If you sense no friction, there could still be turbulence

I am reading a smooth-

featured text, a novel

by a fellow I discov-

ered in California,

with his then-new The 

Last King of Scotland.

He is very subtle - in

case you happened to 

see the movie - and

attractively easygoing.

One could say, Turbulence,

this novel, takes its hon-

ourable place in that genre

of fiction on how Britain's

many secret services exploit

the genius of innocents in

times of crisis - to crack

codes, invent disinformation,

seduce others for St George, 

and so forth. In these res-

emblances to Philoctetes,

it is very good.

It's in its originality, 

on quirks of Nature under

the scrutiny of physics, 

of human nature under the

pressure of feeling, that

again one is tempted to wor-

ry if literature will ever

be read by adherents of

certainty. If you live in

the United States, you know

this to be a defining ques-

tion. If you do not live

in the United States, when

were you last undisturbed

by its certainties?

.. as we stood there under those yawning, whispering beeches, with weather balloons pulling in our hands, his pacifism struck me as hopelessly naïve, if not downright irresponsible .. Finding ourselves at an impasse of argument, we stood unspeaking, face to face, both listening to the wind as it passed through the trees, making them stretch out their melancholy limbs.. 

There was another sound - air moving over the rubber of the balloons. A whining rasp, and I could tell from his face that it had provoked thought in him as well as me.

'That, and it is to the point, my young friend, is the sound of friction.. Along with turbulence, friction is one of the  most important things in the universe. Perhaps they can be described as cousins, even brothers. Or actually the same person, appearing in different profile..

You see, Meadows, nothing can start without something to push off from. But good comes even when there's no positive action. Blocking, delaying, braking .. these things create value just as the mixing of turbulence does, enabling the birth of new systems and the death of old ones, the transfer of energy from one place and time to another.'

Over the weekend, it was widely reported that the foreign ministers of the United States and Great Britain had cautioned the Netanyahu government in Israel against a pre-emptive war upon Iran. Coming from a nation saturated in the bellicose indiscipline of its previous President, it was obvious that the American leadership (which may well have been dissimulating) would come under intense fire from his Party. And so, like clockwork, it has done. Here, in the precise rhetoric with which that Party castigates every restraint upon its petulance, is how Foden's Meadows responds to his balloon-flying colleague:

'But friction is mostly a negative force, socially speaking. It reduces efficiency.' 

'Yes, but that negativity prevents bad plans as much as good ones ..'

I do wonder if any hope can be

drawn from the distinction, that

Mr Bush did not extoll aggressive

war until he was safely in office,

while his wannabe successors don't

yet hold the White House. Surely,

I do wonder if efficient friction,

which he never faced in office,

could create value, enable birth

if not the restoration of a pre-
apocalyptic culture as nearby as
right here.

Giles Foden

Turbulence

Knopf, 2010© 


iii, iv  Jeremy Young