Comments on: Dave Eggers Is Not A Novelist

By: Mel Campbell

Mel Campbell — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:28:19 +0000

Now Zadie Smith has weighed in on what a novel is and is not, but she stalwartly refuses to believe it’s a moribund form, as JM Coetzee does.

This seems to be a rather zeitgeisty topic!

By: mskarbek

mskarbek — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:24:13 +0000

Great article about a great writer/author/genius etc.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:44:50 +0000

Dave Eggers is not a lot of things …

http://ryan-paine.com/home/2009/11/20/dave-eggers-is-not-a-crusader/

By: xtrapnel

xtrapnel — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:28:07 +0000

You’re right about Eggers not being a novelist. I’ve long thought he needs a pre-established plot to hang his writing on.

By: Elmo Keep

Elmo Keep — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:44:51 +0000

Excellent read Mel. It could be argued that Eggers’ HBWOSG is indirectly responsible for this too.

I’d counter that Heartbreaking Work meets the criteria of the novel as equally as You Shall Know Our Velocity. It might be willfully, knowingly self-referential, but that device seems geared towards circling around the bigger, more painful truth (for the author) of the story; a kind of spectacularly complex dance around grief. It’s not less of a novel to me, inspite of its style.