The American Prospect By Sally Rooney In chess, an intermezzo is when a player opts not to play the move expected of them, instead posing an immediate threat their opponent must address before playing the expected move. This typically happens in between exchanges or tactical combinations, shifting the situation to the player’s advantage. There are more possible chess positions than atoms in the known universe.
Even grand masters with hundreds of thousands of positions committed to memory know that at any given moment, the tide can turn and players can find themselves in unknown or even dangerous territory. Sally Rooney’s new novel, , is accurately named, especially for a writer whose style and impact has been so well documented. When people talk about Rooney’s contributions to literature, it’s often in the context of her age.
She is the voice of a generation, or at least voice of a generation. the first great millennial novelist, which says as much about what critics think about millennials as it does her own considerable talent. She writes insular stories, putting a few well-dissected characters under a microscope while the rest of the world is set dressing.
Her particular style has inspired plenty of imitators, but it’s hard to strike a balance between the ultra-specific and the universal. When you write about people in such a granular fashion, you run the risk of irrelevance. Intimacy between two people is everything to them.
Does it mean anything to the rest of .