SPOTLIGHT: Why Liv by Jon Sebastian Shifrin @smithpublicity
Why Liv
by Jon Sebastian Shifrin
Personal identity is tied to the jobs that we hold—but what happens when our jobs feel
pointless? That’s what Livingstone Modicai Ackerman—Liv, to his friends—is wondering.
Millennial dissatisfaction runs rampant in an age where even the jobs that are the most coveted
have no social value (and those that are truly important do not pay as though they are). How do
we find meaning when work feels meaningless? Why Liv? by Jon Shifrin explores the big and
small questions that complicate modern professional life for Liv and his cohorts.
Like Holden Caulfield before him, Liv craves authenticity in a phony age. His job is
tedious and soul-gutting, his girlfriend is a vacuous, image-conscious snob, and, meanwhile, his
pathologically narcissistic parents are constant irritants. Add to this the febrile political climate
dominated by a reactionary group and their mendacious leader, a radio personality with
outlandish hair and a catchy slogan to restore American greatness, and existential dilemma seem
a constant way of life.
Liv is searching for meaning in a sea of cynicism—and he finds it in the most unlikely of
places. This two-part novel opens with “Dusk,” which takes place in the elite circles of New
York society. It’s thought to be a glamorous milieu, but for Liv it’s gloomier. The second part,
“Dawn,” is set in the majestic city of Barcelona. The language spoken in this new setting is
challenging to understand and the local culture, while attractive, is alien to Liv. Yet, it is sunny,
alluring and redemptive.
“Finding meaning in life is difficult, but we all search for it,” Shifrin says. “I hope
readers recognize themselves in Liv.”
Humorous, charming, and witty, Why Liv? endeavors to explain why modern work is so
devoid of purpose and why reactionary politics is so alluring in America. But most of all, it
humbly attempts to offer motivation to persist in these difficult times.
“Finding meaning in life is difficult, but we all search for it,” Shifrin says. “I hope
readers recognize themselves in Liv.”
Humorous, charming, and witty, Why Liv? endeavors to explain why modern work is so
devoid of purpose and why reactionary politics is so alluring in America. But most of all, it
humbly attempts to offer motivation to persist in these difficult times.
About the Author:
JON SEBASTIAN SHIFRIN is a writer whose political commentary and short stories have
appeared in various newspapers and literary journals. He also is the founder of The Daily
Dissident (www.dailydissident.com), a popular current events web magazine. Jon lives in
Washington, DC.
Q&A
with Jon Shifrin
Author, Why Liv?
Question: What made you want to write this
book?
Jon Shifrin: Growing up as the son of two artists—a painter and sculptor—burdened me
with high expectations. Like a faith or creed, art has the ability to connect
those who create it to an ancient artistic tradition, as well as endow a form
of immortality via an artistic legacy. But, most significantly, art gives its
most ardent devotees a sense of purpose. I wanted the same from my chosen
profession. However, this was not to be.
The jobs I
held over the years, while impressive on paper, provided no meaning whatsoever.
In fact, they seemed utterly pointless; nobody, I suspected, would care or
even
notice if they disappeared. Naturally, I fell into a deep funk. Only by
discovering
my own
creative outlet, writing, did I climb out of the morass and begin to experience
the sort
of spiritual satisfaction I long sought.
The theme
of finding meaning is central to Why Liv?—hence the title. Like me, Livingston,
the protagonist, has achieved success by societal standards. He has gone
to the
right schools and holds down a prestigious job. Yet, he feels empty inside. I believe
that his angst, like my own, is commonplace and therefore speaks to many
struggling
to find meaning in their lives, professional and otherwise.
Question: Why did you choose to have your main character
struggle with how his
profession
affected his personal identity?
JS: Personal identities are closely tied to our chosen
professions, since we spend a
significant
portion of our waking hours at work. This is why one of the first questions we
ask new
acquaintances is what they do for a living. The response to it reveals critical
information
about a person’s essence in ways that few, if any, other questions can.
While the
centrality of work to personal identity varies to some degree by culture, an
underlying
truism holds regardless: we are what we do.
