Calling all book lovers! The Alumni Philodemica has officially kicked off their new AP Book Club. The first meeting was held earlier this year, and we featured Danielle Evan’s The Office of Historical Corrections. This beautifully written anthology gathered short stories set across America all centered on one question: How does history and perception define truth? In true Philodemic fashion, a denotation of truth was refused as discussion pulled comparisons across fields of study and even dared to allow interpersonal anecdotes to help digest Evan’s work.
Several thought provoking tales are told in The Office of Historical Corrections including chapters on performance artists disappearing for years only to return with soft, seemingly genuine apologies for all the women he hurt over his lifetime. This requiem of a playboy sits next to the story of a war journalist hiding from her familial grief alongside a runaway bride. Several more chapters build before the book’s namesake is presented. These characters are working a government arm known as “The Office of Historical Corrections” in our fair DC. As they attempt to navigate a world that debates the need for clerical application of history and that fights constantly about who’s version of history is championed, our main characters cling desperately to establishing order in the chaos. This devoutness brings personal ruin.
Our AP members delved into great conversation and considerable attention to how each story related to another. The common thread and themes were defined as truth, social identity, perception, the art of making mistakes, and the art of forgiveness / forgetfulness.
Out of all these threads, conversation returned again and again to the psychology and sociology of truth. A consistent mechanism of attempting to relate material truth to our impression of life. A greater question is eventually raised of does it even matter? It, being the material truth.
We continued to discuss how Evans shows power, especially that which is derived through gender, race, and class, that has the strength to dominate perception. It is extraordinarily rare to get the opportunity to right a mistake or to have others acknowledge how someone in power has hurt you. If no one sees it, and muteness is kinder to one’s own life than engaging in the fight, then is it not best to hold grief and/or hope for forgetfulness? Members were divided!
After such a well rounded discussion, we adjourned in high spirits. Till our next book!