Frolic of His Own
-
- USD 15.99
-
- USD 15.99
Publisher Description
An aspiring author’s lawsuit raises questions about family, inheritance, and the vagaries of the American legal system in this National Book Award–winning courtroom satire.
Oscar Crease, part-time history professor and aspiring playwright, penned Once at Antietam, his magnum opus fictionalizing his grandfather’s experiences during the Civil War. Despite his high hopes and sending copies of the play to everyone he could think of, Oscar failed to get it staged. But then a movie with the same title and other striking similarities comes out. Convinced they plagiarized his work, Oscar decides to sue the studio.
His hunger for recognition and justice is all-consuming, even as his financially dependent half-sister and her husband’s lives get caught in the crossfire. As Oscar’s lawsuit progresses at a painfully slow, bureaucratic pace, legal documents and transcripts are interspersed throughout the narrative, highlighting the exploitation present in both the legal system and Hollywood machine—as well as Oscar’s determination to win despite the rising cost.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The author of Carpenter's Gothic (and winner of a 1993 Lannan Award) takes a brash, entertaining swipe at the legal profession in his fourth novel. Oscar Crease is a quiet, middle-aged history professor whose father and grandfather were both high-ranking judges. The story begins as Oscar contemplates two lawsuits: one against the Japanese manufacturer of the car that ran over him; the other against a filmmaker Oscar claims stole his play, Once at Antietam , and turned it into a gory, lavish movie. Before long, the legal wranglings, strategic maneuvering and--of course--the whopping bills dominate Oscar's life and wreak havoc on his relationships. There is no description or third-person narrative. Like Carpenter's Gothic , which is rendered wholly in dialogue, this narrative is a cacophony of heard and found voices: Oscar's conversations with his myriad lawyers, his flighty girlfriend, his patient sister and her lawyer husband are all spliced with phone calls, readings from Oscar's play and various legal documents. Rather than slow the action down, these documents add to the grim melee. This is a wonderful novel, aswirl with the everyday inanity of life; it may also be the most scathing attack ever published on our society's litigious ways.
