Dave Eggers’ memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, his first book published in 2000, is a tragic satire. The narrator, Eggers, writes about the painful deaths of both his parents, and with that, becoming the caretaker of his youngest brother. Eggers reflects back on his past struggles as a guardian, while also trying to be an independent adult and begin his career as a writer. The dialogue in the book is intensely ridiculous, making it nearly too fictional to be accurate. Eggers himself, questions and satirizes the nature of memoirs by breaking the fourth wall, and mocking readers for believing his story. There is no theme. Eggers craves flat answers. However, because there is no mystery for Eggers to solve, it creates an inner …show more content…
problem for him and the way he solves this is by caricaturing his own experiences. Both Eggers and Doctorow criticize the whole idea that these narratives are not enough, regardless if it is presented as fiction or nonfiction. Eggers and Doctorow's characters lose their idea of a nostalgic self from madness, but it is not sharply apparent due to the humor and truthfulness of their unreliability, creating them as likeable narrators, which is a trickster act in itself. William J. Hynes and William G. Doty state in Mythical Trickster Figures: Contours, Contexts, and Criticisms that “The trickster's constant chatterings and antics remind us that life is endlessly narrative, prolific and open-ended” (212). Doctorow's fictional novel reflects this approach, but Eggers, who is giving us his very own memoir, shuts it down, oddly. Doctorow’s Andrew’s Brain satirizes the mystery of consciousness and hides Andrew with no disguises, unlike Eggers, who is not hiding whatsoever for he is the character, though he is wearing a disguise. “Memoir” equals disguise in Eggers’ case because that is exactly what he is mocking; he is mocking what he is narrating. Satire is an attempt to break something down, which simultaneously is breaking down what readers (the self) know. Most identify issues that are not in-your-face, or it is an issue tremendously in-your-face, people prefer not to look at it in the eyes. As a result, leaving readers “amused, unsettled, and suspended” (399) as Mathew Winston affirms in “The Incoherent Self in Contemporary Comedy.” In Eggers and Doctorow, readers do not necessarily take these wacky narrators seriously because they are both unreliable and humorous, but the vital concepts they satirize stick with readers, no matter how delusional they play out to be. With that, I now am going to evaluate the traits of schizophrenia in relations to nostalgia in the narrations of each text. Mathew Winston claims humorous narrators are irrational and full of multiple selves by stating “The ‘self’ is largely the key to comic characters: Traditional comedy assumes that the self, or, less abstractly, each individual finds fulfillment as part of a larger whole, in the company of complementary and like-minded individuals” (394). Readers and characters are consciously aware of the irrationality. In “Schizophrenic Narrative” by Lee R. Edwards, he makes it clear in his article that his goal is to analyze “schizophrenia as narrative” not “schizophrenia in narrative” (25). It is purely linguistic and a “locus of both a challenge and fascination” (Edwards 28). The stylistic mode in which Doctorow and Eggers are rendering the narrator’s experiences tenaciously, which creates multiple personalities to their characters. Likewise, in a suitable manner, readers are incorporating this maddening disorder “by virtue of their inability to define, express, or experience themselves as self-sufficient monads” (Edwards 28). Especially, when reading a story told by an unreliable first-person narrator who is humorous. This idea of schizophrenia is not only evident in the narrators, but also the writers and readers. Eggers’ A.H.W.O.S.G.
was his first book, and Doctorow’s Andrew’s Brain, was his last, yet they both share these similar traits of dissociation manifested through their characters. Eggers is looking back with a stable mind, wanting his naive past and insanity, whereas Doctorow’s character, Andrew, is looking back in an attempt to grasp his sanity. What makes it interesting is the fact that one is a memoir and one is purely fiction. Unreliable narrators are humorously attempting to show their past, making them appear to be schizophrenic. Furthermore, Eggers and Doctorow are criticizing the notion that these narratives are not enough, and Edwards agrees by mentioning they will always be subjective: “The schizophrenic narrative itself declares its own distress at this condition, cries out in terror, proclaims its own desire to see a human face mirrored in its shattered subjectivity” (29). Above all, Edwards concludes, even if a narrative is subjective, and primarily based on both the writer and reader’s perception, “The schizophrenic provides access to an experiential ground that all can recognize and learn to know, even, in a limited way, to share, regardless of an understandable preference for distance” (28). However, I believe when the humor is added and the essence of a trickster is noticeable, that distance
disappears.
