Review of EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS
by Johny McFliggen, PhD Literature & Business, Oxford
In a world where the whispers of pandemics have become the soundtrack of our lives, the prospect of a book titled "EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS" by John Green offers a curious proposition. Now, if only it existed beyond the realm of imagination, I might have reveled in its pages. Alas, like the infamous Schrödinger’s cat, it resides in a state of non-being.
John Green, a maestro in the symphony of young adult fiction, is better known for his ability to conjure up tales of star-crossed lovers and existential musings rather than charting the historical and scientific corridors of tuberculosis. His literary oeuvre, resembling more of a John Hughes movie with teenagers grappling with love and life, doesn’t readily translate to the sterile laboratories and austere hospital wards that a treatise on tuberculosis might demand.
The title itself—"EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS"—invokes an audacious, almost nihilistic stance reminiscent of the Baudrillardian hyperreality where everything is simulacrum. What a bold metaphor it would be for our times, suggesting that perhaps everything we fear or loathe could trace back to this ancient disease that once swept through humanity with indiscriminate vigor.
Yet, one cannot help but imagine how John Green’s characteristic wit might have colored the bleakness of tuberculosis's history. Perhaps he would weave personal narratives akin to Siddhartha Mukherjee's "The Emperor of All Maladies," bringing human faces to what is otherwise a clinical discussion. Or maybe he would approach it with the philosophical introspection found in his own "The Anthropocene Reviewed," pondering how tuberculosis has shaped societies and individual destinies alike.
In a world teeming with medical narratives—from the gripping "Spillover" by David Quammen to the deeply personal "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande—a fictional entry by Green would stand as an intriguing outlier. Yet, it is not to be. Thus, we are left to ponder what might have been, much like Gatsby staring at the green light across the bay.
So here we stand, dear reader, in a literary conundrum of sorts. Without the book's existence, we must content ourselves with imagining how John Green might have tackled such a monumental subject. In doing so, we perhaps pay homage to the very essence of storytelling: to imagine worlds not yet written and to ponder the endless possibilities within the pages of books that only exist in our collective dreams.
Purchase Link: EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS on Amazon
