Laura Warholic

Last updated
Laura Warholic
WARHOLIC.jpg
Cover design
Author Alexander Theroux
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Fantagraphics Books (first edition)
Publication date
2007
Media typePrint (clothbound hardcover)
Pages878
ISBN 1-56097-798-1
OCLC 74968283

Laura Warholic; or, The Sexual Intellectual is a 2007 novel by Alexander Theroux. The plot concerns the relationship between Eugene Eyestones, the writer of an advice column called "The Sexual Intellectual", and his editor's ex-wife, Laura Warholic, whom Eyestones pities more than likes. This basic story provides the jumping off point for Theroux's satire of American culture.

Contents

Publication

The book was published by Fantagraphics Books, a comics publisher who had published Theroux's monographs on Edward Gorey and Al Capp. Notably, it is the first all-prose novel released by the publisher. Theroux stated they were the only ones "willing to publish the full manuscript without carping or cozy abridgements." [1]

The cover design by the author, features an unreferenced photo of Evelyn Nesbit taken by Rudolf Eickemeyer in 1901. It has been criticized as "misleading at best", as the title character is not a beauty, and the subtitle refers to an advice column in the novel. [2] After the bound galleys of the novel were produced in September 2006, Theroux added this sentence to justify the cover art, describing protagonist Eugene Eyestones's room: "Almost in counterpoint [to an "ikon of the Madonna"] hung a photograph of the transfiguringly lovely Evelyn Nesbit, the 'Girl on the Velvet Swing,' vivid of beauty, long of hair, American ikon of sex and scandal, love and loss" (p. 71).

Plot summary

Eugene Eyestones, an erudite recluse and bespectacled Vietnam veteran, writes The Sexual Intellectual, a column that discusses anything related to sex, as a contributor to Quink, a monthly magazine published in Boston by Minot Warholic. Quink has an eclectic group of coworkers and collaborators, diverse people ready to disagree and display prejudices. They include characters named Discknickers, the “pseudo-fascist” accountant; Ratnaster, the atheist interviewer; Duxbak, Eyestones' only friend; Mutrix, the homophobe lawyer; Chasuble, the homophile movie critic; and lesbians Ann Marie Tubb and The Krauthammer.

Laura Warholic, [3] the estranged former wife of the publisher, had moved from San Francisco to Boston, where she is being befriended by Eyestones. She is younger and described as sexless, lacking charm, interests, drive, and ambition. She is interested only in rock and rock musicians. Pity appears his main attractive force to her, yet he also exploits her for his writings. Eyestones has secret longings for Rapunzel Wisht, a beautiful young woman working at the local bakery.

After writing a misogynistic essay that even Warholic finds it "harsh on the chicks", Eyestones takes a break from writing and invites Laura on a summer vacation drive across the country. During their tour, their incompatibility becomes obvious. Back in Boston, they start to drift apart, and Laura becomes obsessed with the Craven Slucks, a local rock band, throwing herself at its lead singer Jeff. After the office Christmas party, Eyestones joins coworkers for a trip to a strip bar. Crayola de Blu, the main attraction, is none other than his adored Rapunzel; he is angry, feels cheated, lost and deprived. He concludes that all this was his own shortcomings and that he had exploited Laura. Confessing his failures to Duxbak, Eyestones realizes that he has to ask for forgiveness. He tries to see Laura to amend, but due to a misidentification gets shot and killed. Laura, lonely and desolate, hangs herself.

Reception

Carlo Wolff calls the novel "a gallimaufry of minimal action and maximal thought" as well as "a "credible stab at writing the Great American novel." [4] “Unrepentantly erudite and opinionated, Theroux is a prolix polymath with a predilection for employing the proper word (even if you’ve never before seen it) and for chronicling obsessive behavior, usually between men and women,“ writes Anthony Miller. [1] Full of “ten-dollar words and killer factoids” the novel has similarities to his previous work, Darconville's Cat, describing love and hate, loss and longing in the human male-female relationship. [1] The reader has to wonder why is Eyestones so involved with Laura who seems to be kind of a "muse in reverse"? [4] Distinctly politically incorrect and misogynistic the novel presents characters that are cartoonish, according to David Bowman. [5] Scott Bryan Wilson sees the novel as a "compendium of vituperation against contemporary society, jabs at pop culture, exposés of office politics, and exploration of life and love in modern times". He notes that the "semi-plotlessness of the book echoes the aimlessness and desperation of Laura's life, and really, most of the other characters' lives as well." [6] He describes the work as a "funny, sad, and original satire of our funny, sad contemporary culture". Jeff VanderMeer opines that the use of metaphor is daring in its brilliance but criticizes that almost every person is made to look "morally, ethically, and intellectually ugly." [7]

Mark Burstein bemoans the absence of good editorial help in the novel's publishing. [2] In the years leading up to publication, Theroux added a good deal of material to the original manuscript, completed in 2000. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Theroux</span> American travel writer and novelist (born 1941)

Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name and the 2021 television series of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff VanderMeer</span> American writer (born 1968)

Jeff VanderMeer is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. The trilogy's first novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, and was adapted into a Hollywood film by director Alex Garland. Among VanderMeer's other novels are Shriek: An Afterword and Borne. He has also edited with his wife Ann VanderMeer such influential and award-winning anthologies as The New Weird, The Weird, and The Big Book of Science Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Nesbit</span> American model, chorus girl, and actress (1884–1967)

Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model, chorus girl, and actress. She is best known for her career in New York City, as well as the obsessive and abusive fixation of her husband, railroad scion Harry Kendall Thaw on both Nesbit and architect Stanford White, which resulted in White's murder by Thaw in 1906.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantagraphics</span> American publisher

Fantagraphics is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the erotic Eros Comix imprint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapunzel</span> German fairy tale

"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Brothers Grimm's story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile.

