My Colby-Sawyer Experience
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David Eggers, Author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,
To Speak at Colby-Sawyer College
NEW LONDON, N.H., Oct. 16, 2003 – Colby-Sawyer College will offer a reading and discussion by David Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. In his book, Eggers presents a humorous and perceptive memoir about the travails of raising his younger brother following the death of their parents. Though heartbreaking, his story shows how laughter is often the only medicine for dealing with great pain and loss at an early age. The book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 and was honored with a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2000.
Eggers will speak at Colby-Sawyer College on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m. in Wheeler Hall in the Ware Campus Center. Admission is free and open to the public. Wheeler Hall is handicap accessible. A book signing will follow the event. The campus bookstore will provide some of Eggers' books for sale, or people may bring their own copies for the signing.
In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers provides an honest account of his struggle to deal with his parents' deaths from cancer in a five-week span, leaving the recent college graduate to care for his eight-year-old brother, Toph. The book is hilarious, despite its subject, as it follows the brothers through their move from Illinois to the San Francisco Bay area during the early 1990s.
The book abandons the traditional memoir approach. Eggers opens with about 40 pages of “Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of the Book,” as well as hilarious footnotes and silly acknowledgments. Together, the features make for a “terrific combination of clever and cloying,” according to a review by Flak Magazine.
“A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius…becomes a virtuosic piece of writing, a big, daring, manic-depressive stew of book that noisily announces the debut of a talented — yes, staggeringly talented new writer,” wrote New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani.
Among Eggers' recent literary endeavors included Might, a cynical and now-defunct magazine that he launched in the 1990s. When Might went bust, Eggers moved with Toph to New York, where he worked in magazines before starting the literary journal and Web site called McSweeney's. Eggers serves as editor of the magazine, a whimsical journal that has lassoed such literary stars as David Foster Wallace and Rick Moody. He recently married writer Vendela Vida, author of Girls on the Verge.
The event is sponsored by the Colby-Sawyer College Cultural Events Committee.
Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Students from 25 states and five foreign countries learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with pre-professional experience. Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000 (phone)
