Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure of reading Gilead, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Marilynne Robinson. Just like one loves to go through all the post-match commentary after an enjoyable Manchester
United performance, I like to hear about the works that leave a mark on me by the people who made the work. Unlike most people, though, everything I sit with for a while comes back to Manchester United.
In one of Robinson’s interviews with Bill Moyers, former White House Press Secretary, journalist, and political commentator, she’s asked if there has been a loss of imagination in American culture. She believes that there has. “I think there’s kind of an influence of crude scientism that has no way of articulating the fact of mind, the fact of imagination, the complexity of consciousness. And what they can’t articulate, they exclude as not being real, being illusory in some way,” she states.
Of course, her clarity of thought impressed me greatly. It also put into words the vacuum Matheus Cunha has filled for me, and I’m sure many others, in this United side since his debut against Arsenal.
His run from the halfway line in that game was followed by a fairly tame effort, but the run was significant. It was both a reminder and a realization: a reminder that this was always expected of at least one player in a red shirt, and a realization that this had been missing from the side for quite some time.
In defense of those who promote crude scientism, articulation is no easy task, but Sir Alex perhaps summed up the likes of Cunha the best: one who can put bums on seats and get people off them, too. He has certainly managed that for most of this season and was finally rewarded with his first goal last weekend.
I always look forward to a United game, but his inclusion, in particular, has added a bit of showmanship that, to me, has been lacking at United for some time. The fact of imagination doesn’t feel so illusory anymore.
