Boswell: A Modern Comedy

by Stanley Elkin, Chirs Lehmann (Introduction), Elkin Stanley

Overview

Boswell is Stanley Elkin's first and funniest novel: the comic odyssey of a twentieth-century groupie who collects celebrities as his insurance policy against death. James Boswell—strong man, professional wrestler (his most heroic match is with the Angel of Death)— is a con man, a gate crasher, and a moocher of epic talent. He is also the hero of one of the most original novel in years (Oakland Tribune)—a man on the make for all the great men of his time—his logic being that if you can't be a lion, know a pride of them. Can he cheat his way out of mortality?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564781741
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	04/01/1999
Series:	American Literature
Pages:	387
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.94(h) x 1.03(d)

About the Author

Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington Universityin St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners "George Mills" (1982) and "Mrs. Ted Bliss" (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists "The Dick Gibson Show" (1972), "Searches and Seizures "(1974), and "The MacGuffin" (1991). His book of novellas, "Van Gogh's Room at Arles", was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.

What People are Saying About This

Alan Harrington

"Hilarious and brilliant."

Terry Southern

"There are moments in Boswell which indelibly mark Stanley Elkin as a great creative talent."

Richard Ford

"Pushing the envelope has always been Stanley Elkin's stock-in-trade. . . . If we didn't have him to read, we'd need to invent him. But we couldn't come close."

John Casey

"Stanley Elkin is such a down-to-earth and funny writer that how smart he is sneaks up on you."

John Irving

"One of our most original voices."

Editorial Reviews

"Elkin's debut novel (1964) is a comic romp through the life of title character James Boswell, a con man and champion moocher. Although his works are serious underneath, Elkin is always good for a laugh."-- Library Journal

Dalkey Archive Press

"No serious funny writer in this country can match him." -- New York Times Book Review

Dalkey Archive Press

From the Publisher

It is clear that Elkin writes marvelously well. Humor explodes in bursts. Scenes crackle with gusto and imaginative fertility, and his people pop off the page with overabundant flesh.

Book Week

One of America's most inventive comic writers.

Time

Brilliant. . . . His sentences are long riffs of jazz; the words swarm and gather; the prose is exuberantly betroped, exhilaratingly de trop.

New York Times Book Review