The Material
'Brilliance is on display' Percival Everett
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- 6,49 €
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- 6,49 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
'Utterly charming ... Bordas is an invaluable new voice' George Saunders
'A disquisition into the nature of comedy and creativity. Like the best comedians ... Bordas is alert to the deeper joke' Sunday Times
'Marvellously engaging and entertaining ... full of terrific moments and cutting dialogue' Independent
Every comedian knows that there's a line between sharp and cruel, that sad becomes funny at the right angle, that any moment in life, however painful or triumphant, can be turned into a punchline. But at the Chicago Stand-up School, it seems as if the students and teachers are just too wounded, mixed up, self-involved or fearful to land the joke. It's unclear whether the visiting tutor - successful, controversial Manny Reinhardt - will help or hinder their progress. Set over the course of a single day, The Material examines life through the eyes of these misfits bound together by the need to laugh, and to make others laugh even harder.
'This novel is so smart. Camille Bordas has exposed the "material" of stand-up by making stand-up her material. Brilliance is on display here' Percival Everett, Booker-shortlisted author of James
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bordas (How to Behave in a Crowd) sets her clever twist on the campus novel at the country's first MFA program for stand-up comedy. Unfolding over a single December day at an unnamed university in Chicago, the narrative begins with a faculty department meeting and progresses to a student workshop. Everyone involved in the program is nervously anticipating the arrival of a controversial guest lecturer, recently disgraced comedy legend Manny Reinhardt. Dorothy, the only female faculty member, hopes to make a comeback in her comedy career, while her colleague Kruger dreams of quitting teaching and ascending to movie stardom. Among the students, Artie fears he's "too good-looking to be funny," while Jo is constantly on the lookout for Andy Kaufman, who she thinks is still alive. A subplot involving reports of an active shooter on campus feels unnecessary; more successful are Bordas's explorations of what a stand-up routine requires of its writer and what, if anything, is off-limits, either because the subject is too offensive or because the material belongs to someone else. Occasional moments of broad comedy, like an embarrassing bathroom scene, spice up the observational humor incorporated throughout. It's a knockout.
