ELEPHANT BANGS TRAIN

by William Kotzwinkle ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 1971

A happy congeries of spoofs and more formal parodies, instant legends and souvenirs of lost innocence. Mockery is mimicry -- of the Mounties' hearty gruffness, of a Chinese fairy tale's vision of eternal love, of/a dolce vita -- this last, be forewarned, the ultimate satire just because its people are so perverted as to be self-parodies. Then there's ""A Stroke of Luck"" -- a fourteen-year-old's coming of age at the hands of a coolly composed nurse; at once ingenuous and ribald, it's a candidate for some eventual uncensored anthology. Mr. Kotzwinkle has compassion only for the genuine, for the ice-bound mastodon reduced to ""A Most Incredible Meal"" or for small ""Marie"" blissfully twirling to show her panties. Spontaneous, crafty, sometimes elliptical. . . but a joy.

Pub Date: March 24, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION