Sixties Novels, Part 39
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MOTHER IS A COUNTRY, Kathrin Perutz, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968.
Here's another entry in what the critic James Wood recently called the genre of "hysterical realism." Woods coined the term to refer to contemporary postmodern maximalists like Pynchon, but the roots of such absurdist satires go way back to the Sixties--Pynchon's native era as well.
Here's the dustjacket copy of this novel if you want the details. You'll have to magnify it twice for readability. The plot and characters are much of a muchness with other such comedic farces we've seen in our examination of Sixties novels.
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But perhaps some uniqueness accrues to the author being a woman, for this loud, gonzo genre seems mostly a male preserve. And what a cheerful, zaftig gal. Here's KP's photo from the back cover of MOTHER.
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There have been lots of great author photos on these books, and I have perhaps been remiss in not including more of them.
KP had a fairly substantial career, as outlined here:
http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4655/Perutz-Kathrin.html
In 2005, we find her composing a memoir, excerpted here:
http://www.hamiltonstone.org/hsr7.html
She's only 68 years old, so perhaps we'll see more work from her soon.
Posted by Paul DiFi.
