Novel is to perfect his state of ''schlemihlhood'' - that is to say being the victim, buffeted by circumstance and not caring to do much about it - resigned to being behind the 8-ball. Born in 1932, Profane is Depression-formed, and his function in the One of them is Benny Profane - on the loose in New York City following a Navy hitch and a spell as a road-laborer. These indeed are some of the topics which constitute a recent and remarkable example of the genre: a brilliant and turbulent first novel published this month by a young Cornell graduate,
The author can tell his favorite jokes, throw in a song, indulge in a fantasy or so, include his own verse, display an intimate knowledge of such disparate subjects as physics, astronomy, art, jazz, how a nose-job is done, the wildlife Moreover - the well-made, the realistic not being his concern - the author can afford to take chances, to be excessive, even prolix, knowing that in a work of great length stretches of doubtful value can be excused. Very often a Quest is incorporated, which keeps the central character on the move.įor the author, the form of the picaresque is convenient: he can string together the short stories he has at hand (publishers are reluctant to publish short-story collections, which would suggest the genre is perhaps a type ofĬompensation). Such novels are invariably lengthy, heavily populated with eccentrics, deviates, grotesques with funny names (so they can be remembered), and are usually composed of a series of bizarre adventures or episodes in which the centralĬharacter is involved, then removed and flung abruptly into another. Socio-political attachments, thus on the loose, and, above all, uncommitted. Overlooked though brilliant novel entitled ''Conversions.'' The genus is distinguished by what the word ''picaresque'' implies - the doings of a character or characters completely removed from
Of Augie March,'' Jack Kerouac, ''On the Road,'' Joseph Heller, ''Catch-22,'' Clancy Sigal, ''Going Away,'' and Harry Matthews, who last fall produced a generally Since the war a category of the American novel has been developed by a number of writers: American picaresque one might call the archetype, and its more notable practitioners would include Saul Bellow with ''The Adventures The New York Times: Book Review Search Article
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