Who is L?

 Throughout "The Mezzanine," the character known as "L" was mentioned in passing many times. However, we--the readers--know almost nothing about her. I find this unsettling because we know just about every detail of Howie's thoughts pertaining to just about everything in the story, except L. 

It seems to me that one of the main goals of Nicholson Baker in writing "The Mezzanine" was to encourage "stopping to smell the roses" so-to-speak. I fully understood this to be one of his goals with this novel when I read his reaction to Aurelius's view on life: "Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life; yesterday a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice and ashes." Howie was very disapproving of Aurelius's point of view and outwardly disagreed with it. He was angry that someone would even say that. This outrage shows me how significant life is to Howie. In combination with all of his tangents on seemingly random, mundane things, that fact lead me to deduce that he is interested in all aspects of life--no matter how small. 

Now, with all of this information in mind, the question of "Who is L?" is even more interesting to me. Despite the many digressions made by Howie on topics ranging from the inner workings of a vending machine to how paper crimping deserves awards, Howie only describes L as his girlfriend--nothing more. For a man who finds everything interesting and full of meaning, he sure does not think a lot about his girlfriend--which is usually an important part of someone's life. I somewhat wonder if L is even real or if she is, is she still his girlfriend. I only say that it's possible she's not really in his life because he doesn't think about her a lot. I think it's possible he could be holding onto her in his head because he's not fully ready to let go, which would explain why he doesn't discuss her that much (because he doesn't have daily experiences with her). On the other hand, she could very much be real and not on the forefront of his mind all the time. It could just be that he finds urinals more interesting or that she seems irrelevant to talk about. The latter is much more interesting to me because if he finds her mundane then what does that say about the story as a whole? In that perspective, it makes me think that he is obsessed not with everything in life, but only with the small, irrelevant (to other people) details. Overall, there are many roles that L could play in this story because he doesn't explain her--giving the reader a lot of leeway for imagination. I wonder what Baker's real intentions were for L or if she is even a key player at all.

Comments

  1. Stefania September 7, 2020 at 10:15 AM

    I also found it pretty strange at first that L was barely mentioned throughout the entire book. However looking at what other information the book gives us - or rather, doesn't give us - that seems to fit the pattern. We know nearly nothing about Howie's job, relationships, family, friends, hobbies, socioeconomic status, age, etc. Everything a reader would generally want to pinpoint first about a character in order to understand them is missing, and I see why Baker would do the same with Howie's partner - it is almost as if everything "important" about Howie's life is assumed to be known already, as if Howie is talking to a close friend (who would of course already know the "basics" such as about Howie's job and family) about his deeper inner thoughts.

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    1. locally locayleeSeptember 17, 2020 at 7:55 PM

      I hadn't taken this into consideration. You seem to really grasp the meaning of the story and Baker in general. Do you read him often? Lol. But I think that makes sense when you think about the story as a whole instead of focusing on L. That understanding makes the story a bit more interesting to me because it gives a bit more incite on to who the book was meant for. It makes a lot of sense for the story to be diary entrees when you think about it like this. Thanks for your perspective!

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  2. Nabeel BashirSeptember 8, 2020 at 9:27 PM

    L. is on top of the long list of Howie's thoughts and their annual frequency that he presents us, which surprised me because of the things you mention. It makes me wonder if L. is just like Howie, in the sense that she is also doesn't seem as passionate when talking about him. Your theory about L. being his ex-girlfriend or not being his girlfriend at all also interests me, because I never once considered that while reading the novel. Great post!

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    1. locally locayleeSeptember 17, 2020 at 7:51 PM

      That is an interesting take. To think that L finds Howie just as mundane as he finds her makes me wonder about what their relationship really means in the context of the story. How'd they find each other? For Howie to find everything so interesting, why does he stay with someone he doesn't? I think maybe, if what you say is true, then they might find each other "safe" or just a "comfortable" aspect of their life. Thank you for your perspective!

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  3. erin's blogSeptember 18, 2020 at 7:36 PM

    I think not going into detail about L and Howie's relationship might have been a conscious choice by the author. Baker's goal seems to be focusing on the parts of life that don't get much attention, like milkmen and public bathrooms. Lots of books focus directly on relationships, so it might've been hard to come at it from a unique angle, or he might've just been uninterested. L mostly comes up when she overlaps with one of Howie's tangents, like when he mentioned that both of them enjoy sweeping. I think it makes sense for L to only appear here and there if Baker is zooming in on uber-specific mundane details of Howie's life.

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  4. Literature with LexySeptember 20, 2020 at 3:09 PM

    I also find it very odd how he rarely talks about L. But I think this might be because baker does not view her as an important part of the story. In most novels, if there is a love interest, they often become a huge part of the story. But In "The Mezzanine" the focus of the book is the smaller parts of life that are often not paid much attention to , especially in books. Howie also seems like he lacks passion. He has an office job that many would consider boring, and he seems like he lacks ambition. But he is content and doesn't seem like he needs passion in his work life, or love life.

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  5. KiranSeptember 20, 2020 at 7:20 PM

    I actually believe that L is likely very important to Howie, and probably real as well. The only reason he doesn't think about her a lot is because his mind focuses on the small and rather insignificant in the moment. Because L is so big in his mind he thinks about things in relation to L rather then L in relation to other things, which is why it seems she isn't important to him.

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  6. Zachary's History as Fiction BlogSeptember 26, 2020 at 9:40 AM

    I think "L" was a way for Baker to show the reader more about how Howie's thoughts work. It was interesting that L was at the top of Howie's list of thoughts, because we hear about L so sparingly. Baker wants the audience to know that L is, in a conventional sense, very important to Howie, as she is someone Howie should care about. But she isn't who Howie *chooses* to think about. He subconsciously ends up spending time focusing on a variety of different topics that he ends up not coming back to, but still finds more interesting than focusing his thoughts on L.

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