Asked to observe the state in action (Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins has used this assignment in a course on the anthropology of the state), students may well object that they don't have a car. The assumption seems to be that in order to encounter the state you have to travel some distance, maybe as far as Washington, DC, maybe only as far as the local bureau of motor vehicles. In other words, they don't think of the state as already there, enmeshed in their daily lives. This pervasive if understandable shortsightedness has an impact on criticism of the novel, which is widely believed to be at a crippling disadvantage if it tries to deal with matters of public concern, let alone directly state-level issues of legislation or (the lack of) support for public institutions. Recent criticism of the novel has tried to correct this political misprision by paying attention to infrastructure. Whether...

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