Shortlisted for this year’s Goldsmiths prize, Nicola Barker’s striking
contender H(A)PPY is a daringly artful exploration of censorship,
Semiotics and typographic trickery.
Perhaps characterised as the novel that no-one quite knows
how to pronounce correctly (“happy with parenthesis?”) Nicola Barker’s H(A)PPY is a flourish of narrative self-surveillance moulded
in a universe where one’s thoughts are moderated by Sensors for the collective
pursuit of perfection. Barker’s world of Graphs, Oracular Devices and
Information Streams feels simultaneously other-worldly and familiar in this age
of infinite data, and draws on the rich traditions of Sci-Fi and Dystopian
fictions.
H(A)PPY charts
Mira A’s systematic demystification with the omnipotent System and the work’s
title alludes to this fragmentation of truths and emotional modulations. Mira’s
thoughts imperfectly oscillate between conformity and creativity, ultimately
descending into unregulated language; “DECLARING WAR ON THE SYSTEM”. Barker’s
novelistic experimentation with form operates on two levels; first challenging
traditional methods of reading by baiting the eye with a smattering of colour
to skim before reading the page. Secondly, the reader can’t help but speculate
the reasoning behind the coloured grouping of these words, and as the frequency
of colouring increases with the rising number of flagged words, our Mira A.
becomes increasingly fraught, restricting her thought-patterns. The act is
reminiscent of word-processing and technological monitoring of human
expression, contributing to a fitting sense of dystopian suffocation.
The novel is thoughtfully prefaced by the Author’s
suggestion that “Although by no means essential, this novel is best enjoyed in
conjunction with Agustin Barrios: The
Complete Historical Guitar Recordings 1913-1942.” and as such, music is a
key thematic preoccupation which allows Barker to navigate the extent to which creativity
is moderated under repressive regimes.
Barker’s critique of language domination is seen through the
attention to the political history of Paraguay and the subversive use of
Guarani. The symbolic use of Guarani (or rather, English marked in Green to indicate
its use) is employed as a means of covertly communicating- reminding us of the
potency of words. “I told her to be
careful,' The Stranger said, 'not to be seduced by language. It can often be
beguiling - seductive - beautiful, yet it is also unpredictable, dangerous,
even lethal.”
Conceptual notions such as ‘the Past’ and ‘the Young’ are
capitalised, marking these ideas as fixed, intangible models. Words are also
marked with coloured fonts- reds, purples and blues, in a seemingly
indecipherable code. Language takes centre stage and the attempt to polish and
hone a perfect language is in tandem with the brutal attempt to homogenise the
human condition- the ruling class of ‘the Young’ aspiring for neutrality and
“smoothed” genitals, as well as removing their capacity to feel pain. The novel
is a feat of typographic design, testing the eye and modes of reading as Barker
delights in a breakdown of the language and methods of story-telling
narratives, championing the incomplete, imperfect and illogical.
Words by Elinor Potts for [smiths] magazine
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