by Helen Dewitt
There’s an old Chinese saying: Politics is the art of the possible.
That’s true as far as it goes. But there’s something else that’s important to remember. The father of our country said it best, so we’ll let George Washington have the last word.
In America anything is possible.
Acknowledgments
David Levene introduced me to The Producers. Mel Brooks wrote “Springtime for Hitler.” I’m especially grateful to Jeffrey Yang and the staff at New Directions for their enthusiastic support, and to Edward Orloff for excellent business advice: I wish more agents were like him.
Copyright © 2011 by Helen DeWitt
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is purely coincidental.
An excerpt from Lightning Rods was originally published in n+1.
e-ISBN: 1978-0-8112-1952-5
Cover design: Steve Attardo / Rodrigo Corral Design
First published clothbound in 2011. First e-book publication 2011.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeWitt, Helen, 1957–
Lightning rods / Helen DeWitt. —1st American cloth ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8112-1943-3 (hardcover: acid-free paper)
1. Corporate culture—United States—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3554.E92945L54 2012
813'.54—dc22
2011010644
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
80 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10011