The first section I would like to talk about is on pages 179 and 180.
In this section, Eggers is explaining some of the features in the first issue of Might, detailing many photographs with the word NOPE superimposed over them, and then he uses footnotes to explain what how each individual picture explains what their magazine is not. I enjoy passages where Eggers talks about what is specifically in the magazine because it seems that this is when he is the most comfortable playing around with the formatting. The way he goes non-traditional with the prose in sections like these actually sort of creates the feeling that one might be looking at a magazine, which might very well be his intent.
The second section is on page 279, where Eggers complains about having to give a speech to his suicidal friend but does it anyway. This section has elements of that stream-of-consciousness writing we've seen him use many times, but it's not as frantic as it sometimes is. The passage has a tone of purposeful sluggishness, especially with the placement of this long paragraph after three or four pages of quick dialogue. The lengthy paragraph is used to make the reader identify with Dave and how annoyed he is that his friend is guilting him into doing this.
Obviously there are huge differences between those passages, but the connection I'm trying to make is tone through formatting. One of the reasons I like Eggers is because I've never seen this utilized so much in one book, it is very unique. Eggers will literally change the way his book is read from chapter to chapter or even section to section in order to further emphasize tone. Another great example is the long MTV interview section, where he was able to fit so much information into one section, and also create an "open book" feel through the way the section was formatted. I love the way he does this and in the future I'd like to do more experimenting with format in my own writing.
Zane,
ReplyDeleteThe differences in tone that you noticed were very interesting because I am one to often times overlook different formats. I found your observations to be very interesting and I really liked the passages you chose to help support the way his tone varies. I really liked the part about the MIGHT magazine as well and I liked how you noticed his ability to be relaxed when discussing this topic with the reader. I think it would be fun yet challenging to play around with your formatting. What ways do you you think you could change the format of your own writing and how do you think you tend to format your wording now?
James Joyce did this a bunch in Ulysses, and I have to think Eggers was thinking about that book while writing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, he does yell about that reading in the "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making" section:
"Wait, back to humour for a second: Generally, if a joke is told, or a humorous anecdote relayed, and by chance you do not understand that joke or humorous anecdote, it does not mean it is ironic. Or "neo-ironic". It simply means that you do not understand that joke. And that is okay. There have been a few readers who have taken the long, messy run-on of the book's end, even that passage, as ironic. Which is so disturbing. A parody of Ulysses? What is wrong with you people?"
Anyway, I like Zane's idea about "purposeful sluggishness." What I'd like to see in sentence structure, and structure in general, is that intentionality. I have a story and I'm choosing to present it in this particular way to get it across in the most instructive and delightful way possible.
Eggers, arguably, does that.
Dave
Zane
ReplyDeleteLoved the blog dude. I especially liked the second paragraph describing the lengthy paragraph as a use to transfer his anger to the reader. I read the passage and noticed his anger and felt the tone of the piece but I didnt pick up on his use of literary tools i suppose, in the form of that specific paragraph. I enjoyed the way you contradicted the first paragraph, with the second and the selected passages.The feeling of reading a magazine in the first compared to his anger in the second passage makes him seem almost bipolar. Nice choice in passages.
Sorry about the later response, but I definitely agree with you guys on how Eggers is making a conscious effort to emphasize the format or style of his writing to further his point. In the your first example, he definitely does this to show what they do not stand for and perhaps what they do stand for, though he struggles more with that one. (But we already talked about that in class.)
ReplyDeleteI think his change in format not only slows down the reader to read, but really jerks the reader to stop, wake up and look what he is having to say. It is almost like in music when the conductor gets really, really soft and then suddenly boom, it is loud. If the audience had fallen asleep, they would suddenly be awake then. (For some reason that brought to mind, "what a good brother you are" section in the parent-teacher conference part of the book.)
Either way, good job Zane in choice of passages and for bringing that up! : )