Description
As he's chauffeured about in his official limousine, aging City Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff comes to a frightening realization: he's lost force, the world has started to condescend to him. His once fear-inspiring figure has become everyone's "little old lady." In retaliation, Druff constructs a paranoid plot--his "MacGuffin"--within which (he believes) everyone is out to get him. With unabashed enthusiasm Druff starts an illicit affair (in order to incriminate himself), instigates fights with his employees, invents lies for his family--in short, does everything in his power to create a world in which he is placed safely and firmly at the scandalous center. One of Elkin's greatest comic figures, Druff's self-conscious madness is surprisingly smart and hilariously inventive. Few characters in modern literatureshow such immense creativity and courage in the face of such a hopeless dilemma--the very slipperiness of existence itself.
Bobbo Druff, a coca leaf-chewing street commissioner "on the cusp of just-past-it, " transforms his mid-life crisis into a paranoid web of mysterious events in a plot reminiscent of Hitchcock.
About the Author
Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches & Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh's Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.
Awards
Short-listed for National Book Awards (Fiction) 1991.
Book Information
ISBN 9781564782236
Author Stanley Elkin
Format Paperback
Page Count 283
Imprint Dalkey Archive Press
Publisher Dalkey Archive Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 155mm * 21mm
Bobbo Druff, a coca leaf-chewing street commissioner "on the cusp of just-past-it, " transforms his mid-life crisis into a paranoid web of mysterious events in a plot reminiscent of Hitchcock.
About the Author
Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches & Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh's Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.
Awards
Short-listed for National Book Awards (Fiction) 1991.
Book Information
ISBN 9781564782236
Author Stanley Elkin
Format Paperback
Page Count 283
Imprint Dalkey Archive Press
Publisher Dalkey Archive Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 155mm * 21mm
