Life on Mars Book Club discussion

This is the discussion question used to initiate conversation on The Mezzanine. Please feel free to respond to this or other topics here.

From page 120 of the paperback edition of The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker:

[quoting Aurelius's Meditations]
"Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life . . ." Wrong, wrong, wrong! I thought. Destructive and unhelpful and misguided and completely untrue! . . .

Do you think The Mezzanine suggests that Aurelius is right or wrong? That is, does The Mezzanine prove the transient and trivial nature of life, or do the reflections on everyday objects and events change their nature, elevating them above the banal?

I haven't read The Mezzanine, but life is transient - so any strong categorical negation of that idea is suspect. If not suspect, then in error.

On my end, I think contemplating the banal is itself banal. As is the word banal, which, being french, is more dull than that which it seeks to describe, whatever that is. And banal is usually found in the service of borish people, wont to use the word as a cudgel to prove their intelligence, such as it is.

The high flown tone of the quote leads me to suspect that the author, if not one of these offending personages, is most certainly addressing the type.