by WilliamGolding (Author)
This powerful, original, and, above all, unpredictable novel pits Wilfred Barclay, a famous but failing British novelist, against Rick L. Tucker, an obscure American academic whose escape from scholarly oblivion hinges on becoming the Barclay Man: biographer, editor of the posthumous papers and the recognized authority. Barclay's slide into destructive drinking, marital failure, and middle-aged lust is alternately pandered to and documented by the indefatigable Tucker. Locked in a lethal relationship of mutual dependence, the two men totter on the brink of physical, emotional, and spiritual chasms, their hatred of each other and themselves growing as they lose their wives, their self-respect, and their illusions. Golding's deceptively comic touch heightens the stunning impact of a climax that is as inevitable as it is unexpected.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 192
Edition: Second Edition.
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 04 Feb 1985
ISBN 10: 0571134475
ISBN 13: 9780571134472
Book Overview: Author won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983