The Businessman As God In Fiction

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Have finished Titan by Theodore Dreiser and I didn't like it. Though readable, (yes Theo  still knows how to make you swipe the page) it was disappointingly predictable. Young Carrie it isn't. If we're taking score of those I liked and disliked then the football match from this ebook omnibus is currently 2-2.

I had thought that the next book was going to be the third in the trilogy but no, instead it's going to be his novel The Genius. Hope I'll like it.

But reading Titan (published I should say in 1914) made me realise about the portrayal of businessmen in fiction as a certain type of propaganda for hard right no holds barred capitalism. So perhaps we should chat about it further.

The characteristics of the businessman (and let's be clear about this it's about men here) are as follows:

1) The man is a business genius. Thing is in real life few businesses become instant hits. Instead they grow organically. Yet in this fiction everything the businessman touches turns to gold. The only problems occur  through the unforeseen or the malevolent actions of others.

This leads us to:

2) Attitude of Other Men: Men either hate him or wish they were him to the point of worship. As for women.....

3) Attitude of women: Because you're a businessman women will automatically fall in love with you. You have the pick of all the women you want. No matter how badly you treat them when you go to your next conquest they will think of you even if they're with another man.

Of course the reality here is different. If you looked at the pictures of the major directors of the collapsed company Carillion. What you saw (presumably taken out of the annual report) was the faces of fat smug suited older men. I would doubt that the platoon of women that fiction suggests would flock to these individuals would occur in reality. Even before the bankruptcy.

4) Blackmail and Bribery is OK: What does it matter if they are crimes? Grease the wheels for business that's all that matters. Punishment is for the lower orders.

If you want a more realistic and sympathetic portrayal of a businessman (though in this case more of a manager). I would suggest Nice work by David Lodge. It shows a good man trying to do his best. I would recommend it.

Until the next time.