Cover of Mulligan Stew

Mulligan Stew

by Gilbert Sorrentino · 1979

+ Want to read

Mulligan Stew takes as its subject the comic possibilities of the modern literary imagination. As avant-garde novelist Antony Lamont struggles to write a "new wave murder mystery," his frustrating emotional and sexual life wreaks havoc on his work-in-progress.

Read more

As a result, his narrative (the very book we are reading) turns into a literary "stew": an uproariously funny melange of journal entries, erotic poetry, parodies of all kinds, love letters, interviews, and lists - as Hugh Kenner in Harper's wrote, "for another such virtuoso of the List you'd have to resurrect Joyce." Soon Lamont's characters (on loan from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flann O'Brien, James Joyce, and Dashiell Hammett) take on lives of their own, completely sabotaging his narrative.

Genre
literary fictionliterary fictionMore like thisLess of this
Setting
1970s1970sMore like thisLess of thisUSAUSAMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
long · 446 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked Mulligan Stew? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Mulligan Stew. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Tunnel William H. Gass · 1995 Shares fiction, dalkey archive, postmodern
  2. The Jade Cabinet Rikki Ducornet · 1993 Shares dalkey archive, fiction, dalkey
  3. Take Five D. Keith Mano · 1982 Shares dalkey archive, dalkey, fiction
  4. The Franchiser Stanley Elkin · 1976 Shares dalkey archive, fiction, dalkey
See more recommendations →

“People who read Mulligan Stew tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Darconville’s Cat Alexander Theroux · 1981
  2. Take It or Leave It Raymond Federman · 1981
  3. Women and Men Joseph McElroy · 1987
  4. The Rifles William T. Vollmann · 1994

“If you want more of the same (literary fiction), start with these.”

  1. The Professor Of Desire Philip Roth · 1977
  2. Americana Don DeLillo · 1971
  3. Rabbit Redux John Updike · 1971
  4. Lookout Cartridge Joseph McElroy · 1974

“If it was the dalkey archive that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Springer’s Progress David Markson · 1977
  2. Reader’s Block David Markson · 1996
  3. Log of the S.S. the Mrs. Unguentine Stanley Crawford · 1972
  4. In Partial Disgrace Charles Newman · 2013

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Encounters James Joyce · 1914
  2. A Painful Case James Joyce · 1914
  3. Araby James Joyce · 1914
  4. The Woman with the Flying Head and Other Stories Yumiko Kurahashi · 1997

Report a problem