Is Robert Anton Wilson any good? His name's come up a couple times recently, and from what I gather we jive on a lot of our philosophies.
Anyway, amidst and betwixt the proofs, promotional material, and other work stuff being tossed my way, I'm about to start this one:
The Annotated Nose by Marc Estin.
It was pitched to me by my boss, who knows I dig Tristram Shandy, Pynchon, DFW, and such.
I'll leave it to the Amazon description to explain it:
Marc Estrin discovers that another writer's novel-THE NOSE- not only has spawned a bizarre cult among the nation's youth but also is based on the extraordinary life of a real person-an outcast named Alexei Pigov. Estrin searches Alexei out and ask him to provide annotations to THE NOSE. Alexei says that-although the events of the novel might, for the most part, be real-the purported reasons for them are all damnable lies. On the left-hand page of The Annotated Nose we read THE NOSE itself, and take in its beautifully unsettling illustrations by Delia Robinson. On the right-hand page we follow Alexei's complaints-always surprising and often farreaching.
Of course, the whole thing is a sham--this is Estrin's idea through and through. Which makes it super fucking interesting, as my own work hovers in a similar stratosphere.
