The Double View

BROSSARD, CHANDLER

Harrow Books

Wake up. We're almost there

R. W. Baron

In As the Wolf Howls at My Door, Brossard takes on the '70s: a time of despair as the dreams and ideals of the '60s were cashed in for political opportunism and crass materialism. America's inglorious exit from Vietnam, the increasingly desperate actions of counterculture protest groups, the rise of repressive CIA operations, the commodification of the American wayall this and more is captured here in Brossard's inimitable style. That style discards realism in favor of a free-form fiction that mixes French surrealism and theatrical absurdity with Beat improvisation and performance art confrontation. Brossard's avalanche of language is outrageous. A kind of verbal delirium possesses the text, which on one level may be the collective fantasy lives of a countercultural group in Paris; on another, the psychotic outpourings of a woman named Decca Aldridge; on yet another, a script by impresario Socks Peelmunder for a guerrilla theater performance; and on the final level, the gamy underside of America's subconsciousa terrifying lava flow of provincial prejudices, racial fears, political paranoia, and sexist attitudes all speaking in tongues in a desperate attempt to bolt the door against the return of the repressed. Not since Naked Lunch has the American dream been assaulted with such ferocious verbal energy.

As the Wolf Howls

Literature & Fiction

Chandler Brossard

Humor & Satire

Dalkey Archive Press

This mind-bending novel explores the nature of reality and identity. Brossard weaves a complex web of narratives and characters, blurring the line between what is real and what is imaginary. The result is a stunning and thought-provoking work of fiction that will leave readers questioning their own perceptions of the world. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Literary

Legare Street Press

THE DOUBLE VIEW

History

Nabu Press

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.  This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible.  Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.   This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations.  Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc.  Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Palala Press

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Novelist and playwright Chandler Brossard's first published novel was Who Walk in Darkness, one of the most accomplished and most intriguing works of proto-Beat literature. Published by New Directions in 1952, this "hipster" novel is essential reading for Beat aficionados and anyone interested in American writing of the 1950s. Writing in the Village Voice, Richard Nason called the book "a handy index to the argot and obsessions of the early '50s, with its concern with pot, sexual and political identity, and the emergence of racial polarity." 
One evilly attractive character in the book, Henry Porter, who leads a clique of slackers and aspiring literati, was strongly suggestive of Anatole Broyard, the well-known New York Times book reviewer and essayist, and thereby created one of the most famous literary imbroglios of that era. The narrator, Blake Williams, and his friends can be found traipsing from prizefights to Harlem dance halls to Greenwich Village haunts, drinking, carousing and working as little as possible. As pertinent today as when it was written, Who Walk in Darkness is a powerful novel of the urban counter-culture of New York from one of the twentieth century's most innovative and iconoclastic writers.

Who Walk in Darkness

United States

Herodias

This autobiographical novel marks Brossard's emergence from the formal influence of Flaubert and Camus into a wildly free, multilayered narrative where fantasy and reality, sanity and insanity coexist and intertwine. Set in Washington, D.C. in the late 1930s and 1940s, The Bold Saboteurs is the story of the young Brown brothers who, along with their mother, must cope with the ravages, and absence, of their violent, alcoholic father. In order to survive, the elder Roland becomes a night watchman and uneasy head of the household; the younger George, a multiple schizophrenic whose hallucinations make up some of the most vivid, free-associative passages in the book, takes up a life of crime. Within the family, George, whose life chokes him with its "grimy emptiness," is controlled and, at times, brutally disciplined by his powerful brother. Roland, himself a borderline personality with religious delusions, creates an elaborate family mythology, convincing George they are descended from royalty. Outside the family, the rich detail of Brossard's fictional underworld points to the author's early life "near the gutter," among the outcasts of Washington society: thieves, muggers, extortionists, prostitutes and the Negro underclass. By age thirteen, George is basically living on his own. While sporadically attending school (he also spends hours reading in the public library), he sustains himself with burglary, robbery, kidnapping, fencing of stolen merchandise, and hustling tennis matches. Remarkable for its in-depth treatment of alcoholism and its effects on family life, as well as for its erotically charged descriptions of George's voyeurism and his sexual initiation by older women.

The Bold Saboteurs

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Books by BROSSARD, CHANDLER

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BROSSARD, CHANDLER. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Double View

Wake up. We're almost there

As the Wolf Howls

The Double View

THE DOUBLE VIEW

THE DOUBLE VIEW

THE DOUBLE VIEW

Who Walk in Darkness

The Bold Saboteurs