By Allison O'Keefe
For those who failed to take on David Foster Wallace’s brick-of-a-novel "Infinite Jest"--and many did-- his earlier novel "The Broom of the System" appears more approachable, both in volume and in context. Still, despite its friendly appearance, "The Broom of the System" is not something to undermine. Even if it’s “no 'Infinite Jest' ”, it’s signature DFW in its fractured plot, excessive and philosophical details, and partially developed themes that leave much interpretation up to the reader. It manages to give the audience the satisfaction of a complete novel while leaving much of the plot unfinished.
For those who failed to take on David Foster Wallace’s brick-of-a-novel "Infinite Jest"--and many did-- his earlier novel "The Broom of the System" appears more approachable, both in volume and in context. Still, despite its friendly appearance, "The Broom of the System" is not something to undermine. Even if it’s “no 'Infinite Jest' ”, it’s signature DFW in its fractured plot, excessive and philosophical details, and partially developed themes that leave much interpretation up to the reader. It manages to give the audience the satisfaction of a complete novel while leaving much of the plot unfinished.
"The Broom of the System" features a very interesting cast of characters, all of whom revolve around Lenore Beadsman, a girl whose existential crisis is the fear that she’s just a character in a book. Her feeling that someone--like an author--is controlling her seems laughable and ironic on the outside, but mirrors the mindset Wallace said he experienced while writing this novel as his undergraduate thesis. During this time, he described that his real crisis shifted from “a fear that he was a 98.6°F calculating machine to a fear that he was nothing but a linguistic construct.”
Beadsman’s purpose extends farther than metafiction, however. Her character serves to explore the power of language. She places a careful emphasis on words and ideas thanks to her cryptic, MIA grandmother and her boss/lover Rick Vigorous who works as a literary magazine editor. Even her pet, a cockatiel bird, understands the power of words when one day he suddenly learns how to speak. Together the characters bounce philosophies off each other which add to the overall feeling of wandering through words.
The nearly five-hundred page novel goes into depth about their thoughts on love, life, and relationships while also bringing in side-stories explained as submissions to Vigorous’ magazine which reflect the character’s true motives. For example, Lenore’s first bout of an existential crisis comes from a story Vigorous tells her where the author kills off each character despite how hard they tried for a happy ending. Therefore, it is through these subplots and side rants that the main problems of the story seem to close together after a few chapters of seeming completely unrelated. While at first the lack of DFW’s chronology may seem confusing, as the reader progresses it becomes clear the chapters are placed with quite amount of precision. "The Broom of the System" is organized in such a way that the audience continuously builds a sense of climax as they piece together the sequence--only to get cut off, quite literally.
On the whole, "Broom" is more of an experience than a novel, an exploration of our purpose as living things. Is our meaning in life tied to our ability to be useful? Are we bigger than our own personal stories? Are we in control of our lives or is a higher power? Are our efforts to change our future futile? This journey is one of satisfying intellectual introspection, one that will leave people laughing but also grieving over an ending that could only be the irony of David Foster Wallace.
Beadsman’s purpose extends farther than metafiction, however. Her character serves to explore the power of language. She places a careful emphasis on words and ideas thanks to her cryptic, MIA grandmother and her boss/lover Rick Vigorous who works as a literary magazine editor. Even her pet, a cockatiel bird, understands the power of words when one day he suddenly learns how to speak. Together the characters bounce philosophies off each other which add to the overall feeling of wandering through words.
The nearly five-hundred page novel goes into depth about their thoughts on love, life, and relationships while also bringing in side-stories explained as submissions to Vigorous’ magazine which reflect the character’s true motives. For example, Lenore’s first bout of an existential crisis comes from a story Vigorous tells her where the author kills off each character despite how hard they tried for a happy ending. Therefore, it is through these subplots and side rants that the main problems of the story seem to close together after a few chapters of seeming completely unrelated. While at first the lack of DFW’s chronology may seem confusing, as the reader progresses it becomes clear the chapters are placed with quite amount of precision. "The Broom of the System" is organized in such a way that the audience continuously builds a sense of climax as they piece together the sequence--only to get cut off, quite literally.
On the whole, "Broom" is more of an experience than a novel, an exploration of our purpose as living things. Is our meaning in life tied to our ability to be useful? Are we bigger than our own personal stories? Are we in control of our lives or is a higher power? Are our efforts to change our future futile? This journey is one of satisfying intellectual introspection, one that will leave people laughing but also grieving over an ending that could only be the irony of David Foster Wallace.