Illusion in java

by Gene Fowler

A folk tale-style story of Ajoks, the dreaming son of a dreaming father who prefers music and poetry to farming rice. He leaves his home in Java to seek fame and success, but falls under the spell of Solo, the Cat-Woman.

303 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Gene Fowler (born Eugene Devlan) was an American journalist, author, and dramatist, known for his racy, readable content and for the speed of his writing. After a year at the University of Colorado, he took a job with The Denver Post. His assignments included an interview with the frontiersman and Wild West Show promoter Buffalo Bill Cody. He established his trademark impertinence by questioning Cody about his many love affairs.

Fowler left Denver for Chicago, then moved to New York where Fowler worked for the New York Daily Mirror, New York Evening Journal and as managing editor of the New York American and The Morning Telegraph. His work included more than a dozen screenplays, mostly written in the 1930s.

Reviews

[Austen to Zafón]

This book belonged to my father's father. The author, Gene Fowler, was a journalist, and known wit. He said,"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." He was friends with W.C. Fields and John Barrymore. You'd think an author like that would appeal to me, but this book isn't that good and I'm finding it offensive. It's been on my "currently reading" list since 2012 and I don't think I'm ever going to finish it. It's kind of parable-like, a story of a Javanese man and his life, meant to be humorous I'm sure, but it comes off as a white man writing about something he knows nothing about and making a racist mess of it. It was written in 1939, so I'm not sure what I expected. I think I just wanted to see what my grandfather got up to in his reading life. I'm not impressed.