THE BIG JIGGETY, a picaresque, romantic, humorous, philosophical,
sociological, (mostly autobiographical) novel, relates the travels
and travails of Albert Nostran. An 18-year old American born and
raised in the country outside 25 miles east of Paris, his quest is
to find America, a woman, and himself. Lugging his guitar, Don
Pedro, fleeing his cantankerous father, well-meaning mother and a
brother he wants to turn into a fellow musician, he braves disease,
fatigue, cold and angst to land in Big Sky University in Missoula,
Montana, to sink his teeth into the frozen American west. Many
aspects of US/Montana life intrigue the protagonist, yet Nostran
retains a European sense of history and critical mind; arguably a
Tocqueville of the late 1970s, he never misses an opportunity to
comment on the local societal oddities and contradictions. "Perhaps
you were more French than you thought," Damian his childhood friend
tells the homesick hero in chapter one. Before they launch off in
an exploration of a bleak, wintery, nocturnal Paris, during which
Nostran loses his innocence in the arms of a prostitute. After whom
our hero believes he has contracted something nasty, yet another
little inconvenience he must face when flying back to Chicago via
London. And matters do not improve in the endless yet at times
magical bus ride between Salt-Lake-City and Butte, and he comes
close to freezing trying to hitch-hike along the wide open spaces
between Butte and Missoula. A few pills later, the sex quest
resumes. Undaunted, Nostran in his diaspora flirts with one woman
and then another with precious little of the supposed Gallic
related savoir faire. Life at the university does harbor the
excitement ofweekends and dormitory life, with its freshman
friendships and navet as well the tedium and occasional
enlightenment of classes. And extra curricular activities, such as
teaching dorm-mates how to strum a guitar. Against this background
vivid characters are etched: Threats, the homophobic narcissistic
football player; Rotch, another jock, who after having learned
guitar from Albert begins to ridicule his former mentor. Up in
Polson, Mt., we encounter Montcarlson and his wife, the curious
couple who originally recommended the university. In Dubois,
Wyoming, we meet Lancelot Wolf, owner of the Salamander Ranch, and
Jim, the bisexual bartender, who reveals unexpected secrets about
women the eager Nostran very quickly applies to Tweets, the stocky
femme fatale in the blue car he more than befriends on yet another
glacial return to Missoula. Bags repacked, the last U.S. trek takes
him and two others back east to Chicago and New York--one American
city whose intensity captivates him. If the USA experience at times
mystified the adolescent, returning to France in the summer proves
anticlimactic. At first. What the old country appears to lack in
razzle-dazzle, it gradually makes up in terms of simplicity and
deep-rooted friendships. Besides, after a stint with translations
Nostran cannot sit still for long. Driving from his boyhood home in
Seine-et-Marne (a little east of Paris), first up to Amsterdam with
three rambunctious of old high school mates, then down to the
Spanish border, via the Loire valley, with the equally lust-ridden
Lecoq-Hasien, Nostran once again rediscovers the virtues of Europe
and home. At the very last minute when all sexual hope has been
abandoned, a young lady on theSaint-Jean-de-Luz boardwalk asks him
for a light. She is not a prostitute and agrees to meet him the
next day... *
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