Saturday, February 25, 2006
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published by Jonathanames.com. Ames, our mentor at this website, has an excellent new book out (he is the editor) called Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs and an even newer book out called I Love You More Than You Know.
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The Extra The Extra Man
It is imagined that at least some readers of this website will be familiar with the work of its publisher, Jonathan Ames. Lucky readers of this group will know his 1999 book,The Extra Man. For those unfamiliar with Ames’s second novel, it features a narrator similar to the Ames we find described in his autobiographical essays: a loner, whose intense and diverse sexual adventures mask a growing bewilderment as to who and what he is to become.
I mention these facts because of the coincidence (if that is what it is) I discovered walking along London’s South Bank. There, outside the National Film Theatre, are tables stacked with old books, and browsing there recently my eye caught a book called The Extra Man. But thisThe Extra Man was notThe Extra Man I’ve just described. Rather, thisThe Extra Man, this extraThe Extra Man, was, is, by the American playwright Andrew Rosenthal.
Now while you may not be stunned to learn Rosenthal chose the same name for his 1977 novel that Ames would, 22 years later, choose for his own, listen to how Rosenthal’s book is described on its dust jacket:
“A loner from childhood whose intense and diverse sexual adventures mask a growing bewilderment as to who and what he was, or would become, Kip Ames finds a sudden and complete answer when he enlists as a wartime Marine.”
While no Ames character I can recall enlists as a wartime Marine (nor, to my knowledge, has the author) the name and other activities are chilling in their evocation of the Amesian figure. As well, Rosenthal, described as having, "the guarded look of a tapir" looks, in the photo of him on the book, like Ames, though with fuller hair.
Are these coincidences, or something more, something awesome? More work into this extraThe Extra Man will need to be completed before I can establish and reveal the opinion of The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective), but when I do you will know where to find it.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Extra The Extra Man
It is imagined that at least some readers of this website will be familiar with the work of its publisher, Jonathan Ames. Lucky readers of this group will know his 1999 book,The Extra Man. For those unfamiliar with Ames’s second novel, it features a narrator similar to the Ames we find described in his autobiographical essays: a loner, whose intense and diverse sexual adventures mask a growing bewilderment as to who and what he is to become.
I mention these facts because of the coincidence (if that is what it is) I discovered walking along London’s South Bank. There, outside the National Film Theatre, are tables stacked with old books, and browsing there recently my eye caught a book called The Extra Man. But thisThe Extra Man was notThe Extra Man I’ve just described. Rather, thisThe Extra Man, this extraThe Extra Man, was, is, by the American playwright Andrew Rosenthal.
Now while you may not be stunned to learn Rosenthal chose the same name for his 1977 novel that Ames would, 22 years later, choose for his own, listen to how Rosenthal’s book is described on its dust jacket:
“A loner from childhood whose intense and diverse sexual adventures mask a growing bewilderment as to who and what he was, or would become, Kip Ames finds a sudden and complete answer when he enlists as a wartime Marine.”
While no Ames character I can recall enlists as a wartime Marine (nor, to my knowledge, has the author) the name and other activities are chilling in their evocation of the Amesian figure. As well, Rosenthal, described as having, "the guarded look of a tapir" looks, in the photo of him on the book, like Ames, though with fuller hair.
Are these coincidences, or something more, something awesome? More work into this extraThe Extra Man will need to be completed before I can establish and reveal the opinion of The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective), but when I do you will know where to find it.
