8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Pages 244 pages OCLC 40588291 | 4/5 Goodreads Publication date 1969 Originally published 1969 Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Paperback (27 unbound sections in laminated box) Genres Fiction, Ergodic literature Publishers Panther Books (UK), Harvill Secker (US) Similar BS Johnson books, Cancer books, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book talk with brock ep 1 the unfortunates by bs johnson
The Unfortunates is an experimental "book in a box" published in 1969 by English author B. S. Johnson and reissued in 2008 by New Directions. The 27 sections are unbound, with a first and last chapter specified. The 25 sections in-between, ranging from a single paragraph to 12 pages in length, are designed to be read in any order. Christopher Fowler described it as "a fairly straightforward meditation on death and friendship, told through memories." Jonathan Coe described it as "one of the lost masterpieces of the sixties".
Contents
Johnson said of the book "I did not think then, and do not think now, that this solved the problem completely… But I continue to believe that my solution was nearer; and even if it was only marginally nearer, then it was still a better solution to the problem of conveying the mind’s randomness than the imposed order of a bound book."
The unfortunates 1
Plot
A sportswriter is sent to a city (identifiable through landmarks as Nottingham) on an assignment, only to find himself confronted by ghosts from his past. As he attempts to report an association football match, memories of his friend, a tragic victim of cancer, haunt his mind.
The city visited remains unnamed, however the novel contains an accurate description of Nottingham landmarks, its streetscape, and its environment in 1969, with additional recallings of 1959. The football ground in the novel is obviously Nottingham Forest's City Ground, from whence the fictional football club 'City' comes.