Armbruster:

This is no novel… This is a tradition older than the novel. Dialogue—didactic talking heads, if you will—goes back to Plato and possibly to the dawn of consciousness about right and wrong, whenever that was. “Armbruster’s Summons” Systems of Survival (p20)

Jane Jacobs is about to leave most of the devices of fiction behind. The only thing more we’ll learn about the characters is from what they say. She’s front loaded the book with their back stories - the details I shared last week in the character guide I’ve updated below.

Jacobs, surely, is not a master of fiction writing. I’ve sat in workshops where she’d be thoroughly taken to task for the sake of the craft.

But craft is not her concern.

She’s using the characters to advocate for different views and positions. She’s using just a touch of back story and character revealing action to cast the players to take these didactic positions. There’s no plot.

Back to Armbruster:

The form—disagreements, speculations, second thoughts, questions, answers, amended answers—it’s suited to the problematic subject matter. “Armbruster’s Summons” Systems of Survival (p20)

Before the first evening of discussion is up, before Armbruster can make this proposal, we’ve already lost Quincy, the banker (updated below). I’ll speculate about his purpose later. I’ve also added new labels for Ben and Hortense. Ben is a moral absolutist. Hortense is a moral relativist. That is, for Hortense, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the circumstances. Kate has also agreed to take the floor the next evening the five remaining characters can reconvene—but only with enough time to do plenty of research.

Updated character guide:

Key:

• New information
• No longer relevant
  

Armbruster:

• Host, in modest Manhattan apartment
• Retired publisher

Jasper:

• Crime novelist, published by Armbruster
• 50, writing his memoirs

Kate:

• 30
• Academic - Biologist
• Enjoyed popular success with book on animal memory published by Armbruster, to dismay of peers
• Volunteers to go first; needs just over four weeks to research the systems behind morality

Ben:

• Environmental doomsday-ist, but cheerful
• Carries his own kumquats
• Published a bestseller on planetary destruction under Armbruster
• Mid-40s
• Moral absolutist

Quincy:

• Banker
• Former business relationship with Armbruster now friendship
• Busy

Hortense:

• 43
• Divorce lawyer
• Legal aid worker
• Widow
• Armbruster’s niece
• Reluctant attendee
• Moral relativist

I think I’m going to be missing Jane Jacobs’ voice.

Despite the subtitle—A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics—I hadn’t realized that the format would be a departure from text in her voice.

Jacobs picks up the form of the Platonic dialogue, a written tool that uses many of the same strategies as the Socratic method. Questions abound.

In other words, Jacobs has invented a group of characters, much like a novelist would. However, rather than develop these characters to create a compelling narrative, these characters allow Jacobs to explore and discuss various perspectives on morality. While this is a sound rhetorical strategy, quite appropriate for the topic, I’m still going to miss the direct, forthright, and honest voice of Jacobs, unmediated.