Name: Frolic of His Own
ISBN: 9780684800523

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Frolic of His Own

William Gaddis

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Winner:National Book Award -Fiction (1994)

With the publication of the "Recognitions" in 1955, William Gaddis was hailed as the American heir to James Joyce. His two subsequent novels, "J R" (winner of the National Book Award) and "Carpenter's Gothic," have secured his position among America's foremost contemporary writers. Now "A Frolic of His Own," his long-anticipated fourth novel, adds more luster to his reputation, as he takes on life in our litigious times. "Justice? - You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law." So begins this mercilessly funny, devastatingly accurate tale of lives caught up in the toils of the law. Oscar Crease, middle-aged college instructor, savant, and playwright, is suing a Hollywood producer for pirating his play Once at Antietam, based on his grandfather's experiences in the Civil War, and turning it into a gory blockbuster called The Blood in the Red White and Blue. Oscar's suit, and a host of others - which involve a dog trapped in an outdoor sculpture, wrongful death during a river baptism, a church versus a soft drink company, and even Oscar himself after he is run over by his own car - engulf all who surround him, from his freewheeling girlfriend to his well-to-do stepsister and her ill-fated husband (a partner in the white-shoe firm of Swyne & Dour), to his draconian, nonagenarian father, Federal Judge Thomas Crease, who has just wielded the long arm of the law to expel God (and Satan) from his courtroom. And down the tortuous path of depositions and decrees, suits and countersuits, the most lofty ideas of our culture - questions about the value of art, literature, and originality - will be wrung dry in the meticulous, often surreal logic and language of the law,leaving no party unscathed. Gaddis has created a whirlwind of a novel, which brilliantly reproduces the Tower of Babel in which we conduct our lives. In "A Frolic of His Own" we hear voices as they speak at and around one another: lawyers, family members, judges, rogues, hucksters, and desperate

Book Details

Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Publish Date: Feb 10th, 1995
Pages: 512
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 8.03in - 5.02in - 1.21in - 1.22lb
EAN: 9780684800523
Categories: • Literary• Satire

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About the Author

Gaddis, William: - William Thomas Gaddis, Jr. was a novelist and author of War Without Bloodshed, a Simon & Schuster book.

More books by William Gaddis

Book Cover for: The Recognitions, William Gaddis

Book Cover for: Carpenter's Gothic, William Gaddis

Book Cover for: Agape Agape, William Gaddis

Book Cover for: The Rush for Second Place: Essays and Occasional Writings, William Gaddis

Book Cover for: The Letters of William Gaddis: Revised Edition, William Gaddis

What people are saying

Library of America

@LibraryAmerica

2 years

Nonprofit publisher dedicated to preserving America's best and most significant writing.

William Gaddis, author of brilliant (and very long) postmodern novels The Recognitions, J R, and A Frolic of His Own was born #OTD in 1922. An excerpt from The Recognitions is in LOA's Art in America 1945–1970 volume, currently 50% off on our web store. https://t.co/mwMSozuWqy

Just Joyce

William Gaddis was born 100 years ago on December 29 1922. The author of The Recognitions, J R and A Frolic of His Own has been described as an amalgam of and a bridge between James Joyce and Thomas Pynchon. https://t.co/eTVNi2yj9k

Author of The Actor, The Drive In and The Musician Read my Substack series at https://t.co/wwxslaQMiA Mgr - Max Tremblay at M87

Imagine. Create. Write. Postmodern novelist who gave us The Recognitions and A Frolic Of His Own ... William Gaddis #Authors #novel #books #bookstagram #mondaythoughts https://t.co/J1PW07qeiX

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