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  • Reaction To Nicholson Baker S The Mezzanine

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    Steven Brykman
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    Howie's interactions with others in The Mezzanine are characterized by overthinking and paranoia. He anxiously avoids even minor interactions like passing someone on an escalator for fear of conflict or judgment. His lists, like itemizing products in a store or periodic thoughts, serve to bring meaning and significance to his otherwise mundane life in a bureaucratic job. The footnotes add context and character development, with details about Howie's obsessive personality revealed in the aside comments. They also function to break up the narrative timeline. The oddity of Howie's extensive lists is that they appear in a novel format, cataloging trivial everyday experiences and thoughts that most people would forget.

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    24585000 Reaction to Nicholson Baker s the Mezzanine

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    Howie's interactions with others in The Mezzanine are characterized by overthinking and paranoia. He anxiously avoids even minor interactions like passing someone on an escalator for fear of conflict or judgment. His lists, like itemizing products in a store or periodic thoughts, serve to bring meaning and significance to his otherwise mundane life in a bureaucratic job. The footnotes add context and character development, with details about Howie's obsessive personality revealed in the aside comments. They also function to break up the narrative timeline. The oddity of Howie's extensive lists is that they appear in a novel format, cataloging trivial everyday experiences and thoughts that most people would forget.

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    9 views2 pages

    Reaction To Nicholson Baker S The Mezzanine

    Uploaded by

    Steven Brykman
    Howie's interactions with others in The Mezzanine are characterized by overthinking and paranoia. He anxiously avoids even minor interactions like passing someone on an escalator for fear of conflict or judgment. His lists, like itemizing products in a store or periodic thoughts, serve to bring meaning and significance to his otherwise mundane life in a bureaucratic job. The footnotes add context and character development, with details about Howie's obsessive personality revealed in the aside comments. They also function to break up the narrative timeline. The oddity of Howie's extensive lists is that they appear in a novel format, cataloging trivial everyday experiences and thoughts that most people would forget.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    PostmodernFiction Burns Responseto BakersTheMezzanine

    ADM 22January1994

    Atwhatleveldoesthenarratorinteractwithothers?Citetwoorthreeinstancesandbriefly discuss. Howiesinteractionwithothersisfundamentallyoverstudiedandparanoid.Heisashamedto passBobLearyontheescalator,soheturnstailsimplytoescapeperceivedconflict.Hisfearsof whatothersthinkofhimtightenhisbladdermusclesuntilhecantperformnaturalfunctions without thinking of humiliating the man next to him. He builds formulas for every conversation, every incident, and when events are unformulaic, or real, he panics or over rationalizes. Howarefootnotesoperatinghere?WhymightBakerhaveusedthem? FootnotesserveseveralpurposesinTheMezzanine.First,theyaddanotherleveltowhateverthe narratordescribes.If,forexample,thenarratorisdescribingshirts,hemightaddafootnoteon shirtboards.ThefootnotesalsocontributesignificantlytothecharacterdevelopmentofHowie (justasLeckybroughttolifeSpinozawiththespiderandflyanecdote)(122).Itistherewelearn thedevelopmentalsideofhiscuriousattentiontodetail,thepersonalnatureofhisobsessive thoughts.Also,thefootnotesareaconvenientmethodofbreakingupthetimeline.Thebulkof thenarrativeisflashback,andfootnotesallowforaflashbackwithinaflashback. Finally,the extendedfootnotesareanoriginalandeffectivegimmickforthecommercialBaker. Lookathislistsanddiscusstheiroddities.(viz.p127&16). Howies lists are not limited to clear itemizations such as a description of the eight great developmentsinhislifeortheproductsinCVS.Theentirenarrativeisalistalistofwhathe callsautomatedsubroutines(51).Thereislittleornoplotinthebook.Thestory,suchasitis, isaretellingofmundaneeventsinextremedetail.Itisanexpandedtodolist.Theoddityof hislistsisonlythattheyappearinanovel. Nearlyeveryonewhoreadsthenovelhasmade similar lists or observations, but considered them so trivial (as Aurelius did) that they were forgottenorleftunpreserved.PerhapsHowiebelieveshislifeinthebeauracraticmachineisso trivial,socyclical,thathefeelsdeadenedorunreal. Everylist,everymemory,isameansof reifyinghislife.Hislistofthoughtperiodicity(127)maybeanattempttoaddsignificancetoan otherwiseinsignificantmind.Italsoisaglorificationoftheeveryday,inwhichgreatandheroic

    individuals take a back seat to the commonplace. Tongue brushing exceeds Kant by three hundredtimes.

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