Meredith's Blog

The novel ‘What is the What’, written by Dave Eggers, concerns the migration of children across South Sudan and into Ethiopia and Kenya. In it, Eggers provides the detailed memories of one such boy, deemed the ‘Lost Boys’ for their nomadic nature, in a rich autobiographical site. The problem lies within just this element of the novel, however. The image of the issue of the forced migration of African children that Eggers portrays is incontestably different than one which Achak Valentino Deng would provide. The problems lie within the words of Deng, the Lost Boy who provides the novel’s information, being transcribed by Dave Eggers. Is it transcription which is ocurring, or is it transformation?

On the one hand, the American author is a good thing for Deng’s story. Eggers’ fame from previous successful books meant that when ‘What is the What’ was published, his already substantial fan base read the book. Then, through word of mouth and popularity causing media attention, the demand for it increased and it earned the title of New York Times Bestseller, among others. This is most certainly good news for the plight of the Lost Boys to be told and provided a wider audience for the message to spread. There is something disheartening, however, in the fact that it takes a famous and successful author in order to broadcast a message which is not necessarily something catastrophic or urgent. These are the stories which the media picks up as they happen, and so despite many children dying along their travels from Sudan, it did not garner as much media attention as it could have when it happened.

This relates to the idea of what is being put on the shelves as being available to the public, as well. In some cases it is the public who decide what goes on the shelves at the forefront, by sheer popularity. In other cases, however, it is the bookstores which put books in prominent locations in order to be read. With the immense power these book stores have to spread the message authors are trying to present, perhaps more emphasis should be made on books with clear information to be spread.

There are also problems of such a famous author writing the story. It is not a direct autobiography in any sense, because Eggers is taking the words of Deng and ultimately shaping them in his own perspective. It is this ‘shaping’ which creates losses in the meaning of Deng’s words and reduces the authenticity of Eggers’ work. It is a negative paradox in that it takes an author like Eggers to garner the attention, but the book itself is not as accurate because of this.