I am Elijah Thrush

by James Purdy

On its surface, I Am Elijah Thrush is the story of Millicent De Frayne and her sensational half-century campaign to win the love of Elijah Thrush. Elijah, after ruining the lives of countless men and women, is finally in love “incorrectly, if not indecently,” with his great-grandson, Bird of Heaven. To support an unusual habit, a young Black man, Albert Peggs, reluctantly agrees to tell their remarkable story. It is in this telling that the ambitions, desires, and true natures of Elijah, Millicent, and Albert come to light. With a delicately controlled balance of whimsy and pathos, James Purdy gives us this comedy of the heroic, the tragic, and the truly bizarre.

Genres: Fiction, American Fiction, Gay

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

James Otis Purdy was an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and playwright who, from his debut in 1956, published over a dozen novels, and many collections of poetry, short stories, and plays. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages and in 2013 his short stories were collected in The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy.
He has been praised by writers as diverse as Edward Albee, James M. Cain, Lillian Hellman, Francis King, Marianne Moore, Dorothy Parker, Dame Edith Sitwell, Terry Southern, Gore Vidal (who described Purdy as "an authentic American genius"), Jonathan Franzen (who called him, in Farther Away, "one of the most undervalued and underread writers in America"), A.N. Wilson, and both Jane Bowles and Paul Bowles.
Purdy was the recipient of the Morton Dauwen Zabel Fiction Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1993) and was nominated for the 1985 PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel On Glory's Course (1984). In addition, he won two Guggenheim Fellowships (1958 and 1962), and grants from the Ford Foundation (1961), and Rockefeller Foundation.
He worked as an interpreter, and lectured in Europe with the United States Information Agency.

Reviews

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Purdy in his early-era New York social fantasy style. It came out in the 70's, and appears to be set in the 70's or late 60's, but is infused with the bric-a-brac and lexicon of a much earlier era, possibly the 20's, which is appropriate because two of the main characters are close to one hundred years old, yet are strangely ageless (the female lead maintaining her youth through the application of semen she extracts from a string of youths) and firmly ensconced, through sheer fantastical will power, in another world and era.

The story is an elaborate fantasia involving a virile gay black man, a swishy but domineering actor, the above said female, and a mute golden child. The book is short but is packed with many themes and messages, up to and including social satire, race, gender and sexual orientation, acting and various masks, and the cult of youth.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"James Purdy's controversial new novel is the story of Millicent De Frayne and her sensational half century campaign to win the love of Elijah Thrush. Elijah, after ruining the lives of countless men and women, is finally himself in love, "incorrectly, but not indecently", with his great grandson, Bird of Heaven. In order to support an unusual habit, a young black man reluctantly agrees to tell their remarkable story.

James Purdy recounts this comedy with a delicately controlled balance of whimsy and pathos, of the heroic and the bizarre. Outrageous, yet tender and oddly moving, the book reflects a surprising new facet of Purdy's remarkable talent." From the jacket of the 1972 Doubleday, hardback edition.

I am struggling to find the words to adequately describe, let alone praise, this wonderful novella. In a recent edition, Robert J. Corber, in his Forward, discusses Purdy’s “complicated allegory” of objectification, desire, and race in the immediate post-civil rights moment. But I don't think you should look for realism or contemporary relevance in this novel. It may be there but what matters is that it is beautifully and amusingly written with archetypes of myth and poetry at its core. An innocent put-upon hero is in the clutches of two warring vampiric centenarians. It is a hallucinatory as Narrow Rooms but not so bloody but as compulsive.

Despite Gordon Lish, fiction editor at Esquire magazine publishing nearly the entire novel and Paul Bowles and Virgil Thomson loving it the New York Times gave a negative review and thus Purdy's estrangement from the New York literary and publishing worlds began.

I find all Purdy's works extraordinary - but what they are about is less important than what they are - uniquely inspired words of genius. Is 'I am Elijah Thrush' a gay novel - certainly not, and I don't consider Purdy a gay writer because he is above genre. Purdy was queer in the most multifaceted meaning of the word and this novel is queer in that sense. I do not deny the erotic queerness or the queerness of love in this and so many of his novels but they, and Purdy, are to wildly transgressive to fit into the neat confines of defined literature for use on English or Creative writing courses. You can't teach anyone to write like Purdy because he is unique and inimitable.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The next cluster of reviews will be brief because I binged on three Purdy novels over a five-day vacation, but I Am Elijah Thrush is ecstatically queer in a similar vein as Eustace Chisholm and the Works, but it exchanges some of the pointed bleakness with more magical realism and comic picaresque. Not to mention that it is shorter. It's a highly avian and highly satirical take on the pursuit of love, about a journey versus its outcome, the collateral damage of cruelty when one takes on a myopic pursuit, the selfishness beneath certain conditions of sacrifice, and much, much more. It's funny, quirky, sweet, and more. Purdy has clearly demonstrated that he has a very broad yet very concentrated comic vision, as Susan Sontag once wrote about him, but I also think he has a very firm grasp on something I think is more aptly described as "bizarre" than "absurd." The whole mechanism is so queered up that the playful suspension and retention of said suspension of disbelief is part of a larger, queer joy in his craft and in his story. I love both Purdy's style and his technique. Edmund White can say that he's "allergic" to James Purdy all he wants, but I will rep for Purdy over White any day. Purdy has a singular imagination whereas White has a very polished craft. Yet another delightfully queer book from Mr. Purdy.

