The Big U, by Neal Stephenson

August 5th, 2011

by Meredith Nudo

Seeing as how Neal Stephenson is primarily known as one of the literary world's most preeminent cyberpunk writers (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age), it certainly comes as a shock to many fans when they find out his very first novel centers around brutally – and hilariously – satirizing college life and bureaucracy. Until the 100-pound mutant rats show up, he manages to gleefully skewer pretty much every element of higher education imaginable with often tragic realism. Any current or former college student who ever found her- or himself growing steadily disillusioned with campus absurdity will likely nod, laugh and probably even bawl in agreement.

Narrated by professor-in-residence Bud with startling omniscience, The Big U dissects just about everything higher education – housing headaches, student government, budget cuts, underhanded business dealings, student communists, dorm life, LARP and RPG enthusiasts, exchange students, pseudointellectual philosophy students, lesbian experimentation, drug sampling, the callous treatment of sexual assault, New Age cults and pretty much everything else. EVERYTHING. ELSE. As with his later works, Stephenson's never more fascinating than when he starts spouting off about a subject he obviously adores – or at least understands in depth. Whether detailing a nasty little worm constantly threatening American Megaversity's computer network, socially awkward physics fanatic's Casimir Radon's radioactive rat research or World War II roleplay, he relays his knowledge and technobabbling joy with all the enthusiasm of Warren Ellis duct taped to Dan Ackroyd.

Regardless of whether or not one completely comprehends all the ins and outs of the author's research – I freely admit I don't – his house blend of frenetic pacing, bemused sarcasm, keen observations and an almost manic passion for niche subject matter infuse his entire oeuvre (not just The Big U) with an undeniably infectious quality. Not everyone will necessarily appreciate this novel's gradual genre switch, however. It starts out grounded in a fathomable reality, albeit one with its absurdity cranked up to 11. "Powderpuff terrorists…who just can't stand differentness" (73) bobblehead up and down their dorm floor, touting staunch conformity as a sort of cultlike pseudo-sisterhood. Student government president Sarah Jane Johnson suffers underneath housing department bureaucracy and an English teacher who defends "functional illiterates" (55) as "truly creative" (55) and slips competent students lower grades. The Stalinist Underground Battalion loudly protests American Megaversity president Septimius Severus Krupp's every word without actually understanding anything about economics – or even Marxism, for that matter!

From there, everything and everyone ends up in hell. And once that happens, The Big U ends up sending its surreal characters into an even more bizarre environment. One where irradiated rats eat roleplaying students in the sewers and a self-contained, thoroughly anarchic civil war breaks out right there on campus. Stephenson keeps the more science-fiction elements, like the aforementioned Hulklike rodents, downplayed – but once American Megaversity falls to riots and skirmishes involving automatic weapons, grenades, snipers, homemade railguns and even a tank, he obviously breaks from reality. I thought the decision simultaneously effective and completely jarring. On one hand, it allows frustrated college students a venue to vicariously fight the peers and superiors that make their educational careers that much more stressful. Reading about a rapist getting shot and thrown out a window onto a flaming couch is far more cathartic and less morally dubious than actually doing it, for example. At the same time, though, I can easily see how veering off so suddenly could throw off (or even turn off) some audiences.

Stephenson himself openly cares little for his debut novel, but I think he undersells himself. While not as cohesive or kinetic as The Diamond Age or Snow Crash, The Big U features some amazing (and often tragically true) observations about college life. The fact that he wrote it in 1984 – before I was even born! – and his core concepts remain largely unchanged decades later says…well…everything. He wrote one of the most comprehensive, intelligent and insightful satires of higher education's many, many glaring flaws, sprinkling it with gut-busting depictions of people most students will meet on campus. But whether or not one wants to read about such subjects packaged with a few science-fiction tropes and an explosively violent conclusion will obviously vary from person to person. Since I dove into The Big U already familiar with (and enamored of) Stephenson's style, the transition didn't really throw me too terribly much. For others, though, it just might. Like all literature, your mileage may vary. It just so happens that I got quite a bit out of this novel, and I think most college students will as well. Even if they don't exactly care for the whole, at least parts of it are bound to ring true.

Bibliographic Information

Stephenson, Neal. The Big U. New York: Perennial, 2001.

If you have any suggestions for future book reviews, feel free to contact me at mnudo (at) oedb (dot) org! I'm emphasizing reads about college and college life, so try to stick with those particular themes. Thanks!

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