A monster novel by John (why use one word when a hundred will suffice) Barth which makes the www.time.com Top 100 novels published since 1923. Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo included this biting satire in their All Time 100 list and I couldn’t agree more.
Here is Richard’s review. The Sot-Weed Factor (1960)
Hell’s teeth! It’s even got a Wikipedia entry!
Makes Shakespeare in Love loveless and the Millers Tale chaste, an earthy novel, yes indeed.
Any book that revives the word swiving gets my vote but this wonderful romp through early America has much else to recommend it.
“In the 17th century, “swiving” was a wholly obscene word for sex, found most
commonly in the pornographic verses of the Earl of Rochester” – The Guardian. Oh yes, my kind of history. The adventures of the hapless, would be, poet Burlingame and his love for the whore Joan Toast survive all tribulations but don’t necessarily end happily but you will come to care about them and follow their progress against an epic backdrop. Oh yes, and don’t forget the Mighty Moor, what a bastard!
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