[Chrétien Breukers · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Purdy is een wonderlijke auteur - met een wonderlijk oeuvre. Deze heruitgave van ‘Ik ben Elijah Trush’ bewijst dat weer; in een particuliere, zompige schaduwwereld laat Purdy zijn personages zich op de tast overgeven aan hun obsessies. Gaan ze ten onder? Het zou zomaar kunnen. Is hun verhaal een lange metafoor voor een stad (New York) en de wereld die ten onder gaan? Ook dat is mogelijk. Lezen!

[RP · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, original, and highly absurd work of art about the desperate pursuit of perfect love, which cannot be attained! There are surprises within. If you think you've "seen everything", seek out this treasure and be delighted.

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

ames Purdy (1914-2009) heeft zowel romans, gedichten als toneelstukken geschreven; zijn werk is echter weinig bekend, al heeft hij een kleine schare toegewijde lezers, en dit niet enkel in de Engelstalige wereld. Werken van Purdy werden in ruim dertig talen vertaald. Hij hanteert een zeer eigenzinnige, duistere stijl; de toon is vaak ironisch of satirisch, en de verhalen zijn grotesk of bevreemdend. Dikwijls zit er een homo-erotische ondertoon in. De personages van Purdy gedragen zich soms bizar; het is niet duidelijk waarom ze iets doen, of waarom ze met elkaar te maken krijgen.
Op het eerste gezicht is I Am Elijah Thrush het verhaal van Millicent De Frayne en haar sensationele halve eeuw campagne om de liefde van Elijah Thrush te winnen. Elia is, na het leven van talloze mannen en vrouwen te hebben verwoest, eindelijk verliefd op zijn achterkleinzoon Bird of Heaven. Om een ​​ongewone gewoonte te ondersteunen, stemt een jonge zwarte man, Albert Peggs, met tegenzin in om hun opmerkelijke verhaal te vertellen. Het is in dit verhaal dat de ambities, verlangens en ware aard van Elia, Millicent en Albert aan het licht komen. Met een subtiel gecontroleerd evenwicht tussen eigenzinnigheid en pathos, geeft James Purdy ons deze komedie van het heroïsche, het tragische en het werkelijk bizarre.

Purdy schetst New York als een dystopie, maar vertelt geen louter tragische geschiedenis. In deze parabel toont hij zijn lezers de vele facetten van intermenselijke betrekkingen, van de hartstocht en de wreedheden en de pijn die onlosmakelijk verbonden zijn aan het leven op aarde. Daarnaast is zijn verhaal met vlagen hilarisch en soms zelfs kluchtig: de achtervolgingen, de persoonsverwisselingen, een ontvoering en ontsnappingspogingen zijn even absurd als komisch.
Purdy creëert driehoeksverhoudingen tussen twee oudere blanke vijanden, een zwarte man die is ingehuurd als spion, een kind dat met kussende geluiden spreekt en een dier dat opgesloten in een kamer leeft. Over liefde wordt op een geweldige, nieuwe manier geschreven
Bij de eerste publicatie in 1972 stuitte deze nieuwe editie op kritische verbijstering en bood een voorwoord van Robert J. Corber die Purdy's 'gecompliceerde allegorie' van objectivering, verlangen en ras op het moment direct nadat het de burgerrechten belicht.
Sommige mensen die dit boek lazen gingen er vaak van uit dat Purdy Afro-Amerikaans was, omdat maar weinig blanke schrijvers zo vrijmoedig over Afro-Amerikanen schrijven. Het racisme tegen Albert is een constante kracht en pijn in het boek. In veel boeken wordt racisme geïmpliceerd of gezinspeeld, maar in Purdy's boek wordt het blootgelegd en onderzocht. Purdy's vertelling als Albert is zo attent, bizar en intiem. Het is belangrijk om te zien vanuit het oogpunt van Albert, om zijn pijn en zijn liefde te ervaren, en er is zoveel van beide.
Geslachten, leeftijden, huidskleur, sociale klasse, het ware en het gedroomde, verlangen, iemands afkomst, ambities, dit alles in Ik ben Elijah Thrush botst en vermengt zich in de zekerheid dat niets definitief kan zijn, dat de enige zekerheid is dat het heden voortdurend opnieuw moet worden uitgevonden, waarbij de toekomst bij elke stap verandert.
Een heel bijzonder boek!

[Nick Leither · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of my favorites. I visited James Purdy in his Brooklyn Heights apartment several years before he died.

[Ted Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am Elijah Thrush and I like this book.

[Terese Svoboda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird, weird, weird, even for me. I was drawn to it because Brian Evenson said my forthcoming speculative fiction, Roxy and Coco (WVUP, Feb. 2024) had similarities. Mines about harpies who as social workers sometimes off abusive parents. There is a giant bird in Elijah,yes, but no gay white performer -- The Most Beautiful Man in the World -- nor his memoirist, a black man besotted with the woman who's hired him to spy on the performer, the performer, and the performer's great grandson. Written in an elevated style, it's a strange take on the post-civil rights movement. Short, but worth it for anybody serious about strange fiction.

[Mark Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up.
A strange, strange book. My least favourite of the four or five Purdys I have read so far.

[derek allard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bizarre, loaded, and absolutely wonderful.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in the surreal and weird in my early teens, and I was just starting to have some "out" gay friends, so I'm sure this book appealed on both counts. I honestly don't remember much about it because I read it so long ago. Perhaps it should go on my re-read list!

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heel weird en absurdistisch, misschien iets te voor mij. Veel lagen over de sociaal/maatschappelijke context van Amerika begin vorige eeuw die ik pas na het lezen van nawoord er uithaalde. Mooie illustraties!!

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comedy has a weird logic of its own, like a freshly remembered dream in the waking moments of the morning.