Carl Remick wrote:
> That said, I'd like to put in a good word for Theroux's
> novels The Mosquito Coast and The O-Zone, both of which, I would argue,
> offer piercing social insights.
How does one know that the insights in a novel are "piercing"? It would seem to be necessary to have already recognized the social site the novel pierces in order to recognize it, or at least to pass on the validity of the insight. And if one is so able, then why does one need to read the novel.
If you want a better statement of this, read Book IV of Milton's *Paradise Regained*, the Temptation of Athens episode..
Carrol