Here's an excellent interview with Alexander Theroux from Bookslut. "Every publisher is waiting for another Stephen King. They go to lunch and wait. Agents are lazy. Most editors couldn't tell a good novel from a pile of chimney flashing."
Attention lovers of prose literature: we've put the entire first chapter (along with the indicia and Table of Contents) of Alexander Theroux's novel Laura Warholic or, The Sexual Intellectual online as a FREE download (PDF format, 260KB).
Alexander Theroux reads from his novel for Radio Boston, including a savaging of Boston Red Sox culture. Theroux's prose sounds especially great through his thick Medford accent.
Fantagraphics Books and The Strand Bookstore are proud to announce a rare appearance and reading by National Book Award nominee ALEXANDER THEROUX, promoting his first novel in nearly twenty years, the just-released LAURA WARHOLIC OR, THE SEXUAL INTELLECTUAL.
“Brilliantly written.” — NORMAN MAILER
Listing Information:
WHEN: Tues., Feb. 5th, 7:00PM
WHERE: Strand Bookstore, 2nd Fl.
828 Broadway @ 12th
New York, NY 10003
212.660.6643
In LAURA WARHOLIC, Theroux returns with a compendious satire, a bold and inquisitorial, circuit-breaking examination of love and hate, of rejection and forgiveness, of trust and romantic disappointment, of the terrors of contemporary life. Eugene Eyestones, an erudite sex columnist for a Boston cultural magazine, becomes enmeshed in the messy life of a would-be artist named Laura Warholic, who, repulsing and fascinating him at the same time, becomes a mirror in which he not only sees himself but through which he is forced to face his own demons. Horrifying and hilarious, damning and demanding, Laura Warholic in its uncompromising power will surely be one of the most talked-about novels of the season, and for years to come.
Alexander Theroux is the author of three highly regarded novels—Three Wogs, Darconville’s Cat, and An Adultery—and of several books of essays, fables, and poetry. He lives in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, with his wife, artist Sarah Son.
“A work that screams ‘Literary Event’.” — BOOKLIST
“Theroux’s first novel in 20 years is as smart, funny, outlandish, angry and moving as we expect, and more accessibly riveting than we dreamed.” — GARY GIDDINS
HARDCOVER • 888 pp. • ISBN 978-1-56097-798-8 • $29.95
Laura Warholic or, the Sexual Intellectual By Alexander Theroux
In his first novel in nearly twenty years, Alexander Theroux, National Book Award Nominee, returns with a compendious satire, a bold and inquisitorial circuit-breaking examination of love and hate, of rejection and forgiveness, of trust and romantic disappointment, of the terrors of contemporary life. Eugene Eyestones, an erudite sex columnist for a Boston cultural magazine, becomes enmeshed in the messy life of a would-be artist named Laura Warholic, who, repulsing and fascinating him at the same time, becomes a mirror in which he not only sees himself but through which he is forced to face his own demons. Not only does she inadvertently supply him with material for his columns, but she exemplifies all that Eugene considers wrong with contemporary America (of which the publishing profession and its recognizable denizens serves as a microcosm) — a garish and dunce-filled Babylon that Theroux scorches with inventive and relentless satire. Nostalgic for the old days and old manners, a way of life lost to grace, loving from afar a mysterious beauty named Rapunzel Wisht, Eugene fights against the rising tide of stupidity, focusing on Laura in the hope that by saving her he can validate his ethical beliefs. But feckless Laura and the colorful but bizarre cast of characters surrounding Eugene — brilliant bigots, nihilists, Generation-X slackers and zanies of all sexual persuasions — threaten to pull him under, leading to the novel's unforgettable conclusion, a climax of betrayal and redemption of Dostoevskyan power. As in all of Theroux's works, his maximalist and pyrotechnic prose style and searching intellect are the chief attractions, capable of outrageous comedy, nuanced philosophical discussions, winsome love scenes, flame-throwing tirades, subtle theological musings, and an unflinching genius for a profound if merciless look at the human condition. Horrifying and hilarious, damning and demanding, Laura Warholic in its uncompromising power will surely be one of the most talked-about novels of the season, and for years to come.
824-page 6" x 9" hardcover novel $29.95 Order Now!
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