Livingston,
Why Liv?’s protagonist, identifies with his job, but also knows that it is
meaningless;
thus, he feels meaningless himself. At first, he feels guilty for being
miserable,
since he knows that, as a corporate high-flyer, he has got it better than most.
A close
friend ridicules him for having “white man’s problems.” But he cannot shake the
sense that
something is dramatically wrong in his life.
Liv’s
struggles are universal. Occupational angst is endemic. One recent national
survey
found that almost a third of Americans view their jobs simply as a means to
“get
by,” while
fully 40 percent of respondents to another study in the Netherlands said their
jobs had
no reason to exist whatsoever. Many of us, regrettably, are on the same
sinking
boat. The key is to find a way off.
Question: Your book deals mostly with an
affluent society - why did you choose that setting and are the themes relatable
beyond that sphere?
JS: Why Liv?
takes places in a new Gilded Age—contemporary America. The main
characters
hail from the glittering class whose members seamlessly glide at day’s end
from their
high-pressure/highly compensated corporate jobs to exclusive places in a capital
of capitalism, New York City. They are society’s winners, the “meritocracy’s”
most
meritorious. They are the people many of us seek to be. And yet they are
overworked
and unhappy, lost. The most self-aware among them, including the
protagonist,
knows that the rat race is folly, and he wants out. There has to be better
way, he
thinks, and he is right.
The
promise of affluence undergirds our society. Most millennials, in fact, believe
they will
be millionaires someday. The zealous pursuit of riches is a goal that, even if
achieved,
likely will yield a miserable life featuring endless hours at a soulless job
that
has no
intrinsic value. Such is the paradox of our modern consumer-driven existence.
The cheese
at the end of the maze is moldy. Thus, Why Liv?, though focused at the
outset on
an exclusive niche—the one-percenters—is broadly applicable, as the novel
indicts a
system to which 100 percent of us are subject.
Question: What is your writing process like?
JS: Dorothy
Parker, the eminent critic and satirist, once said, “I hate writing, I love
having
written.” I think most writers, myself included, identify with such sentiments,
as
the
process of putting words on a blank page is tough, even excruciating at times.
I
require
regular breaks while writing, like a football player dashing off to the
sidelines for
“breathers.”
The constant stoppages do not always work; oftentimes, I spend hours
gazing in
vain at my computer screen, having conjured only a line or two. Here a certain
faith in
one’s artistic ability is necessary to persevere, which itself is the key to
success
in any
endeavor worth pursuing, creative or otherwise.
Eventually,
I clumsily cobble together a first draft of a book’s chapter or short
story full
of narrative flights of fancy and inconsistencies. But the hardest part is
behind
me. I then
revise and revise, applying one layer on top of another, ironing out wrinkles
and adding
richness and depth—the sort of ornamentation that gives a story added
punch. A
relatively polished draft takes shape. Further revisions follow once I receive
editorial
feedback and, eventually, the particular piece is “done,” or completed to the
point
where returns on effort have sufficiently diminished that my efforts turn
elsewhere.
Then and
only then, do I truly love having written.
Question:
What books and authors influenced your writing?
JS:
W. Somerset Maugham and Franz Kafka, among my
favorite writers, have
influenced my writing greatly. Maugham, for
one, is a master storyteller. His lurid
descriptions of places and personalities are
totally transporting. Much the same can be
said of Kafka, though his style, of course, is
very different. The commonality that links
the two—and a feature that, I think, unites
all great writing—is strong moral conviction.
That is, both Maugham and Kafka have something
to say.
Maugham’s stories typically feature flawed
characters that redeem or do not
redeem themselves, such as a supremely gifted
artist in a Moon and Sixpence who is
also an unprincipled brute, while Kafka’s
characters almost always are victimized by
some absurd circumstance. But both share
insights into the way we live and act, and
the societal forces that shape our behavior.
Attention must be paid.
I also aspire to challenge the reader in similar
ways by casting into relief some of
the issues that, I believe, confront my
generation: demanding yet meaningless jobs,
rising political intolerance, and so on. I
want the reader, once finished with Why Liv?, to
question some very basic precepts about the
times in which we live and to feel
uncomfortable yet also moved as one does when
putting down a work by Maugham or
Kafka. That is my goal. It is for the reader
to decide whether I achieve it.
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