Let the Great World Spin

1. Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann

2. Colum McCann( 1965-present) • Born in Dublin, Ireland • Reporter for the Irish Press– had his own column by 21 • Emigrated to U. S. in 1986 with intentions of creating a novel. • Published 8 novels. Let the Great World Spin is his most famous novel. • Settled in New York and is a professor of Creative Fiction at Hunter College.

3. Let the Great World Spin • Title: from a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson entitled, “Locksley Hall” Forward, forward let us range, Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change. What does this suggest?

4. On The Title: Like the poem, the title of McCann’s novel suggests that, even as man moves through his own cycles of destruction and redemption, the world continues to spin and in the process. There is the possibility to find human connection and thus, a life of meaning.

5. Narrative • No central narrative voice. • Novel consists series of stories, each told from a unique perspective. • Combination of 3rd person and 1st person narratives. • Each story contains a protagonist who is often in conflict with a protagonist from another story. • Narratives overlap and are connected by a central event: Man on the wire

6. Setting • New York City, 1974. America is recovering from the tragedy of Vietnam , is in the midst of the Watergate scandal and an energy crisis. • In August 1974, a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the World Trade Center Twin Towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground.

7. Characters • Corrigan: young Irish monk, brother of Cieran • Cieran: emigrates from Ireland to New York with brother. • Tillie: prostitute, mother of Jazzlyn • Jazzlyn: also a prostitute and mother of 2 • Gloria: loses three sons during Vietnam • Marcia: fashion designer, loses son in Vietnam. • Claire: only son is killed in Vietnam. Hires Gloria. • Judge Sondenberg: fines tightrope walker. • Laura and Blaine: artists and addicts • Two hackers creating what will become the Internet • Man on the wire

8. Man on Wire • Man on a Wire

10. World on a wire • 9/11

11. Man on Wire as Metaphor • Wire as unifying thread that connects community in moments of creation and destruction. • Wire as threat that connects the pre-9-11 world to a Post-9-11 world. • Walking on the wire as metaphor for the precariousness of contemporary life. • Walking on the wire as a metaphor for a freedom and innocence that was lost post-9-11.

12. Major Themes • Interconnectedness--- of humanity. Lives/stories overlap and touch each other even though many are unaware of this fact. • Redemption and destruction– a cycle that continues as great world spins • Finding meaning through tragedy and suffering.