"The Unimportant Man" - The story of a nondescript North American
pizza delivery man and his struggle to achieve significance after
having been attacked by a perverted, gun-wielding, Brigitte Bardot
look-alike, reality television star. Written in an epigrammatic and
associative style (though never rambling), "The Unimportant Man"
draws from myriad literary, cultural and historical sources (E.M.
Cioran, Giorgio Agamben, Jean-Luc Godard, Roland Barthes, Papal
Encyclicals and more); intertwining themes in a violently
entertaining essay-esque narrative that expresses the anguish and
sense of futility suffered by unimportant men (men like the
author). Author and translator, Jason Weiss (Writing at Risk:
Interviews in Paris with Uncommon Writers (University of Iowa
Press) & The Lights of Home: A Century of Latin American
Writers in Paris (Routledge)) has compared "the ease with which
Nichols] manipulates and maneuvers narrative elements, turning them
around to consider them in a dispassionate mode" to the art of
Milan Kundera: An author with whom Mr. Weiss collaborated in
Writing at Risk. He has further praised Nichols' work for its
adroit "weaving back and forth between the story and the Author's
machinations"; a strength he later likened to the Argentine master,
Macedonio Fernandez: The mentor of Borges. English poet, author and
agitator, Paul Kingsnorth (One No, Many Yeses (Simon and Schuster)
& Real England (Portobello Books)) has described Nichols'
writing as "funny, intelligent and biting." Excerpt from "The
Unimportant Man" - When he was a boy, grown-ups told the pizza
delivery man, "Everyone has a talent: Something that they do better
than others." Because the young pizza delivery man had no
recognizable talent; because that shortcoming troubled him, the
young pizza delivery man found the grown-ups' words very
reassuring. They helped him sleep. At night, he would drift off
fantasizing about his dormant gift. Because he enjoyed music, he
often wished he would wake the next morning with a better ear:
"Please, God" he would pray, "perfect pitch?" As the years passed,
the still talentless pizza delivery man became restless. "When will
I find my talent?" he would ask. Because he was still a boy,
grown-ups continued to ply his heart with optimism: "Give yourself
time," they would say. "However modest, you will find something
uniquely yours, something for which you will feel pride." Because
he was still young, the grown-ups' words comforted him.
Unfortunately, the pizza delivery man could not stay young forever.
As he aged, the grown-ups' reassuring words grew fewer and farther
between, until one day they stopped. The adults who once insisted
that everything was going to be alright (that his talent would
reveal itself in time) now demanded that the talentless pizza
delivery man get with the program; work with what he had; and face
the music that he could not make. As a grown-up, nighttime became
something different for the pizza delivery man. Because he will
never wake with anything like a well-tuned ear, nighttime is no
longer a time for fantasy. It is now just that time (after fitful
tossing and turning) when the pizza delivery man resigns himself to
the fact that he has nothing of which to be proud. Raised in a
society that celebrates musicians, performers, athletes, models,
published writers, intellects, entrepreneurs, charismatic
statesmen, and other talented people; having long believed that
talent is the standard against which a man's importance is
measured, nighttime is now just that time when the pizza delivery
man sees most clearly that he is an unimportant man.
General
Imprint: |
Ceuta Publishing
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
2012 |
First published: |
2012 |
Authors: |
Jeremy Nichols
|
Dimensions: |
198 x 129 x 11mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
210 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-615-58442-3 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-615-58442-X |
Barcode: |
9780615584423 |
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