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| {{Infobox book | |||
| | name = What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng | |||
| | image = Whatisthewhatbook.jpg | |||
| | caption = First edition cover | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | cover_artist = ] | |||
| | country = United States | |||
| | language = English | |||
| | genre = ], ] | |||
| | publisher = ] | |||
| | release_date = October 25, 2006 | |||
| | media_type = Print (]) | |||
| | pages = 475 pp | |||
| | italic title = force | |||
| | isbn = 1-932416-64-1 | |||
| | dewey= 813/.6 22 | |||
| | congress= PS3605.G48 W43 2006 | |||
| | oclc= 75428313 | |||
| }} | |||
| '''''What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng''''' is a 2006 ] written by ]. It is based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a ]ese child refugee who immigrated to the United States under the ] program. It was a finalist for the National Book Award. | |||
| ==Plot summary== | |||
| As a boy, Achak is separated from his family during the ] when the Arab militia, referred to as ''murahaleen'' (which is Arabic for the deported), wipes out his ] village, ]. During the assault, he loses sight of his father and his childhood friends, Moses and William K. William K escapes. However, Moses is believed to be dead after the assault. Achak seeks shelter in the house of his aunt with his mother, who is frequently identified throughout the book with a yellow dress. Before they are hidden, they hear the screaming of Achak's aunt, and his mother goes to investigate. Achak never sees her again. He evades detection by hiding in a bag of grain, and credits God for helping him stay quiet. | |||
| He flees on foot with a group of other young boys (the ]), encountering great danger and terrible hardship along the way to a refugee camp in ]. Their inflated expectations of safety and relief are shattered by the conditions at the camp. After ] is overthrown and soldiers open fire on them, they flee to another refugee camp in ], Kenya. Years later he is selected under the Lost Boys of Sudan program to immigrate to the United States. There he encounters a new set of trials. The account runs in parallel to his story of subsequent hardships in the United States. | |||
| ==Reception== | |||
| In the preface to the novel, Deng writes: "Over the course of many years, Dave and I have collaborated to tell my story... I told what I knew and what I could remember, and from that material he created this work of art."<ref>''What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng,'' Preface (First Vintage Books Edition, October 2007)</ref> | |||
| The book is typical of Eggers' style: blending non-fictional and fictional elements into a ] or ]. By classifying the book a novel, Eggers says, he freed himself to re-create conversations, streamline complex relationships, add relevant detail and manipulate time and space in helpful ways—all while maintaining the essential truthfulness of the storytelling.<ref>, by Bob Thompson, '']'', November 28, 2006; Page C01</ref> | |||
| However, not all critics were impressed. ] sees as much of Dave Eggers in the novel as Deng, unable to tell the two apart, saying<ref>, reviewed by ], '']'', April 19, 2007</ref> "How strange for one man to think that he could write the story of another man, a real living man who is perfectly capable of telling his story himself—and then call it an autobiography." | |||
| ] | |||
| Questions of "expropriation of another man's identity" were addressed by Valentino Achak Deng and Dave Eggers in a discussion about the division between the speaker and the spoken for.<ref name="vad"></ref> After Eggers was approached with the idea, he began to prepare for the novel. He says that at this point, "we really hadn’t decided whether I was just helping Valentino write his own book, or if I was writing a book about him." Valentino points out that, "I thought I might want to write my own book, but I learned that I was not ready to do this. I was still taking classes in basic writing at ]." | |||
| Dave Eggers discusses the difficulties in writing a book of this nature: | |||
| <blockquote>"For a long while there, we continued doing interviews, and I gathered the material. But all along, I really didn’t know exactly what form it would finally take—whether it would be first person or third, whether it would be fiction or nonfiction. After about eighteen months of struggle with it, we settled on a fictionalized autobiography, in Valentino’s voice." Eggers explains that this choice was made because "Valentino’s voice is so distinct and unforgettable that any other authorial voice would pale by comparison. Very early on, when the book was in a more straightforward authorial voice, I missed the voice I was hearing on the tapes. So writing in Val's voice solved both problems: I could disappear completely, and the reader would have the benefit of his very distinct voice."<ref name="vad"/></blockquote> | |||
| In 2007 ] selected the novel as one of two choices for the freshmen book club, and distributed thousands of copies to incoming students.<ref>, "]"</ref> | |||
| ] required the incoming Class of 2012 to read the novel, praising its literary merit.<ref>, '']'', Tuesday, April 8, 2008</ref> | |||
| The ] chose it as their freshman book in 2009. ] required all incoming freshmen to read it in 2011. ] required first-year students in its Honors College to read the novel in 2012. | |||
| The novel inspired some of the lyrics from ] and ]'s album '']''.<ref name="celebritycafe">{{Cite web |url=http://thecelebritycafe.com/features/18515.html |title=David Byrne and Brian Eno Release New Album |author=Dean Stattmann |publisher=] |date=2008-07-30 |accessdate=2008-08-09}}</ref> | |||
| ] plans to adapt the novel into a film.<ref></ref> | |||
| In 2009, the novel received the ] étranger in ]. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * | |||
| * - ] | |||
| *, reviewed by ], '']'', December 24, 2006 | |||
| *, reviewed by ] in '']'', Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006 | |||
| *, Deng and Eggers interviewed on ], November 1, 2006 | |||
| *, review of ''What is the What'' in the '']'' | |||
| {{Dave Eggers|state=expanded}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:What Is The What: The Autobiography Of Valentino Achak Deng}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:What Is The What: The Autobiography Of Valentino Achak Deng}} | ||
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| hassan is the best | |||
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