The Page Sixty-Nine test
Lynne Tillman was asked to apply the "p. 69" test to American Genius, A Comedy. Here's what she had to say (and what follows is a great round-up of what folks have had to say about AGAC, as we call it around the office...)
In a way, every page of American Genius, A Comedy is representative of it until the last third of the novel, when it changes significantly. On Page 69, the narrator refers to her skin condition -- dermatographia, or skin writing -- and speaks about the importance of skin. Skin is one of the connectors in AGAC, a theme in the book: skin as barrier to the world, or indicator of your own world, like blushing, or skin is permeable, also letting the outside in, skin tells others, exposes, something you may want hidden, it can betray you. Skin contracts and expands, which is what I wanted the novel to do: to move from small events and issues, like a facial or an annoying dinner partner, to great ones, like American history, democracy, sensitivity, sex, race and racism. Kafka and his ex-fiancee, Felice, also play their part in the novel, because they're the obsession of one of the characters the narrator meets -- Contesa, a mysterious and fascinating woman. The narrator meets many such people, all cloistered together for a time in an institution of some sort.