Gish Jen’s new satire explores dystopian police state
The following is excerpted from the new novel “The Resisters” by Gish Jen ’77, RI ’02. Jen will discuss the book with Professor Martha Minow at Harvard Law School, and later at Harvard Bookstore, on Tuesday, Feb. 4. As her parents, Eleanor and I should have known earlier. But Gwen was a preemie, to begin with. That meant oxygen at first and, after that, special checkups. And her early months were bumpy. She had jaundice; she had roseola; she had colic. She had a heart murmur. Things that I can now see distracted us — especially with the One Chance Policy, we were focused on her health to the exclusion of all else. For the Netted, it was different, of course, but for us Surplus, the limit was one pregnancy per couple, and Eleanor was just out of jail. Outside the house, she had a DroneMinder tracking her every move; the message was clear....