The Age of Atavism

 

atavism - noun - recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, or activity (Google)

Author William Faulkner in Requiem for a Nun wrote "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Which is something that certainly holds true today. It seems atavism is a daily occurrence as humans tend to enjoy nostalgia, visiting and revisiting the past. 

Take for example the recent coronation of King Charles, III. According to Time, the British people gave up approximately $125 million of their tax dollars to shift their Aston Martins, Jaguars, Land Rovers, etc. into reverse so that they could experience a bit of what their proletariat predecessors had witnessed for hundreds of years. Apparently, the UK is the last country to induct their monarchs so lavishly. And with 58% of the population unwilling to take a leap of faith and shift into drive toward an authentic democracy (albeit on the lefthand side of the road), it seems that atavism is the transmission of choice. I did manage to drive a car in reverse down a thousand-foot, serpentine driveway once. It was uncomfortable, but I did get to the end of it safely :). 

Yet another example of the past in the present would be the current trend backwards in recent fiction. I am just about finished reading Bangles' Susanna Hoffs's realistic novel This Bird Has Flown, just published recently. The first-person narrator,  Jane Start, who is 33 and a jaded rock star take-off of Jane Eyre, behaves like she is 23 and thinks like she is 64 (the author's age). She has an annoying case of nostalgic Tourette's Syndrome in that she is addicted to spurting out allusions to the 1950s/1960s, something no thirty-three-year-old woman I have ever met, shy of my daughter, is capable of doing. Nor would anyone that age regardless of what kind of parents she had care to do so. (Right, Millennial ladies?) Why Hoffs would want to reference Don Ho and "Tiny Bubbles" for any reason is beyond me. Comic relief? Why didn't I laugh? Naturally, the New York Times gave Hoffs, most likely sans any undergraduate writing classes, a glowing review, which makes me think that each manuscript the major publishers send to the newspaper is accompanied by cash, something similar to payola, maybe? Payola? Oh, no! I suppose I am guilty of a trip down Memory Lane myself. Oh, the irony of it! 

Hypothetically, if William Faulkner, who wasn't a Buddhist as far as I know, were alive today, I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with the current wave of atavism. In fact, he would probably use it to bolster the authenticity of his words. As much as we try to think we are living in the now, creating and perpetuating uniqueness, all we are doing is reinventing the past, adding our own twist to what once was. Author Christopher Booker claims that there are only seven original plot lines. If that is true, we may be in repeat mode indefinitely. Even with advanced technology (just say no to A.I.), perhaps the Age of Atavism will be sticking around for a long time to come. 

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