Dave Eggers named his astonishing and heartbreaking work What Is the What a novel so that the book does not claim to be serious historical research. The author illuminated the events of the Second Sudanese Civil War through the eyes of a small boy, Valentino Achak Deng, who is an elderly American citizen at the present moment. The real historical events as they reflected in Valentino’s memory were complemented by the writer’s artistic imagination and were transformed into this touching story, amazing fiction, based on facts, more or less historically accurate.
In the preface to the book, Deng himself emphasizes: “It should be noted that all of the major events in the book are true. The book is historically accurate, and the world I have known is not different from the one depicted within these pages”(Eggers, 3). Valentino collaborated with Dave to present his story to as wide a public as it was possible, they aimed to make their contribution to the Sudanese salvation. The fact is that so many years passed since the events described in the novel that a lot of details were sure to escape Valentino’s memory. Some uncertainties may occur due to the necessity of substituting the missing episodes and the author’s desire to make the story more interesting and accessible to different categories of readers. Pursuing the same goal Eggers included numerous excerpts written in the humorous key into his novel. Analysis of these extracts make What Is the What similar to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but certainly, this is only seeming effect. The questions raised in Eggers’ novel are dramatic and reveal the tragedy of a whole nation, depicting the destinies of the lost boy’s generation.
It is difficult to evaluate the reliability of the historical facts mentioned as Eggers uses certain dates and figures to make his narration more realistic and trust-evoking. “The postings began on September 19. Every day, a list of twenty refugees was taped to a window by the television set, and those people would be picked up the same afternoon and taken to the airport”. (Eggers, 8). As it is noticeable from the extract cited it was not compulsory to mention the concrete date, on the other hand, the date can hardly be verified at the present moment, consequently, it was a kind of expressive means that the author chose for his novel. The soldiers of the Sudan People Liberation Army were described as rude and cruel, although their main aim was
to establish “a new Sudan” of equality, of social and economic justice, where the various nationalities of the country can develop their cultures in freedom; where no particular religion is selected as the creed of the state; where there is a recognition of and respect for human rights and where state power is not monopolized by a privileged few ( Brutzer, 32).
But the war is unjust and it dictates its own rules and common people are induced to follow them. The description of the military forces is very close to the fact. Several bombings that the author described in the course of the narration, though not paying too much attention to the details, as revealing the emotions and feelings of the main hero was his main aim, really took place. Though speaking about them Eggers does not define the places or dates so concrete that they could be verified. It leads to the conclusion that Eggers particularizes the details that are not historically important. The beginning of the tragedy as it came into the boy’s life coincides with the historical data of the conflict beginning and surely it is not occasionally as it was easy to find it out. The next event that has a strong factual basis is the come back of 4000 lost sons to the US. This fact can not be denied as it became well-known among different circles and was discussed in the mass media widely. Though those 4000 were only a part of the refugees and there are a lot of them who are still being tortured in Sudan.
The novel received many reviews positive and negative as well. “His most recent novel What Is What has received critical acclaim” (Combs, 55). But it demonstrates that this work of art touched a lot of people and impressed them greatly. It should be accepted that it is not only due to the tragic Deng’s revelation but the writing style of the talented novelist. The text of the novel does not contain much concrete historical data focusing on the main character’s emotions and the events of his personal life, the events of the Second Sudanese Civil War were only the background for the life story of a simple man suffering at war.
Bibliography
Butzer, Christiana. The Long Way Home. Transaction Publishers. 2007: 143.
Combs, Patrick, Canfield, Jak. Major in Success. Make College Easier, Fire up Your Dreams, and Get a Great Job. Ten Speed Press. 2007: 186.
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. Vintage Series. 2007: 560.