Poster of the 2001 Australian film adapted from the novel, directed by Richard Lowenstein (and distributed by Roadshow Entertainment) and starring Noah Taylor

(5) JOHN BIRMINGHAM –

HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND (1994)

I haven’t just read He Died with a Felafel in His Hand – I’ve lived it!

JB was first published in Semper Floreat, student newspaper at the University in Queensland, where he studied law among ‘rat-faced bastards’ who wouldn’t lend him their notes. Damn law students!

Fortunately he did not graduate to become a lawyer but instead became a published writer with his 1994 share-house living memoir He Died with a Felafel in His Hand – an eclectic gonzo collection of “colorful anecdotes” about living in increasingly squalid share houses in Australia and with increasingly dubious housemates (included the titular deceased felafel-holder).

And not just any writer – Australia’s own gonzo writer in the style of Hunter S. Thompson, albeit without the trunk full of acid and other drugs (or at least, not quite full).

POETRY (DRAMA)

No poetry ranking as such, but he does score my drama ranking – with Felafel adapted into the longest running stage play in Australian history, a cult film in 2001 and a graphic novel. It was also arguably adapted as its own sequel The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, which was less a sequel than a more straightforward linear narrative fictionalization of the original (or ‘remake’).

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

Birmo scores high in my fantasy & SF ranking, as of late he’s taken to writing highly entertaining SF thrillers (including the so-called Birmoverse) and space opera.

Also one of the outright comedic entries in my top ten.

RATING: 4 STARS****

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Yeah – I can see why they just used his name and the title on the cover. I mean, they couldn’t exactly just put a piece of liver on it…

(6) PHILIP ROTH –

PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT (1969)

“Doctor, this is my only life and I’m living it in the middle of a Jewish joke!”

And it even has a punchline. No, seriously.

Well, I suppose it could be worse – he could be undergoing a Kafkaesque transformation into a breast, the titular (heh) fate of Roth’s protagonist in a subsequent book, The Breast. No, seriously.

Philip Roth put the kink into my literary fiction. And he did it with this book – his fourth and most controversial novel that nevertheless gave him “widespread commercial and critical success”.

Portnoy’s Complaint is his magnum opus of kink, perpetually warring with the Freudian Jewish-American guilt from that kink – a confessional of unsatiated satyriasis. Or dare I quip of sexual Judaism – or a comedic spin on Chesterton’s Song of the Strange Ascetic, of one who does have the guilt and cannot have the fun.

Again no, seriously. The titular Portnoy’s complaint even has a clinical definition at the outset, virtually synonymous with satyriasis.

“The novel tells the humorous monologue of “a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor”, who confesses to his psychoanalyst in “intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language.”…Portnoy’s Complaint is a continuous monologue by narrator Alexander Portnoy to Dr. Spielvogel, his psychoanalyst”.

Apparently in the one session, albeit of a few hours or so – the bill from that had to hurt – and he’s still (literally) only just getting started.

And oh boy – Alex Portnoy is one sick puppy. Men will compulsively pursue one sexual misadventure after another before going to therapy.

Let’s just say you won’t forget one chapter title in particular – or one scene in a chapter of similar scenes of frenzied onanism that I’m sure was the inspiration for the titular scene in the American Pie film, except with the liver that was the family’s dinner.

POETRY (DRAMA)

“Roth is known for his distinctive writing style, which is at once analytical, empassioned, confessional, foul-mouthed and extremely verbose.” Now if that’s not poetry, I don’t know what is!

Also “several of his works have been adapted into films, but rarely with results considered satisfactory by critics”.

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

Not so much on this book but Roth definitely flirts with fantasy, at least as magical realism – see the aforementioned transformation in (and into) The Breast. And science fiction, at least as alternative history.

As for comedy, one of the most comedic entries into my top ten. Portnoy’s Complaint reads up as stand-up comedy performance – and has been literally “likened to the stand-up performances of 1960s comedian Lenny Bruce”.

