Topic > Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking Work of a Baffling Genius: The Game of Pain

Dave Eggers is a playful author, eager to experiment and take risks for his audience. At the same time, Eggers is aware of his ploys and sometimes uses these games as a way to engage the tragedies that have befallen him throughout the book. While gaming prowess and pain seem mutually exclusive, in the case of Dave Eggers, they are anything but. Eggers uses unconventional formatting and the use of dual narration to better exemplify the uniqueness and complexity of the tragedies he experiences, demonstrating that pain and humor can coexist. Particularly early in the book, Eggers explores his conscious relationship with the difficulties he faces in both masking and uncovering vulnerability; he combines humor and games with suffering to demonstrate that he has nothing to prove. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayEggers begins his book with a page left completely blank except for large letters centered in the center of the page that read: “THIS WAS UNSOLICITED. " This can be read in various ways. Eggers was not asked to write this book. Eggers feels guilty for writing this book. Eggers and others are angry about the publication of this book or what it says. The entire memoir can be read in reference to this first note Several times, Eggers refers to it indirectly within the body of his narrative, creating false dialogue with Toph, John, the MTV interviewer, and himself to capture the sense of. guilt and uncertainty that Eggers feels in recording the details of this memoir. These moments inserted into the actual content of the book show a disregard for the integrity of the story as it is, in real time rather, Eggers places importance on the feelings one experiences while reading or writing; creates arguments for and against himself within the narrative, playing a metaphorical game of Frisbee with himself as he processes the reality of his pain. These games are played in part for his audience and partly for himself. “While the author is aware of being self-referential, he is also aware of that self-conscious self-referentiality,” the author states in the acknowledgments section. It's self-centered, but also intentionally so, creating an environment in which narrative layers can be found and dissected until the root of Eggers' pain is no longer even visible. In this way, Eggers's tricks and ploys work to cover up, belittle, and argue against his vulnerable and bereaved state. Eggers is obsessed with being completely honest and direct. Most authors wouldn't bother creating a work of nonfiction with dialogue that isn't entirely authentic, but Eggers feels the need to set the record straight. “This is a work of fiction,” he writes on the copyright page, “except that in many cases the author couldn't remember the exact words said by certain people and the exact descriptions of certain things, so he had to fill in the gaps ". as best he could." Even this frankness seems like a ploy; who takes so much care in establishing credibility, and on the copyright page, a place that should be entirely devoid of subjectivity, no less? He continues along these lines in his preface (ix-xvii), including notes on the authenticity of the book's dialogue, characters, other elements, and even omissions. Why is Eggers so honest? It is disarming for the reader, creating both a sense of security and insecurity for the control freak that Eggers is playing Although Eggers' seriousness can be read as del.