He had a rough time growing up , but he knew he had to keep proving them all wrong. Fighting through his troubles in life, Pat only did not become a great basketball player but a great writer. This memoir, remembering all the extravagant memories he had in college with his friends, yet he did have hard times but pushed through it. Not complaining he didn’t just push himself, but he also pushed his teammates into becoming something greater. In the end, he will forever remember all his fights and great memories he had with his special teammates at Cidal college, it led him into becoming a great leader at the end of
Devin Friedman is a creative storyteller who incorporates observant details in his writings, which makes the readers feel like as if they are part of the adventure. Devin attended the University of Michigan, and he was awarded as the winner of the Hopwood Contest. This contest was hosted by the university committee who appoints experienced judges and the Ann Arbor community to select winners in different writing divisions. In his recent years, Devin wrote for numerous publications such as The Best American Crime Writing, The Best American Travel Writing, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Esquire, People's Stories, and GQ. Out of the many articles Friedman has written in the past, “The Best Night $500,000 Can Buy,” “Famous People: James Franco,” and “The Unbearable Awkwardness of Being” are the ones I have chosen to read because of the interesting subject matters and the different writing styles.
Before reading the poem “Schizophrenia” this writer assumed that it would focus on one individual diagnosis with schizophrenia, but it also focused on a house. In the poem “Schizophrenia” by Jim Stevens, the poet describes a relationship between a husband and his wife. Stevens shows how the characters differences and aggression has changed the atmosphere of the house. The poet explained that not only is the couple affected by their hostile environment, it is the house that is suffering the most from the couple’s behaviors. Stevens has the house as a representation of how a brain of a person with schizophrenia person. Through the use of the characters actions and the house, Stevens exemplifies how schizophrenia can ruin a person’s life. After
Judging a book by its cover is like judging a person by the words that describe him or her. Some of them are accurate, but the physical being of a person can tell you a story untold. In Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes, the reader witnesses what the description of a single character can do to the voice of a piece. Frank’s use of pathos and characterization when it came to Angela, his mother, spoke volumes in his memoir, but when applied to the big screen, her character was amplified. It was then the reader realized that Angela’s true effect and purpose in Frank’s life was to be his main influence.
Throughout the novel, I was able to gain a new underlying sense of schizophrenia from Pamela’s perspectives. From attaining symptoms in childhood events, to reading extreme active
When inditing, authors incline to tell their own personal story through their literature work, sometimes done unknowingly or deliberately. Albeit some components of the author’s work are fabricated and do not connect with their own personal lives whatsoever, this is sometimes what causes a reader to do their own research about the author and their background of the story. Upon researching Wallace Stegner’s novel Crossing to Safety, one may discover that he did indeed, reveal bits and pieces of his own experiences in his novel. “You break experience up into pieces and you put them together in different amalgamations, incipient cumulations, and some are authentic and some are not… It takes a pedestrian and literal mind to be apprehensive about
Once schizophrenia becomes severe, Walton develops two seemingly real characters in his imagination. Walton’s mental condition and obsessive longing for someone to connect with leads him to separate himself mentally from his superego and id.
“In my estimation a good book first must contain little or no trace of the author unless the author himself is a character. That is, when I read the book I should not feel that someone is telling me the story but t...
