edition of that has a sales rank of 10,850. So you see: the Dorothy Parker book – a new, snazzy edition of a book that has never been out of print, sells better than Class, which I could be wrong but I think has also never been out of print since it was first published – and they both sell dramatically better than a book which I was told by sales reps was going to be huge, simply huge, an awesome hit… Sales rankings are funny things, and I know I ought not pay too much attention to them, but one can’t help but notice them, and they’re just interesting, as raw data goes.) (And it goes to show that sales reps are generally full of shit, though they may be very nice people.)
My point is that Fussell’s book Class is still selling steadily, and people post comments on it on a regular basis. People are thinking about this book. In my own opinion, this is a good thing; I just wonder why it hasn’t prompted Fussell’s agent to ask him, “Hey, buddy, wanna do a revised edition?”
I mean, think about all the things that have mutated culturally since Fussell’s time. Thinking about his discussions of higher education in America alone… The rise of business schools and law schools – so many grads! How many of them can possibly have actually learned anything? – and the choices they make in housing, spouses, not to mention professional specializations -- would surely be something he’d have thoughts on. The business of college rankings and admissions have gotten so much coverage in the last five years, but Fussell’s book was the first I can remember to call a spade a spade. I imagine he’d have more than a little to say about books like The Price of Admission, or any of Alexandra Robbins’ little works. (Of which, incidentally, I’ve read none, but I live in New Haven, so I feel I’m exempt.) Not to mention David Brooks! Imagine David Brooks and Paul Fussell in a room together – bon mot after bon mot, but longwinded and kind of annoying, right? Well, imagine Fussell discussing Bobos in Paradise! Now, there’s a good time! (To be fair, I’d also enjoy reading a Brooks essay on Class.)
What would Fussell make of the sort of culture we seem to have now where there is a class structure but it’s so stratified yet warped that it barely makes sense anymore? Where Donald Trump is a symbol of class to some, and the exact opposite to others? (Think of what’s been happening with Trump and his fortunes since Class was published, you need a spreadsheet to keep track of it. And a lot of TV sets.) Speaking of spreadsheets: imagine what fun Fussell would have talking about computers and cell phones and MP3 players: the branding of these things is all about matters that Fussell talked about in ’83. I assume that people who have Macs think they’re classier than people who have PCs; the Mac is more user friendly (less elitist) (so computer people tell me; I’d be the last to know, since I basically use my computer as just a really quiet typewriter) but the PC is easier to buy, and so – less elitist. I mean, you can go around and around on this shit. What does one’s cell phone ring really say about one? Brand of jeans?
What would Fussell make of rap culture and its hierarchies – I can’t help but remember Superhead’s book (see elsewhere in this blog) and wonder, “What Would Fussell Think?”
And consider New Urbanism through the lens of Class: boy, there’s a lot to chew on.
I suppose that if I were energetic or had a contract to do so, I could write the book that I’m proposing Fussell should write. But I don’t, so I won’t. I just wanted to point out to people that the book is out there – it’s in print, it’s probably in your local library – so you should go have a look at it. Class doesn’t seem complete, anymore, the way it once did. But it is still, for my money, the finest description of the different ways of life in America. You read it now, and you kind of fill in blanks, mentally, but then… maybe that exercise is good for us.