The riddle of Amerka
New York: Vantage Press, 1973. xi, 152p., cloth boards in dj; mildly shelfworn, top edge faintly foxed. The white unglazed jacket has picked up a little soiling and edgewear.
Satire, set in the first year of Watergate (we think). Expect familiar politicians disguised as to name, and revealed as to character, but perhaps to no-one's satisfaction but the author's. . The rest of us won't quite know what is going on. For instance, front and center is "Gorg of Walis, the South Wind," plainly enough George Wallace, but he was shot in 1968, there's nothing of that in the text, nor is he clearly a populist racist or anything else. Moreover "Gorg" also presents aspects of George Washington. The cast is large-- "Ugen mac Karty [Eugene MacCarthy], the philosopher-king" and "Rikard of Nikon, the loser-winner" for starters-- but cast and storyline are overwhelmed with porous dialogue. One suspects Hayden had read Barbara Garson's MACBIRD, the Kennedy assassination satire, but couldn't manage to inject any drama.
Cat.No: 84179
Price: $10.00