A Fan's NotesFrederick Exley's inimitable "fictional memoir" A Fan's Notes has assumed the status of a classic since its first publication in 1968. Mordantly and poignantly, Exley describes the profound failures of his life--professional, sexual, and personal. His attempts to find a place for himself in an unaccommodating world take him from the University of Southern California to Chicago--where he meets the dangerously seductive, lovely Bunny Sue Allorgee--to New York City's Greenwich Village saloons, and back to Watertown, his hometown in upstate New York, where he spends months on his mother's living room davenport watching television before undergoing shock treatment at Avalon Valley hospital. Between bars, women, and jobs, Exley exercises his obsession with the New York Giants and their great halfback Frank Gifford, until he at last realizes his life's ambition: writing A Fan's Notes. and Institute of Arts and Letters' Rosenthal Award for "that work which...is a considerable literary achievement." It was described by Robert Penn Warren as "a moving and memorable book, " by Michael Crichton as "a devastating novel, " and by William Gass as "an instructive, powerful and bruising experience." In Newsweek, Jack Kroll wrote that the novel is "a welcome re-minder of what the basic business of literature and of living really is. All fans of life and art should read it." This Modern Library edition includes an Introduction by Frederick Exley's biographer, Washington Post book critic and columnist Jonathan Yardley. A Fan's Notes was nominated for a National Book Award, won the William Faulkner Award for "the year's most notable first novel, " and was awarded the National Academy |
Contents
The Nervous Light of Sunday | 3 |
Cheers for Stout Steve Owen | 33 |
Straw Hat for a Madman | 81 |
Copyright | |
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afternoon asked Avalon Valley ball became beer began believed Blue Blue's Budweiser Bumpy Bumpy's Bunny Camel cigarettes Cary Grant cigarette Counselor cunnilingus davenport Deborah dollars door dream drink drunk Exley eyes face Fan's Notes father felt finally football Frank Gifford Freddy Frederick Exley fucking furious Giants Gifford girl goddam going gone hair hand head heard heart Holden Caulfield hospital imagined insulin kind knew laughed laughter legs lived Lolita looked mother mouth never night nodded once Owen Paddy pain Patience play Polo Grounds remember Scarsdale seemed shouted sitting smile Snow White staring Steve Owen stood Street suddenly Sunday sure talked tears tell thing thought tion told took trying turned voice walked wanted watching Watertown weeks wonder words writing Yankee Stadium York Giants young