Being There - Jerzy Kosinski

BEING THERE – JERZY KOSINSKI

On the surface, Being There by Jerzy Kosinski seems to be a fairly straightforward story of an idiot savant whose utterings are taken as pearls of wisdom but beneath the surface – like fish seen under the ice – there's something else going on. The story centres upon a gardener by the name of Chance who has spent his whole life living in seclusion, tending the garden of his employer and living in a room in the home of that same employer. Never having ventured beyond the garden's walls he has instead spent his time when not working just watching television, the only people him having any contact with being 'the Old Man' who employs him and the maid. When the Old Man suddenly dies at the start of the book, Chance leaves the house and for the very first time steps out into the wider world.

The house where he has spent his life is in New York and as soon as he walks into the city he is driven into by a chauffeur-driven car. The passenger in the car turns out to be the young wife of an elderly gentleman called Rand, who turns out to be the chairman of the board of the First American Financial Corporation, an elite group of businessmen whose mission is to 'assist American businesses that have been harassed by inflation, excessive taxation, riots, and other indecencies'.

They take Chance into their home so that he may recover from the car accident and it is there that Rand becomes immediately enthralled by Chance's simple, homespun observations wrought from his knowledge of gardening that Rand interprets as uniquely expressed insights into economics and business.

So impressed is he with Chance that Rand introduces him to 'a good friend' who just happens to be the President of the United States of America who subsequently quotes Chance during a speech at a TV press conference. The President name-checks Chance causing immediate interest in this hitherto unknown economics adviser and overnight he becomes a media sensation feted by news pundits, ambassadors of foreign nations and members of the American political and business class.

It quickly becomes apparent, however, particularly to the security services that Chance is a man with no history and no traceable background. There are simply no records at all of him having ever existed before, which then leads them to question as to whether this is a good or a bad thing?

Chance is an innocent abroad, sucked in and swept up by events and circumstances he has little understanding of. But if that's him then who is everyone else? Are all the people Chance encounters simply clutching at straws and searching for meaning when there really isn't any? Including even the President? Is Chance just a blank slate on which everyone hangs their own meaning upon? Their own hopes? Their own needs? Interpreting what Chance says to fit their own personal salvation? Has Jerzy Kosinski written his main character in such a way as to suggest that Chance is indeed a messiah figure?

At the start of the book there is a prominent disclaimer that states 'Any similarity to past or present characters or events is purely accidental, and no identification with any character or event is intended'. The copyright date of the book is 1970 so clearly the President though unnamed is going to be Richard Nixon. The chairman of the First American Financial Corporation is named Rand which is clearly an allusion to Ayn Rand – it's too much of a coincidence for it not to be. The TV talk show host with his audience of millions could well be William F Buckley? Who, however, is Jerzy Kosinski? Well, there's been some debate about that.

At the end of Being There there's an anonymously written synopsis entitled 'On Kosinski' that outlines the author's life and it reads like a piece of magical realism. If only half of it is true then Kosinski has led a charmed and picaresque life through 'some of the strongest direct experience that this century has had to offer'. From poverty in Eastern Europe, war and oppression to wealth, fame and the American liberal elite, he's been through it all apparently. Or has he?

'As I have no children, no family, no relatives, no business or estate to speak of, my books are my only spiritual accomplishment,' he's quoted as saying. Rather like his Chance character in Being There? If Chance is a blank slate, is Kosinski a construct? Which then begs the question, is Being There itself a blank slate without any actual meaning upon which the reader hangs their own meaning? Much like the Chance character himself? Is Being There a very clever book or can cleverness be hung upon it to make it appear clever when it actually isn't clever at all? Is there more to Being There than meets the eye?

I would say 'yes' but like fish seen under the ice it's unclear what it is exactly that's swimming about there beneath its surface. Which all makes for an enjoyable, multi-layered, multi-faceted and very interesting book, to say the least.

John Serpico