Exquisite Corpse - Hardcover

Chester, Alfred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0233960066 ISBN 13: 9780233960067

Publisher: Andre Deutsch, 1970

Synopsis

Lyric and tender one moment, cruel and dizzying the next, The Exquisite Corpse neither celebrates perversity nor laments it; rather it projects it as part of man's never-ending search for a true self and for transcendent communion with others.In forty-nine brief, highly cinematic chapters, we meet a series of twisted but sincere searches Tomtom Jim and his naked, hungry family; Mary Poorpoor and her utterly "otherly" baby; angry John Doe and his sex slave, James Madison each in flight from despair. As one surreal episode morphs into the next, these searchers change shape and their journeys change direction; names and identities come and go, storylines collide, and desires intertwine, all with the lightning-quick illogic of a dream. The result is a tragicomic tour de force, an upside-down roadmap to everyone's inner Sodom, a perversely moral (and morally perverse) masterpiece by a modern-day Marquis de Sade.

About this title

About the Author

Alfred Chester was, in the words of Gore Vidal, "a glorious writer, tough as nails." His other books include The Exquisite Corpse (Black Sparrow Books, 2004), Head of a Sad Angel (stories, 1990), and Looking for Genet (essays, 1992). Born in Brooklyn in 1928, he died in Tel Aviv in 1971.

Review

Sometimes brutal and hilariously waspish, but always humane. --Sam Jordison, Guardian Unlimited (UK)

Edition details

• Publisher: Andre Deutsch
• Publication date: 1970
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0233960066
• ISBN 13: 9780233960067
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240