Godina izdanja: Ostalo
ISBN: Ostalo
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Mark Caine - The S-Man
A grammar of success


Penguin books, 1962. godine na 189. strana.


Knjiga je odlicno ocuvana.



The S-Man is clearly written in the format of a self-help manual. Its subject is success and how to achieve it, so that it seeks to provide, at least to begin with, a kind of recipe: no matter the class into which you were born, and no matter how lacking in talent or knowledge you are, all that is required to achieve success is a willingness to follow the outlined steps (provided you are male). Success is defined here as the accumulation of a lot of money; any other type, such as social success or celebrity, doesn`t count.

And of course, it is all ultimately unverifiable, for it is suggested that the very marker of having become successful is to disdain the source which provided the roadmap. As the book progresses, however, it seems less and less likely that any random man could really become an S-Man, despite his dedication to the goal. Once the discussion moves into analysing the nature of success, the putative S-Man has become the possessor of a set of innate but essential talents; by the very end of the book he is a God. The fact that there are two authors involved may explain the inconsistencies from chapter to chapter.

But I also doubt if consistency or coherence was a priority, for this is clearly a satire, although the intended target is not altogether clear. Perhaps it is a parody of self help books, perhaps a comment on the rise of the ambitious working-class man, or perhaps the target is academic prose: there are plenty of specious arguments to show that duplicity can be viewed as integrity, that the truth is relative, and that every statement can be justified if you sufficiently narrow your focus. And then occasionally there are some interesting observations on how ordinary honest people, those still inhibited by their decency, will willingly conspire in their own deception, and will help to ensure the success of the S-Man.