How to escape social manias: an interview with Lionel Shriver
EXCLUSIVE: Award-winning author and social commentator Lionel Shriver talks to the AOI's Ella Whelan about cancel culture, Joe Biden's meltdown and her new book, Mania.
In April 2024, author and social commentator Lionel Shriver published her new novel, Mania, in which the world is suddenly gripped by the concept that variable human intelligence isn’t real. No one is allowed to use words like ‘smart’ or ‘dumb’ anymore, and the ability to judge, criticise or even teach someone all but vanishes. Three months later, the world is still discussing the impact of US President Joe Biden’s mental state - with many in the Democrats asserting that, despite obvious evidence of incapacity, there’s Nothing To See Here.
Is Shriver telepathic, psychic perhaps? Mania’s charting of cancel culture, censorship and friendship fallout in the face of insane social-justice campaigns could relate to any number of contemporary issues, from the Covid lockdowns to Brexit, the trans issue to the Diversity Equality and Inclusion takeover of institutions. The book holds a mirror up to our own social manias and asks, really? Are we really going to go along with all of this?
In this new exclusive content for Academy of Ideas paid Substack subscribers, Shriver spoke to the AoI’s Ella Whelan on the afternoon after that infamous debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. What does she make of the US political landscape? What was the inspiration behind Mania? And how can we find a way to be courageous in the face of You Can’t Say That culture?
The following interview has been edited for clarity.
Ella Whelan: Thanks for talking to me today Lionel, all the way from Brooklyn, New York, which must feel like a busy, busy place the day after the showdown/performance/pantomime whatever you want to call it between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump – oops, there’s a Freudian slip.
Lionel Shriver: Oh, I have to call attention to the ‘president’ business. Yes, Donald Trump stepped down from office, however reluctantly. It was once a media tradition that you would call previous presidents ‘President So and So’. So you would correctly refer to him as President Trump, even though, with two President So and Sos running against each other, that would be rather confusing. But even before the election - in fact, immediately after Biden entered office - the media stopped that tradition cold and started only calling Trump ‘ex-president’ or ‘former president’. I wouldn’t dignify Trump by using that honorific with him anymore, either, but it's interesting that his, to the media, infamous presidency changed the tradition. Nobody seems to have observed that.
Whelan: Well, it is interesting because this election feels like Groundhog Day.