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Essay / Dave Eggers, a heartbreaking work of astonishing genius: The Game of Pain
Dave Eggers is a playful author, willing to experiment and take risks for his audience. At the same time, Eggers is aware of his schemes and sometimes uses these games to pawn off the tragedies that happened to him over the course of the book. Although gamesmanship and pain seem mutually exclusive, in Dave Eggers' case they are far from it. Eggers uses unconventional formatting and the use of a dual narrative to better illustrate the uniqueness and complexity of the tragedies he experiences, proving that pain and humor can coexist. Particularly in the first part of the book, Eggers explores his conscious relationship with the difficulties he faces in both masking and uncovering his vulnerability; he combines humor and games with suffering to prove that he has nothing to prove. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Eggers begins his book with an entirely blank page, except for large letters centered in the middle of the page reading: "THIS WAS NOT CALLED." » This can be read in different ways. Eggers was not asked to write this book. Eggers feels guilty for writing this book. Eggers or others are angry about the publication of this book or what it says. The entire memoir can be read with reference to this first note. On several occasions, Eggers refers to it indirectly in the body of his story, creating fake dialogues with Toph, John, the MTV interviewer and himself to capture the guilt and uncertainty Eggers feels at the idea to record the details of these memories. These moments placed within the actual content of the book show a disregard for the integrity of the story as it is, in real time; Eggers instead places importance on the feelings one experiences while reading or writing; he creates arguments for and against himself in the narrative, playing a metaphorical game of Frisbee with himself as he works through the reality of his pain. These games are played partly for his audience and partly for himself. “Although the author is aware of being self-referential, he is also aware of this conscious self-referentiality,” the author states in his acknowledgments section. He is self-centered, but also deliberately so, creating an environment in which layers of narrative can be found and dissected until the root of Eggers' pain is no longer even visible. In this way, Eggers' tricks and ploys aim to cover up, deflect attention, and argue against her grieving and vulnerable state. Eggers is obsessed with being completely honest and straightforward. Most authors wouldn't bother creating a work of nonfiction with dialogue that's not entirely authentic, but Eggers feels the need to set the record straight. “This is a work of fiction,” he writes on the copyright page, “only in the sense that in many cases the author could not remember the exact words spoken by certain people, nor accurate descriptions of certain things, and so had to fill in gaps as best he could. of authorship, a place that is supposed to be entirely free of subjectivity, nothing less? He continues in this vein in his preface (ix-xvii), including notes on the authenticity of dialogues, characters, etc. elements and even omissions in the book Why is Eggers so honest? It's disarming for the reader, creating both a sense of security and uncertainty for the control freak...