Foreign Devils
[This novel] begins as a first-person narrative ... of [one of] Faust{u2019}s inspired madmen -- Sidney Benson (born Birnbaum), who imagines himself a war reporter named Norris Blake covering the Boxer rebellion in China at he turn of he century. This fantasy is mixed with another of Birnbaum as a jazz musician playing with Benny Goodman in the late thirties. From time to time intrudes present mundane reality, as we learn that he is separated from his wife and currently working as a teacher at Washington Irving High School. (In the background are the May 1968 riots around Columbia University.) The novel concludes with the cinematic image of Birnbaum's wife running toward him, but this too might be illusory. --Richard Kostelanetz at www.richardkostelanetz.com.
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