This article examines the role of “gifts” and “giftedness” in two recent novels about Occupy Wall Street, Barbara Browning's The Gift and Caleb Crain's Overthrow. Together these novels explore how projects designed to offset the effects of neoliberal individualism very often end up replicating, rather than disrupting, aspects of capitalist exchange: the authors temper their own utopian impulses by interrogating the factors which prevent systemic change, such as individual complacency and governmental intervention. The article considers the cycle of gift giving launched by Browning's narrator, a project which falters because her understanding of economization is inadequate, and because she refuses to take account of her own class position. Crain's group of young Brooklynites believe that mind reading draws people together and prevents social isolation. While the vagueness of their aims can be taken as an implied narrative criticism of their impractical plans, the reason they abandon the project is because it encroaches on the government's surveillance programme, which identifies them as security threats.

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“一场乐观的实验即将结束”：两部占领时代小说中的礼物交换与天赋

本文探讨了“礼物”和“天赋”在最近两部关于占领华尔街的小说中的作用，芭芭拉·布朗宁的礼物和迦勒克莱恩的推翻. 这些小说一起探讨了旨在抵消新自由主义个人主义影响的项目如何经常最终复制而不是破坏资本主义交换的各个方面：作者通过询问阻止系统性变化的因素来缓和自己的乌托邦冲动，例如个人自满和政府干预。这篇文章考虑了布朗宁的叙述者发起的送礼循环，这个项目因她对节约的理解不够充分而步履蹒跚，而且因为她拒绝考虑自己的阶级地位。克雷恩的布鲁克林年轻人团体认为，读心术能将人们聚集在一起，防止社会孤立。虽然他们目标的模糊性可以被视为对他们不切实际的计划的隐含叙述性批评，