Rankine's 'Triage': Friendship Amidst Crisis

Claudia Rankine's latest work, "Triage," offers a profound exploration of friendship amidst a world grappling with existential crises. The book begins by detailing the narrator's college friendship with "the theorist," a bond forged through shared idealism and activism.

Their college years were marked by a peculiar game: collapsing at a moment's notice. This act, a response to the overwhelming "toomuchness" of the world, symbolized various interpretations, from "a refusal of continuance" to an acknowledgment of misalignment.

As years passed and the world grew more volatile, the initial subtle differences in their interpretations of "falling" widened into a significant divide. The narrator embraced witnessing and grieving atrocities, focusing on art criticism for moments of solace.

Conversely, the theorist felt compelled to act, seeing each collapse as a prompt to rise again. "Triage" validates both responses—bearing grief and actively intervening—mirroring its own hybrid structure of memoir, reportage, and lyrical lament.

The book ultimately grapples with finding hope through action, even when facing overwhelming odds. Rankine suggests that while "recognition" may be the limit of our solutions, the act of trying in the face of defeat holds profound significance.