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
Schizophrenia is a serious, chronic mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality and disturbances of thought, mood, and perception. Schizophrenia is the most common and the most potentially sever and disabling of the psychosis, a term encompassing several severe mental disorders that result in the loss of contact with reality along with major personality derangements. Schizophrenia patients experience delusions, hallucinations and often lose thought process. Schizophrenia affects an estimated one percent of the population in every country of the world. Victims share a range of symptoms that can be devastating to themselves as well as to families and friends. They may have trouble dealing with the most minor everyday stresses and insignificant changes in their surroundings. They may avoid social contact, ignore personal hygiene and behave oddly (Kass, 194). Many people outside the mental health profession believe that schizophrenia refers to a “split personality”. The word “schizophrenia” comes from the Greek schizo, meaning split and phrenia refers to the diaphragm once thought to be the location of a person’s mind and soul. When the word “schizophrenia” was established by European psychiatrists, they meant to describe a shattering, or breakdown, of basic psychological functions. Eugene Bleuler is one of the most influential psychiatrists of his time. He is best known today for his introduction of the term “schizophrenia” to describe the disorder previously known as dementia praecox and for his studies of schizophrenics. The illness can best be described as a collection of particular symptoms that usually fall into four basic categories: formal thought disorder, perception disorder, feeling/emotional disturbance, and behavior disorders (Young, 23). People with schizophrenia describe strange of unrealistic thoughts. Their speech is sometimes hard to follow because of disordered thinking. Phrases seem disconnected, and ideas move from topic to topic with no logical pattern in what is being said. In some cases, individuals with schizophrenia say that they have no idea at all or that their heads seem “empty”. Many schizophrenic patients think they possess extraordinary powers such as x-ray vision or super strength. They may believe that their thoughts are being controlled by others or that everyone knows what they are thinking. These beliefs ar...
A narrative is constructed to elicit a particular response from its audience. In the form of a written story, authors use specific narrative strategies to position the ‘ideal reader’ to attain the intended understanding of the meanings in the text. Oliver Sacks’ short story The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an unusual short story because it does not display conventional plot development; the story does not contain conflict or resolution of conflict. The genre of the story is also difficult to define because it reads as an autobiographical account of an experience Sacks had with a patient while working as a neurologist. Although it is arguable that the narrative is a work of non-fiction, it is nevertheless a representation, distinct from a reflection of the real events. It is a construction, Sacks chose the elements that were included and omitted in the narrative and used narrative strategies to position readers to process the signs in the text and produce reach the dominant understanding. This blurring of truth and fiction is similar to that in the genre of ‘new journalism’. Although, rather than being a journalist writing a fictional piece of journalism, Sacks is a doctor writing a fictional medical analysis. To influence readers’ comprehension of the narrative, Sacks utilised the point of view strategy of subjective narration, atypical in this short story in that a characterisation or representation of Oliver Sacks is the narrator and Oliver Sacks the person is the real author. The story is character-driven rather than plot-driven and regardless of how accurate a depiction of the real people the characters are, they are constructions. Sacks gave the characters of Doctor P. and his namesake admirable and sympathetic trait...
Looking at the world through an author’s autobiography versus an autobiographical fiction, one finds that most have similar characteristics. For instance, they can encompass both drama and struggles, while the characters can be humorous or serious, formal or informal. However, there are differences in these two genres in respect to how they shape the authors own world. In Catalina de Euraso’s autobiography, we are given the 1st person, factual, view of the wo...
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd Ed. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.
...chical concepts of the self affecting the internal dialogue and therefore verbalising second order narratives. These narratives are again weakened by the individual’s inability to evaluate their stories with others as a result of social isolation that often occurs. From these points summarised it would be reasonable to assume that these in combination with the general symptoms of schizophrenia that affect communication such as a poverty of speech, affective flattening, word salads and catatonic behaviours earlier discussed that any narrative produced could not possess validity as a result of its incoherence. However, It must be understood that schizophrenia is not a straight forward disorder, it does not affect everybody in the same way and its symptoms are on a spectrum. To simplify, when it comes to a formation of narrative individual differences are everything.
In studying the advent of autobiography as a genre in its own right, it would seem to be a particularly modern form of literature, a hybrid form of biography. Also, the distinctions between the forms of the biography, personal history or diary and novel are becoming questioned in that the autobiography is not an account of wisdom accumulated in a lifetime but a defining of identity. 2