THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF BANANA REPUBLIC’S TRIPS
William Young
Self (177 pp.)
$12.95 paperback
ISBN: 978-1734423679
March 31, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A veteran author explores contemporary American culture and politics in this genre-bending anthology. As the founder of the creative writing program at Arizona State University and author of multiple compilations of short stories and plays, Young is known for artistic experimentation. Here, he offers readers a commentary on contemporary politics and culture through multiple genres. The book begins with five essays, which include two memoiristic vignettes that center on two of the author’s five brothers. Another essay centers on the failed publication Trips, a magazine published by the Banana Republic clothing chain. Dedicating itself to “re-vision[ing] our world,” the publication claimed to offer “authentic” stories that eschewed traditional travel writing to tout travel as “a great teacher” about the human condition. The fact that the magazine was discontinued after a single issue, Young writes insightfully, is related to its failed approach toward authenticity. Just as Banana Republic’s clothing boasts names of fictious organizations, such as the “Ivory Coast Safari Club,” American consumers, despite declarations otherwise, “don’t want ‘authentic’ immersion in a foreign culture,” Young asserts. The book’s second section, a collection of 15 poems, is similarly perceptive on topics that range from the value of cooperation to teenage Instagram culture. “Pandemic,” a poem centered on responses to Covid-19, satirically targets those who refused to wear a mask and submit to “the tyranny of evidence.”
