Items related to The Story of My Baldness

Marek Van Der Jagt The Story of My Baldness ISBN 13: 9781590511220

The Story of My Baldness - Hardcover

 
9781590511220: The Story of My Baldness
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
The ingenious comic novel named one of the "best books of 2004" by The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Baltimore Sun.

In The Story of My Baldness, Viennese philosophy student Marek van der Jagt tells the story of his quest for l’amour fou. Van der Jagt introduces a host of unforgettable characters and weaves a web of shameful secrets in this novel that uses Vienna the way Kafka used Prague—as the (strangely familiar) landscape where the narrator’s obsessions are given free rein.

“Van der Jagt’s dysfunctional family may be the most wondrous and most marvelously entertaining in recent memory. . . . He looses the spirit of J.P. Donleavy—and more—once again upon the world. Wonderful.”
—Kirkus Reviews,
starred review

“Marek’s voice . . . is what gives his romantic misadventures (first kiss, deflowering, anxiety about physical endowment) their fun air of droll farce.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Dark, funny and penetrating.”
—The New York Observer

“Archly tongue in cheek.”
—Publishers Weekly

“This whimsical novel, written pseudonymously by a Dutch novelist, masquerades as the confessions of an Austrian philosophy student . . . [who] decides to assert his existence by pursuing l’amour fou.”
—The New Yorker

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

About the Author:
Marek van der Jagt

Marek van der Jagt is a Viennese philosopher. His first book, The Story of My Baldness, was awarded the Anton Wachter Prize for a debut novel, until it was revealed that he had won the prize previously for Blue Mondays, written under the name of the best-selling international author Arnon Grunberg, his bitter public rival.
Dr. Todd Armstrong

Dr. Todd Armstrong has academic experience on both sides of the Atlantic and a longstanding interest in the role of memory and concepts of guilt in the literature of the former Austro-Hungarian empire. He lives and works in the eastern Netherlands.
From Publishers Weekly:
Part literary game, part grotesque coming-of-age tale, this "autobiographical novel" is likely to amuse some readers and put off others. To begin with, Van Der Jagt is a pseudonym; the book's real author is Arnon Grunberg, a prolific young Dutch author whose talent is matched—or possibly exceeded—by his desire to provoke the Dutch literary establishment. Submitted under the false name, the book won the Anton Wachter prize for a debut novel; the honor was revoked when it was discovered that Grunberg, who won the same prize for his bestseller Blue Mondays, was the author. The book's protagonist is Viennese teenager Marek, a studious type prone to dour remarks. He struggles under the burdens of an overbearing mother, a distant father and a perilously small penis ("three-quarters of a pinky, when viewed charitably and with an open mind"). Despite this, he repeatedly tries his luck with women of chronic low self-esteem. These include a middle-aged accordion player, the less pretty of two tourists from Luxembourg and the neglected mother of a boy in a wheelchair. The translation (done by Sam Garrett, Grunberg's longtime translator, working under a pseudonym) successfully renders the mix of high-brow and low-brow that comprises Marek's voice. Whether readers find the book—and the ploy—amusing will depend on their tolerance for Marek/Grunberg's archly tongue-in-cheek humor.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

  • PublisherOther Press
  • Publication date2004
  • ISBN 10 1590511220
  • ISBN 13 9781590511220
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages256
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781590511954: The Story of My Baldness: A Novel

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1590511956 ISBN 13:  9781590511954
Publisher: Other Press, 2006
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Marek van der Jagt
Published by Other Press (2004)
ISBN 10: 1590511220 ISBN 13: 9781590511220
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks503552

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 59.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Marek Van Der Jagt
Published by Other Press (2004)
ISBN 10: 1590511220 ISBN 13: 9781590511220
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(North Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.1. Seller Inventory # Q-1590511220

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 98.76
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.94
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds