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Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. Johnson
Jonathan Coe (Picador)
The Times
In his heyday during the 1960s and early 1970s, B. S. Johnson
was one of the best-known young novelists in Britain. A
passionate advocate for the avant-garde in both literature
and film, he gained notoriety for his forthright views on
the future of the novel and for his idiosyncratic ways of
putting them into practice. His innovations included a book
with holes cut through the pages, and a novel published in
a box so that its unbound chapters
could be read in any order. But in November 1973 Johnson's
lifelong depression got the better of him, and he was found
dead at his north London home. He had taken his own
life at the age of forty.
Jonathan Coe's long-awaited biography is based upon unique
access to the vast collection of papers Johnson left behind,
and upon dozens of interviews with those who knew him best.
Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. An award-winning
novelist, biographer and critic, his novels include What
a Carve Up! which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
and the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, The House
of Sleep which won the Writers' Guild Best
Fiction Award and The Closed Circle. He
was recently made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres. Jonathan Coe lives in London.
Contact: Camilla Elworthy at Picador on 020 7014 6178 or c.elworthy@macmillan.co.uk
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