Collective Action in Charles Baxter’s Latest Novel

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Image via Penguin Random House

The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter

Is collectivism the key to revolutionary change during these unsettling times? Defined as an adjective, collectivism refers to actions done by people as a group; as a noun, the word is defined as a cooperative enterprise. In The Sun Collective, the latest novel by National Book Award finalist Charles Baxter, a hodge-podge collection of Minnesotans searching for meaning seek collectivism as the portal to self-actualization. Chaos and conflict, as well as a certain uneasy awareness, settle around the protagonists in the book as they are all drawn closer toward a dangerous local activist group.

The characters, and characters they are, include a Minneapolis couple searching for their adult son, who they have reason to believe might be living on the streets of the city; a young duo who are drawn to the revolutionary cause thanks in large part to an illicit substance; and a group of angst-ridden men of privilege, all carrying guns. Their disparate lives collide in strange and unexpected ways, and the blurred lines between good decisions and rash reactions captures the zeitgeist of the multiple crises of modern times.

The award-winning writer is the author of six novels, including The Feast of Love, which was nominated for the National Book Award. He is also the author of numerous short story collections. Baxter lives in Minneapolis, where he teaches at the University of Minnesota and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Baxter will speak during a virtual event on November 19 at 7:30pm sponsored by Boswell Books.