<i>Ragtime</i> (novel) 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow

Ragtime is a novel by E. L. Doctorow, first published in 1975. The sweeping historical fiction occurs in the area of New York City between 1902 and 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaughn Bodē</span> American underground cartoonist and illustrator (1941–1975)

Vaughn Bodē was an American underground cartoonist and illustrator known for his character Cheech Wizard and his artwork depicting voluptuous women. A contemporary of Ralph Bakshi, Bodē has been credited as an influence on Bakshi's animated films Wizards and The Lord of the Rings. Bodē has a huge following among graffiti artists, with his characters remaining a popular subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Vander Meer</span> American baseball player (1914–1997)

John Samuel Vander Meer was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds where he became the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw two consecutive no-hitters, and was a member of the 1940 World Series winning team. After the impressive start to his major league career, he experienced problems controlling the accuracy of his pitching, and his later career was marked by inconsistent performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar</span>

Gaius Julius Caesar, one of the most influential men in world history, has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works since ancient times.

Alexander Louis Theroux is an American novelist and poet. He is known for his novel Darconville's Cat (1981), which was selected by Anthony Burgess for his book-length essay Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 – A Personal Choice in 1984 and by Larry McCaffery for his 20th Century's Greatest Hits list.

<i>Darconvilles Cat</i> 1981 novel by Alexander Theroux

Darconville's Cat is the second novel by Alexander Theroux, first published in 1981. The main story is a love affair between Alaric Darconville, an English professor at a Virginia women's college, and Isabel, one of his students, but includes long sections on other topics, including a general satire of the world of American academics.

Steven Moore is an American author and literary critic. Best known as the primary authority on the novelist William Gaddis, he is the author of the two-volume study The Novel: An Alternative History.

Rapunzel (<i>Tangled</i>) Fictional character from the 2010 animated film Tangled

Rapunzel is a fictional character in Disney's animated film Tangled (2010). Based on the title character from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, Rapunzel is a young princess kept unaware of her royal lineage by Mother Gothel, a vain woman who kidnaps her as a baby to hoard her hair's healing powers and remain young forever. Raised in a secluded tower, Rapunzel escapes with a wanted thief who promises to help her see the elusive floating lights in time for her 18th birthday, in exchange for a crown she has hidden from him. She is voiced by actress and singer Mandy Moore.

Peter LaSalle is an American novelist, short story writer, and travel essayist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monster literature</span>

Monster literature is a genre of literature that combines good and evil and intends to evoke a sensation of horror and terror in its readers by presenting the evil side in the form of a monster.

<i>Hygiene and the Assassin</i> 1992 novel by Amélie Nothomb

Hygiene and the Assassin is the first novel by the Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb. It was published in 1992 by Albin Michel. The novel is written almost entirely in dialogue.

Peter Christopher Sebastian Theroux is an American translator and writer. The younger brother of writers Alexander Theroux and Paul Theroux, during college Peter studied for a year at the University of Cairo. He became interested in Arabic literature and has made it his life's work. He has translated numerous works of both historic and chiefly contemporary fiction by Egyptian, Iraqi and Lebanese authors. In addition, he has written articles and published a travel book, Sandstorms (1990), about his extensive travels in the Middle East.

<i>Annihilation</i> (VanderMeer novel) 2014 novel by Jeff VanderMeer

Annihilation is a 2014 novel by Jeff VanderMeer. It is the first entry in VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy and follows a team of four women who set out into an area known as Area X, which is abandoned and cut off from the rest of civilization; they believe they are the 12th expedition, with all previous expeditions falling apart due to disappearances, suicides, aggressive cancers, and mental trauma.

<i>Borne</i> (novel) 2017 novel by Jeff VanderMeer

Borne is a 2017 novel by American writer Jeff VanderMeer. It concerns a post-apocalyptic city setting overrun by biotechnology.

The Strange Bird: A Borne Story is a short story written by Jeff VanderMeer and published in 2018. Its genre has been described as being post-apocalyptic, new weird, and climate change fiction. Its main character is a bird-like creature made of biotechnology with some human consciousness inside of her, and it has been thematically interpreted as an analysis of people's relationship with the environment and with animals. 

References

  1. 1 2 3 Anthony Miller (November 11, 2007). "The Satirical Intellectual". LA CityBeat. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008.
  2. 1 2 Mark Burstein. "On Editing the Novel (a Primer): Laura Warholic by Alexander Theroux". February 8, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  3. ↑ Her surname is Sparkley on p. 423. Cf. the poem “Laura Sparkley Takes Her Sketchpad to a Café” and “The Gospel According to Laura Sparkley,” among other poems, in Theroux’s Collected Poems (Fantagraphics, 2015), pp. 189-202.
  4. 1 2 Carlo Wolff (February 27, 2008). "Laura Warholic or, the Sexual Intellectual". Boston Globe . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  5. ↑ David Bowman (December 23, 2007). "The Object of His Obsession". New York Times . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  6. ↑ Scott Bryan Wilson (December 9, 2007). "Encyclopedia Warholica". Powell’s. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ Jeff VanderMeer (January 20, 2008). "Looking for Love". Washington Post . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  8. ↑ We Told You So: Comics as Art (Fantagraphics, 2016), p. 586.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.