Literature with social effects

By Erin Brodbeck
Collegian Editor
February 28, 2007

I have always really liked to read. But after finishing Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I really loved to read. I was a little late jumping on the Eggers bandwagon. His partially fictionalized memoir, which details the aftermath of his parents’ freakishly tragic deaths of unrelated cancers just a few months apart, was released in 2001. I didn’t pick up the book until the beginning of summer 2006, but I have since become what I believe to be Eggers’ biggest fan (although I welcome a challenge from other enthusiasts). Since polishing off A Heartbreaking Work, I have eagerly moved on to You Shall Know Our Velocity, his novel about two friends who give away $32,000 on a chaotic adventure through third-world countries; How We Are Hungry, his collection of short stories; and, most recently, What is the What, another partially fictionalized biography of a man who escaped from the Darfur region of Sudan.

I love Eggers for many reasons, and I know I am not alone in my adoration. Eggers is one of the few literary rock stars of our time. He speaks at the end of Beck’s most recent album, The Information, and he appeared with Sufjan Stevens and Jon Stewart during the New York City stop of his “Revenge of the Book Eaters” tour, a fundraiser for his youth writing program, 826 Valencia. He runs a publishing company, McSweeney’s, whose corresponding Web site has featured humorous contributions from Michael Ian Black and John Hodgeman. Though all of these accomplishments certainly add to my infatuation, Eggers’ undeniable charisma and all around awesomeness aren’t the only reasons I keep a picture of him on my bedroom wall (maybe you didn’t need to know that). I love Eggers because he is genuine, and he is actively trying to improve the world around him.

Back in June 2004, Eggers wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times called “Serve or Fail,” in which he proposed that all college students should be required to complete a few hours of community service each year. Eggers’ suggestion was met with some criticism, and many a frazzled college student wrote back complaining about research papers, part-time jobs, internships and sports practice. But I think anyone who reads the novels and short stories Eggers has produced will feel the need to do something, help someone, jump on a plane and fly over to Africa, tossing money out to the needy natives below.

After I read “Serve or Fail,” I signed up to volunteer in an after school tutoring program. I really enjoyed helping a 12-year-old girl with her math homework twice a week, even though I doubt she was impressed with the fact that I still count on my fingers. Volunteering may have taken up a few precious hours of my free time, but I’m sure I would have only used it to catch up on my Facebook stalking or to tune into bad MTV reality shows.

Good writing entertains me, makes me think about life differently and allows me to stay for a while in a world that is different from my own. Great writing inspires me to get up, sign up to volunteer and rally around a cause. Since discovering Dave Eggers, I have been encouraged to look closely at my world and to do something to change it.

brodbecke1@lasalle.edu