RATING: 4 STARS****

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(7) KURT VONNEGUT –

SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE (1969)

“And so it goes”.

Kurt Vonnegut has his own eponymous literary adjectives – or adjectives, Vonnegutian as pertaining to Vonnegut or his works, and Vonnegutesque more broadly as reminiscent or in the style of Vonnegut’s works.

Of course, he earned his eponymous adjectives with his signature style and themes. For the former, I always think of his conversational prose or playful synchronicity, and for the latter, I always think of his absurdist satire.

Vonnegut definitely wandered into here from the science fiction section. Of course, the literary establishment tend to identify him as ‘proper’ literature rather than science fiction, despite the time travel and aliens in his most iconic work, Slaughterhouse Five.

“Satirical, anti-authoritarian, humanist, absurdist and often brutally depressing world-view” (although tempered by his recurring theme that love may fail but courtesy will prevail).

The focus of Slaughterhouse-Five, is the bombing of Dresden in the WW2 – as it was for Vonnegut himself as a prisoner-of-war in the city at the time (even if he understandably relied on over-estimates of the civilian casualties).

Hapless protagonist Billy Pilgrim, stand-in for Vonnegut as POW in Dresden, has come “unstuck in time”, due to being abducted by the four-dimensional Tralfamadorian aliens.

Among other things, they place Pilgrim in an alien zoo to mate with a fellow abductee, adult film star Montana Wildhack – which, incidentally, is my own fervent aspiration in the event of alien abduction or invasion. Or really just any excuse for it.

And it gets weirder from there – interspersed throughout with characteristic running gags of synchronicity or serendipity. In this case, the recurring first dirty photograph in the world, made a year after photography itself.

POETRY (DRAMA & ESSAYS)

Yeah – I can’t give Kurt a poetry ranking. He had one of the most, ah, prosaic prose styles of my top ten, albeit easy-going for the reader. Unless you count “So it goes”.

He did write plays however so I suppose he should get a drama ranking – but even more so he earns a ranking for essays if only for the conversational introductions to his books. I particularly liked his introduction to Jailbird – which I might rank higher than Slaughterhouse but for that book’s iconic status – in which he quips a student summed up all his writing in just seven words. “Love may fail but courtesy will prevail”.

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

As I said, he wandered into literary fiction from the SF section – and also is one of the more comedic writers in my top ten.

RATING: 4 STARS****
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(8) TOM ROBBINS –

ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION (1971)

“Real courage is risking one’s clichés.”

Writer of comic novels, “often experimental in form and subject”, with “satirical, political and erotic elements”. Also fantasy or literary magical realism.

Another Roadside Attraction essentially – but entertainingly – meanders through musings on religion from the lens of the 1960’s.

The plot is too convoluted to encapsulate here without spoiling it, but it does indeed involve the titular roadside attraction – or at least attempt at one by an archetypal sixties couple, with Amanda Ziller or the female member of the couple resembling a pagan goddess figure. Things heat up when one of their friends smuggles out of the Vatican a certain mummified corpse that shouldn’t have been there – or anywhere if certain books are to be believed.

POETRY (DRAMA & ESSAYS)

I’m not sure if he’s written any poetry but he certainly has a lyrical prose style.

“When he starts a novel, it works like this. First he writes a sentence. Then he rewrites it again and again, examining each word, making sure of its perfection, finely honing each phrase until it reverberates with the subtle texture of the infinite. Sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes an entire day is devoted to one sentence, which gets marked on and expanded upon in every possible direction until he is satisfied. Then, and only then, does he add a period.”

As for drama, at least one of his books – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues – has been adapted to film

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

Did you not see my reference to fantasy and magical realism? Definitely one of my top ten entries that wanders more into fantasy than most.

Also did you not see my reference to writer of comic novels – not the most comedic entry in my top ten but definitely one of the more comedic entries.

RATING: 4 STARS****
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