by William Golding
Golding, author of Lord of the Flies and winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for literature, here uses as his narrator a successful British writer who says of his tale, "It's a fair record of the various times the clown's trousers fell down." That suggests Golding intended the novel to be some kind of comedy. But his hero is a tiresome drunk; he is pursued relentlessly by an assistant professor of English at a university in Nebraska who wants to do an authorized biography of the great writer. The hero's books have such titles as All We Like Sheep and Coldharbour. Some have been made into films. He appreciates pretty girls, but he's mean to women, especially to his wealthy wife, who finally throws him out. He travels, lives in Italy and then travels some more. There is a great deal of impossibly cryptic dialogue in this book. Here is one exchange between the writer and professor about the American's wife: "She's happy to sit, Wilf./ Not a sports girl?/ She just loves your Wimbledon. Preserve us./ I'll tell her you said to look in later./ Did I?/ The view, Wilf, the view!" Near the end the writer has a meaningful dream. His ex-wife dies. He quits drinking and burns all his papers while the Nebraska professor watches. This barren literary territory belongs to Anthony Burgess; Golding should have left it to him. (Farrar Strauss Giroux, $ 13.95)
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