The Big U

Infobox Book |
name = The Big U


image_caption = Reprint Cover
author = Neal Stephenson
country = United States
language = English
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Harper Perennial
pub_date = 1984
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 320 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-380-81603-2

"The Big U" (1984) is Neal Stephenson's first published novel, a satire of campus life.

Plot summary

The story follows the misadventures of a socially inept physics student, a pair of gun-wielding lesbians, a hardcore LARP/war gaming club, and other misfits through a series of escalating events that culminates with a full scale civil war raging on the campus of American Megaversity.

Told in first person from the perspective of Bud, a lecturer in Remote Sensing new to the university, the book attacks and makes fun of just about every conceivable group at university, though its portraits of the nerds/computer scientists/role players tend to be more detailed than those of other factions.

The events take place at a fictitious big university consisting of a single building (a central complex with eight towers containing student housing), making the university an enclosed universe of its own.Stephenson uses this fact to take what starts as a mostly realistic satire and move it further and further into the realms of fantasy, including near-intelligent rats and alternate realities merging with ours.

Main Characters

*Bert Nix
*Bud Redfield
*Casimir Radon
*Dex Fresser
*Ephraim Klein
*Fred Fine (Chris the Systems Analyst)
*Giant Sewer Rats
*Hyacinth
*Sarah Jane Johnson
*Septimius Severus Krupp
*Virgil Gabrielson (White Priest)
*The Worm
*Yllas Freedperson

Groups and Organizations at American Megaversity

*The Airheads
*Computing Club
*The Crotobaltslavonians
*The Faculty Union
*Megaversity Association for Reenactments and Simulations (M.A.R.S.)
*Stalinist Underground Battalion (S.U.B.)
*Physics Club
*The Terrorists:*Big Wheel Men:*Cowboys:*Droogs:*Ninjas:*Provisional Wing of the Irish Republican Army (Unofficial):*Roy G Bivs:*Wild and Crazy Guys
*Temple of the Unlimited Godhead (T.U.G.)

Literary significance & criticism

Stephenson has said he is not proud of this book.Fact|date=May 2008 By the time "Snow Crash" was published, "The Big U" was out of print, and Stephenson was content to leave it that way. However, when original editions began selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars, he relented and allowed it to be republished, saying that the only thing worse than people reading the book was paying that much to read it.

The book was written while Stephenson was at Boston University. The fictional campus' design is based on a BU dormitory, Warren Towers. Located at 700 Commonwealth Ave in Boston, Massachusetts, it is one of the largest dorms in the US. The character of President Septimius Severus Krupp shares a number of similarities with then BU President John Silber, although his name and the names of his predecessors as Presidents of the big U are taken from the Roman Emperors Commodus to Septimus Severus. The neon Big Wheel sign plays the part of the Citgo sign just east of the BU campus in Kenmore Square. The Big U's financial crisis and the lost library catalog are based on actual events.Fact|date=April 2008

Reviews

*cite news|last = Cheuse|first = Alan|title = MURDEROUS PRANKS|publisher = The New York Times|date = 1984-09-30|accessdate = 2007-01-09|url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E2DD153BF933A0575AC0A962948260