McCann, widely known for his complex, multi-layered narratives like Apeirogon, takes a structurally simpler but thematically rich approach in this "half-memoir" told by a struggling novelist.
A Story of Repair
The novel is narrated by Anthony Fennell, a Dublin-born novelist whose life is "teetering on the edge of something like shambles". Fennell takes a writing gig for a website documenting a seabed cable repair ship, the Georges Lecointe, based in South Africa.
The Mission: Fennell follows an enigmatic Irish crew head named Conway to the coast of the Congo to repair a severed subsea cable.
The Motivation: Fennell describes his desire to "live inside a story of repair," seeking a parallel between the fixing of global information systems and the mending of his own fractured relationships and alcoholism.
The Materiality of the Internet
One of the novel's most striking contributions is its confrontation with the "real material infrastructures" of the digital age.
The Undersea Network: Dr Quigley notes that while we think of the internet as "ethereal" or "cloud-like," it actually relies on physical cables at the bottom of the ocean, often no larger than a garden hose.
Underwater Avalanches: The "snap" that sets the plot in motion is caused by the Congo River "purging itself" in an underwater avalanche of sediment and human refuse including cars, cattle, and bones.
Geopolitical Vulnerability: The novel touches on the increasing significance of these cables as sites of sabotage and conflict, echoing real-world stories from the Baltic Sea and Taiwan.
Literary and Cinematic Echoes
McCann weaves a dense web of intertextual references throughout Twist, drawing on a long tradition of oceanic literature.
Conrad and Coppola: The journey toward the Congo evokes Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, though McCann keeps the action on the oceanic periphery rather than entering the interior.
The Modern Captain Nemo: Conway is described as a "Gatsby figure" and a modern-day Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas - an undersea misanthrope pushing back against a world system gone awry.
Irish Identity and Whiteness: The discussion explores how Fennell navigates his "Irishness" in South Africa and Ghana, moving away from a "colonized position" toward a contemporary understanding of global whiteness .
Between Wonder and Terror
Ultimately, Twist is a novel that refuses to settle for easy binaries. McCann presents a world where we must live with both the technological marvel of sending a text message across the globe and the "moral horrors" of mineral extraction and climate change.
Listen to the full episode of The Irish Books Podcast to hear Chris Murray and Killian Quigley discuss the "meteoric" rise of Zanele, the "Goldilocks" search for meaning, and why we all live in a world of "cagey truths."
The Irish Books Podcast is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio, with support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Embassy of Ireland Australia, and Monash University
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