“[I]t was a cost priced into living in America:” Exploring normalization of selective social privilege and economic inequality in Gary Shteyngart’s Lake Success (2018)

Abstract

This paper argues that Gary Shteyngart uses his protagonist's privileged position as a departure point for exploring the ongoing corruption of the formative narrative of the US identity, the American Dream, in contemporary America, arguing that the dissociation between individual success and collective well-being has been further normalized by Donald Trump’s rise to power.