The Feud by Thomas Berger
"The Feud" by Thomas Berger is a novel that encapsulates what the author refers to as "pure fiction," focusing heavily on the complexities of language and its impact on human behavior rather than on overt thematic or sociological concerns. Set against the backdrop of the Depression-era Midwest, the story begins with a seemingly trivial dispute at a hardware store between Dolf Beeler and the Bullard family, which rapidly escalates into a series of comedic yet disastrous events. The narrative intertwines the lives of these families, showcasing miscommunications and misunderstandings that lead to chaos, including a car explosion and a heart attack.
Berger crafts a rich tapestry of characters, each navigating their personal struggles for freedom and self-respect, while often relying on misguided beliefs and clichés to make sense of their tumultuous lives. The novel draws parallels to famous feuds, such as the Hatfields and McCoys, and incorporates elements reminiscent of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," particularly through the ill-fated romance between Dolf's son and Bud's daughter. Berger's playful manipulation of language serves to highlight the absurdity of their situations, as he presents a humorous yet poignant commentary on the human condition, free from overt moral judgment. Despite its stylistic complexities, "The Feud" remains a celebration of individuality and the vibrant energy of American vernacular.
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The Feud by Thomas Berger
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1983
Type of work: Novel
The Work
The Feud is perhaps Berger’s best example of what he has called “pure fiction”—relatively free of journalistic, sociological, and other thematic concerns. The novel’s deliberately complicated plot and large cast of characters serve primarily to support its stylistic concerns, which, more than anywhere else in Berger’s work, center on the way in which people manipulate language to justify outrageous behavior.
The dispute between Depression-era families somewhere in middle America begins when Dolf Beeler goes to Bud Bullard’s hardware store for paint remover and, when he refuses to dispose of his unlit cigar, gets into an argument with Junior Bullard (Bud’s teenage son) and Reverton Kirby (Bud’s cousin). When the store burns down that night, Dolf is blamed. Bud, who has no insurance, then attempts suicide and later has a breakdown. Events soon escalate; Dolf’s car blows up, and Dolf bloodies the nose of kindly Walt Huff, Bud’s brother-in-law, before having a heart attack. The endless series of disasters in this comedy of errors is complicated by a misguided love affair between Dolf’s son and Bud’s daughter, making the novel a blend of the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1595).
As usual, Berger’s characters are searching, blindly and ineptly, for freedom and self-respect and are hindered primarily by the foolish limitations they impose upon their perceptions of the world. The ironically named Rev considers himself a man of principles because of his faith in such beliefs as “Worship the Lord, but never trust a preacher any farther than you can throw him.” The Feud is a catalog of such twisted clichés, which the characters employ as a way of ordering their chaotic universe. Berger does not condemn them but celebrates their faith in the American vernacular and the energy of their language: “Don’t give me any lip, you runt. You want somepin t’eat, you just gimme your order.” Berger also indulges himself occasionally by blending all of his linguistic devices into a frenzy, as when Rev comes upon Dolf’s daughter Bernice engaged in sex with fireman Ernie Krum: “You think you can come up here where innocent women and children are living and corpulate like unto animals of the field, make a spectacle of yourself, hold up to mockery all the principles of God-fearing men, roll in slime and throw it in our face? I’d like to see you both kestrated.”
Despite such excesses, Berger seems genuinely to like his foolish creations. They are always distinctive individuals, never types. The guardians of the Pulitzer Prize overruled their committee’s selection of The Feud as the best work of fiction for 1983, probably because of an inability to understand the concept of pure fiction, because Berger’s novel lacks the obvious thematic content expected of “serious” fiction. Yet in presenting the chaos created in part by language, Berger cannot escape such content, and he paints a loving tribute to contemporary paranoia.
Sources for Further Study
Library Journal. CVIII, April 1, 1983, p. 756.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. May 15, 1983, p. 1.
Nation. CCXXXVI, June 11, 1983, p. 741.
The New Republic. CLXXXVIII, May 23, 1983, p. 39.
The New York Times Book Review. May 8, 1983, p. 1.
The New Yorker. LIX, May 23, 1983, p. 120.
Newsweek. CI, May 23, 1983, p. 77.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXIII, March 18, 1983, p. 53.
Time. CXXI, May 23, 1983, p. 78.