SOLDIER IN PARADISE: The Autobiography of Captain John Smith

by Burton Wohl ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 1977

Captain John Smith led a full life, amply documented by history and embroidered by himself. Here in a pseudo-autobiographical novel, the whole tale is retold: his childhood on a Lincolnshire farm, his continental wanderings as an adventurer and ""proper soldier"" (having ""youth and spirit and not a brain in his head""), and the meetings with Gosnold, Ralegh, and Hayklut that lead to his passage to the New World in a company of thoroughly ""idle gentlemen."" Throughout he is lustily entertained by various nuns, whores, and high-born ladies, including pubescent Pocahontas with raccoon fat on her thighs. All this derring-do on the part of an upwardly mobile yeoman who wants to be a gent may interest and amuse those who don't know of the Captain's career. Others may find the overblown tale, the imitation archaic prose, and the bawdy winks at Voltaire and Barth nothing new and a bit tedious withal.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION