Lacking Character

Curtis White's long-awaited return to fiction reminds us that the founder of one of American literature's most vibrant and innovative movements is still the King of "transcendental buffoonery."

The story begins when a masked man appears in the night at the door of the Marquis, proclaiming a matter of life and death: "I stand falsely accused of an atrocity!"

Except he's not, really; he's just trying to get the attention of the Marquis (a video game-playing burnout) to help him enroll in some ...