A Party of Animals: Difference between revisions
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'''Party of Animals''' is the title of a long novel announced by American writer Harold Brodkey |
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Following the publication of his first collection of short stories in 1958, ''[[First Love and Other Sorrows]]'', Brodkey signed a contract for ''Party of Animals'' with [[Random House]] in 1964. Subsequently, the novel went to [[Farrar, Straus & Giroux]] in 1970, and then to [[Alfred A. Knopf |
Following the publication of his first collection of short stories in 1958, ''[[First Love and Other Sorrows]]'', Brodkey signed a contract for ''Party of Animals'' with ''[[Random House]]'' in 1964. Subsequently, the novel went to ''[[Farrar, Straus & Giroux]]'' in 1970, and then to ''[[Alfred A. Knopf in 1979]]'', before returning to Farrar, Straus in 1990. The novel ''[[The Runaway Soul]]'', published in 1991, is evidently either that novel (under a new title) or the first volume of a longer work, no further part of which has yet been published. |
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Brodkey published a large number of stories between 1963 and 1988 that he announced as fragments of this novel. They were collected in his 1988 volume ''[[Stories in an Almost Classical Mode]]'' (though not included in the later novel). |
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Meanwhile, the reputation for the unseen, unread and unpublished work grew apace. Famed editor [[Gordon Lish]] called ''Party of Animals'' "the one necessary American narrative work of this century."<ref>''[[Newsweek]]'', [[November 18]], [[1991]].</ref> |
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Many established and eminent people in American letters, including [[Susan Sontag]], [[Gordon Lish]] and [[Harold Bloom]] compared Brodkey's already-published writing to [[Marcel Proust]]'s ''[[In Search of Lost Time]]''. [[Harold Bloom]] declared "If he's ever able to solve his publishing problems, he'll be seen as one of the great writers of his day."<ref>[[Time (magazine)|''Time'']], [[November 25]], [[1991]].</ref> |
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Brodkey eventually published his first novel, ''[[The Runaway Soul]]'', in 1991 with Farrar, Straus, to generally mixed and negative reviews. Brodkey stated at the time of publication that ''The Runaway Soul'' represented the "first installment" of ''Party of Animals''. |
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However, at the time of Brodkey's death in 1996, no further volumes of the alleged work had been published. Many now believe the the novel cycle was, if not an exaggeration, then an outright hoax. |
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==References== |
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<references/> |
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[[Category:Literary hoaxes]] |
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Revision as of 02:54, 30 November 2008
Party of Animals is the title of a long novel announced by American writer Harold Brodkey
Following the publication of his first collection of short stories in 1958, First Love and Other Sorrows, Brodkey signed a contract for Party of Animals with Random House in 1964. Subsequently, the novel went to Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1970, and then to Alfred A. Knopf in 1979, before returning to Farrar, Straus in 1990. The novel The Runaway Soul, published in 1991, is evidently either that novel (under a new title) or the first volume of a longer work, no further part of which has yet been published.
Brodkey published a large number of stories between 1963 and 1988 that he announced as fragments of this novel. They were collected in his 1988 volume Stories in an Almost Classical Mode (though not included in the later novel).