I love, love love The Mezzanine (one of my favorite novels in the world!!!!!) for exactly the same reasons you described. The concept of the novel, stated plainly, seems absurd and hardly worth publishing: a young man at an office job runs errands on his lunch break. The novel, in fact, takes place almost entirely during his lunch break. There are pages devoted exclusively to him observing an elevator.
And yet…the novel is incredible, stylistically so innovative and daring and interesting. The style carries you as a reader and makes you interested and invested in wherever Baker takes you—and he does take you to places that reflect on youth, aspiring to be a different self, trying to understand reality, trying to understand yourself.
I'd actually say that Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters is similar. The novel takes place while one man is waiting for another man to join him at a museum. The reader is carried along by Bernhard's idiosyncratic, remarkable voice to reflect on love, friendship, loss, etc etc—all the great themes of literature! These kinds of novels are my favorite, because they really show how a striking voice can establish great trust in a reader. A reader will go anywhere and encounter anything if the writing is striking enough.
I love The Mezzanine, U and I, and also The Everlasting Story of Nory. I like to recommend the last one to people who don't understand how hard it is to write a novel about a happy person.
I read it. Was not impressed for the same reason that you were impressed: it was about slighly more that nothing. Waiting for Godot is better because "Godot" is really the two main characters. Oblomov is really about nothing. Gorey's The Untitled Book is about being about nothing. Some where Murakami needs to be mentioned.
It short, if you are going to write a book about you have got to work very hard at it because there are so many books about nothing already. Some of them are even intentionally so. This is because meaning is the urtopic, and that spells out and over the tablecloth and bubbles on out the door.
The Mezzanine is one of my favorites. I think it helps that Baker was born 2 years before me, so our experience of "everyday things" overlaps a great deal. I was amused that his first four novels explored very short time frames -- the escalator ride in The Mezzanine, giving a baby a bottle in Room Temperature, a phone call in Vox, and literally no time (in the real world) for much of The Fermata. And so naturally he called his next novel The Everlasting Story of Nory!
And I agree with Mark -- The Third Policeman is a wonderful book, a classic "afterlife fantasy" when you don't realize for a long time that the main character is dead, and, sure, a shaggy dog story. And O'Brien in general is a master user of footnotes.
How about Henry Green's Party Going? Or, in a very different way, Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire (a novel largely composed of footnotes?)
This was great. Sounds like Nicholson Baker was trying to one-up Joyce (although in a very limited way, because to be fair he wasn't trying to rewrite the Odyssey over an escalator ride).
I hadn't seen that Norm McDonald clip. The best part was how antsy Conan O Brien got as Norm took his sweet old time telling it. I'm sure he knew that that WAS the joke, but time pressures are time pressures...
I haven't read any of them, oh, I did read "The Castle" and loved it. I have my own theory what it's about(I read by now only three Kafka's novels, "America", "The Process", and "The Castle"-and then I had to stop because the book was too heavy to take with me on a plane)
Well, at least one. Out of all mentioned...
But who knows maybe I'd love it most in any case? Some consolation lol
This article brilliantly highlights the beauty of novels that defy conventional storytelling and expectations. It's a reminder that in literature, as in life, sometimes the journey and the unexpected detours are what make the experience truly memorable. 📚🌟
Explore captivating Romance, Thriller & Suspense, Science Fiction, Horror, and more stories on my Substack for FREE at https://jonahtown.substack.com/archive
Feels like Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman belongs here too? Hell is just a shaggy dog story that never ends?
I love, love love The Mezzanine (one of my favorite novels in the world!!!!!) for exactly the same reasons you described. The concept of the novel, stated plainly, seems absurd and hardly worth publishing: a young man at an office job runs errands on his lunch break. The novel, in fact, takes place almost entirely during his lunch break. There are pages devoted exclusively to him observing an elevator.
And yet…the novel is incredible, stylistically so innovative and daring and interesting. The style carries you as a reader and makes you interested and invested in wherever Baker takes you—and he does take you to places that reflect on youth, aspiring to be a different self, trying to understand reality, trying to understand yourself.
I'd actually say that Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters is similar. The novel takes place while one man is waiting for another man to join him at a museum. The reader is carried along by Bernhard's idiosyncratic, remarkable voice to reflect on love, friendship, loss, etc etc—all the great themes of literature! These kinds of novels are my favorite, because they really show how a striking voice can establish great trust in a reader. A reader will go anywhere and encounter anything if the writing is striking enough.
Currently reading Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler, which very much seems to fit in here.
How could you leave out the original shaggy dog novel, Tristram Shandy?
I love The Mezzanine, U and I, and also The Everlasting Story of Nory. I like to recommend the last one to people who don't understand how hard it is to write a novel about a happy person.
I read it. Was not impressed for the same reason that you were impressed: it was about slighly more that nothing. Waiting for Godot is better because "Godot" is really the two main characters. Oblomov is really about nothing. Gorey's The Untitled Book is about being about nothing. Some where Murakami needs to be mentioned.
It short, if you are going to write a book about you have got to work very hard at it because there are so many books about nothing already. Some of them are even intentionally so. This is because meaning is the urtopic, and that spells out and over the tablecloth and bubbles on out the door.
The Mezzanine is one of my favorites. I think it helps that Baker was born 2 years before me, so our experience of "everyday things" overlaps a great deal. I was amused that his first four novels explored very short time frames -- the escalator ride in The Mezzanine, giving a baby a bottle in Room Temperature, a phone call in Vox, and literally no time (in the real world) for much of The Fermata. And so naturally he called his next novel The Everlasting Story of Nory!
And I agree with Mark -- The Third Policeman is a wonderful book, a classic "afterlife fantasy" when you don't realize for a long time that the main character is dead, and, sure, a shaggy dog story. And O'Brien in general is a master user of footnotes.
How about Henry Green's Party Going? Or, in a very different way, Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire (a novel largely composed of footnotes?)
Oh man, thank you for the Norm MacDonald video, that made my afternoon. (And now resolving to re-read The Mezzanine soon, too.)
The description of Thd Mezzanine reminds me a lot of Simon Okotie’s Absalon novels, I’ll have to find a copy.
As a super fan of Russian Formalist theory, I was exx to see some contemporary words on the subject!
This was great. Sounds like Nicholson Baker was trying to one-up Joyce (although in a very limited way, because to be fair he wasn't trying to rewrite the Odyssey over an escalator ride).
I hadn't seen that Norm McDonald clip. The best part was how antsy Conan O Brien got as Norm took his sweet old time telling it. I'm sure he knew that that WAS the joke, but time pressures are time pressures...
This (and the others!) is going straight onto my to-read list. Thanks for the illuminating, and humorous, descriptions and thoughts here.
Taking me back! I love The Mezzanine and other books that stretch time and defy expectations. I’m reminded I used to read more broadly.
I haven't read any of them, oh, I did read "The Castle" and loved it. I have my own theory what it's about(I read by now only three Kafka's novels, "America", "The Process", and "The Castle"-and then I had to stop because the book was too heavy to take with me on a plane)
Well, at least one. Out of all mentioned...
But who knows maybe I'd love it most in any case? Some consolation lol
Thank you for this post. Very interesting.
This article brilliantly highlights the beauty of novels that defy conventional storytelling and expectations. It's a reminder that in literature, as in life, sometimes the journey and the unexpected detours are what make the experience truly memorable. 📚🌟
Explore captivating Romance, Thriller & Suspense, Science Fiction, Horror, and more stories on my Substack for FREE at https://jonahtown.substack.com/archive