Mulligan Stew
by Gilbert Sorrentino
On This Page
Description
Widely regarded as Sorrentino's finest achievement, Mulligan Stew takes as its subject the comic possibilities of the modern literary imagination. As avant-garde novelist Antony Lamont struggles to write a "new wave murder mystery," his frustrating emotional and sexual life wreaks havoc on his work-in-progress. As a result, his narrative (the very book we are reading) turns into a literary "stew" an uproariously funny melange of journal entries, erotic poetry, parodies of all kinds, love show more letters, interviews, and lists--as Hugh Kenner in "Harper's" wrote, "for another such virtuoso of the List you'd have to resurrect Joyce." Soon, Lamont's characters (on loan from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flann O'Brien, James Joyce, and Dashiell Hammet) take on lives of their own, completely sabotaging his narrative. Sorrentino has vastly extended the possibilities of what a novel can be in this extraordinary work, which both parodies and pays homage to the art of fiction. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
I was fascinated at first but quickly dropped it to read more Nabokov, Joyce, and O'Brien instead of this hash and tepid paraphrase of their works. I mean, this homage.
A virtuoso performance by a talented writer.
I first read this nearly 30 years ago, and must have really liked it, since it's survived every book-weeding during every move I've made since then (a LOT). I really ought to read it again!
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Metafiction
84 works; 21 members
Larry McCaffery's 20th Century Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books
103 works; 12 members
Significant works of postmodern fiction
86 works; 25 members
Experimental Literature
141 works; 18 members
Author Information
34+ Works 2,131 Members
Writer, critic and Stanford University professor Gilbert Sorrentino was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1929. He attended Brooklyn College until he served in the US Army Medical Corps. After his two years in the Army, he returned to Brooklyn College to finish his degree. Sorrentino founded and edited the literary magazine Neon. He also was an editor for show more Kulcher magazine and Grove Press. Sorrentino has earned two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Lannan Literary Award, and the 2005 Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award. He died on May 18, 2006. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Mulligan Stew
- Original publication date
- 1979
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 450
- Popularity
- 67,897
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.11)
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 4
