The Book of Bunk: A Fairy Tale of the Federal Writers' Project - Hardcover

Hirshberg, Glen

  • 4.27 out of 5 stars
    33 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780979505492: The Book of Bunk: A Fairy Tale of the Federal Writers' Project
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0979505496 ISBN 13: 9780979505492
Publisher: Earthling Publications, 2010

Synopsis

From Glen Hirshberg, the Shirley Jackson and International Horror Guild Award winning author of American Morons, The Two Sams, and The Snowman s Children....Paul Dent, penniless and recently orphaned, hops a train in deepest Dust Bowl Oklahoma in the Spring of 1936, and winds up attached to the Federal Writers Project, one of the least understood, shortest-lived, and most impossibly ambitious government undertakings in the history of the country. He is assigned to capture the essence of the mountain towns of eastern North Carolina for a series of travel books no one believes will ever be published. There, among writers and cheats, arsonists and Reconstructionists, blind deaf children and disease-ridden Senators, Paul will meet the love of his life and her lover, witness the awakening of one great novelist and the possible resurrection of another, discover more than one America that could have been, and confront the truth about his relationship with his unpredictable, brilliant, and Machiavellian older brother. There are echoes here of Laurel and Hardy, Bonnie and Clyde, Powell and Loy, Cane and Abel. It s a book of bunk, in other words. A collection of lies. A creation myth about a vanished country that may or may not have existed, and the very real, conflicted nation that has sprung from it.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Glen Hirshberg is the author of a previous novel, THE SNOWMAN'S CHILDREN, and two prize-winning story collections, The Two Sams and American Morons. His novelette, THE JANUS TREE won the Shirley Jackson Award. He teaches writing and the teaching of writing at Cal State San Bernardino.

From the Back Cover

From Glen Hirshberg, the Shirley Jackson and International Horror Guild Award winning author of American Morons, The Two Sams, and The Snowman s Children....Paul Dent, penniless and recently orphaned, hops a train in deepest Dust Bowl Oklahoma in the Spring of 1936, and winds up attached to the Federal Writers Project, one of the least understood, shortest-lived, and most impossibly ambitious government undertakings in the history of the country. He is assigned to capture the essence of the mountain towns of eastern North Carolina for a series of travel books no one believes will ever be published. There, among writers and cheats, arsonists and Reconstructionists, blind deaf children and disease-ridden Senators, Paul will meet the love of his life and her lover, witness the awakening of one great novelist and the possible resurrection of another, discover more than one America that could have been, and confront the truth about his relationship with his unpredictable, brilliant, and Machiavellian older brother. There are echoes here of Laurel and Hardy, Bonnie and Clyde, Powell and Loy, Cane and Abel. It s a book of bunk, in other words. A collection of lies. A creation myth about a vanished country that may or may not have existed, and the very real, conflicted nation that has sprung from it.

From the Inside Flap

In The Book of Bunk, Glen Hirshberg takes us on a journey through Depression-era, small-town America that is, in turns, whimsical and tragic, romantic and true. Hirshberg has an eye for the details of the 1930s that will put readers in mind of Sara Gruen s Water for Elephants, while the riveting sibling rivalry that plays out between the brothers Dent is nothing short of biblical. Bunk County is a place where many of us already live, if only we could admit it. Sharon Pomerantz, author of Rich Boy. The Book of Bunk is anything but, by turns powerful, sad, ecstatic, and, above all, a clear sign that the uniquely American novel is alive and well. I loved it. Jeff Vandermeer, author of Finch Glen Hirshberg s The Book of Bunk is a miracle of narrative diversity and drive: Stories begetting stories begetting other stories yet that, after several hundred pages, confabulate a lyrical history. It s as if Woody Guthrie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez had co-authored a 90000-word folk song about an obscure WPA project. Lucius Shepard, author of Softspoken and Dagger Key.

Reviews

In this lyrical meditation on the sustaining power of the imagination, an officer of the WPA's Federal Writers' Project taps Okie hobo Paul Dent to contribute to the guide series documenting the American way of life in each of the 48 states. Off-loaded to Trampleton, N.C., in March 1936, Paul immerses himself in the local culture and becomes privy to fascinating oral anecdotes of the town's social and racial history. He also takes part in the Buncombe ("Bunk") County masquerade, a townwide indulgence in make-believe sponsored by a thinly disguised F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose skill at mythmaking clearly inspired Hirshberg (American Morons). Tragedy intervenes at the instigation of Paul's older brother, Lewis, a political opportunist, but not before this vivid re-creation of smalltown Depression-era America enchants with its well-drawn characters, eloquent repartee, and poignant fantasia on a social experiment, which, if it didn't play out this way, should have. (Dec.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Earthling Publications
Publication date
2010
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0979505496
ISBN 13 
9780979505492
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
238
Rating
  • 4.27 out of 5 stars
    33 ratings by Goodreads