This
book manages to parody almost all of today’s popular and literary fiction writers in their own unique styles. A reader familiar with most of these satirized authors certainly feels smart to recognize a particular author’s quirks or personality flaws being poked fun at. Although there are 44 shorts in this book, some of the
works stand out more than others.
“Hunting a
Tiger in Africa” is a spoof of Hemingway’s “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”
Instead of shooting the tiger, the wife shoots the husband to put him out of his misery as a coward. In this story, the wife does not kill her husband, but instead sleeps with the safari guide. The story ends as the narrator realizes that there aren’t any tigers in Africa because tigers live in Asia.
Nabokova’s Lolita is twisted into “Colita,” in which a teenage boy lusts inappropriately after old women. Hubert volunteers at a nursing home and reads “Modern Maturity ing the bathroom.” He gets together with a girl his own age just so he can seduce her grandmother who lives in a shed in the girlfriend’s back yard. The plotline follows that of Lolita, except Colita dies and Hubert drives around her giant cryonic urn for the rest of his road trip.
Several of J.D. Salinger’s fictitious
letters are printed under the title “Later Work.” Because Salinger was such a recluse and everyone speculated as to whether or not he was still writing, this is Miller’s answer. The letters are all addressed to various movie stars, requesting that they come and live in his compound with him, because he feels they would be perfect for a role in the movie version of Catcher in the Rye.
Bridget Jones is listed as the author of “The Diary of Anais Nin,” and what a strange combination that makes! In the
style of Bridget Jones, Nin lists her sins and numbers them at the top of every entry. Then, in Jones’ frank and cheeky style instead of her wordy and poetic style, Nin describes the sexual encounters she was famous for.
In “Roth Unbound,” Alexander Portnoy comes to life and proceeds to cause trouble at a neighborhood bar. Phillip Roth, Portnoy’s creater, goes to rescue him and they fight in the street. Nathan Zuckerman calls and meets them. All Roth’s fictional alter-egos end up converging in the same place to argue with one another about who got treated worse by Roth. Carnovsky, Zuckerman’s fictional character, also makes an appearance.
While none of the stories are literature in and of themselves, this book is a great little reminder of how easy it is to make a farce out of all the works and people we deem culturally important.
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