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Cocksure
In the swinging culture of sixties’ London, Canadian Mortimer Griffin is a beleaguered editor adrift in a sea of hypocrisy and deceit. Alone in a world where nobody shares his values but everyone wants the same things, Mortimer must navigate the currents of these changing times. Richler’s eccentric cast of characters include the gorgeous Polly, who conducts her life as though it were a movie, complete with censor-type cuts at all the climactic moments; Rachel Coleman, slinky Black Panther of the boudoir; Star Maker, the narcissistic Hollywood tycoon who has discovered the secret of eternal life; and a precocious group of school children with a taste for the teachings of the Marquis de Sade. Cocksure is a savagely funny satire on television, movies, and the entertainment industry. This is Mordecai Richler at his most caustic and wicked best.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Mordecai Richler
92 books387 followersWorking-class Jewish background based novels, which include
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
(1959) and
Saint Urbain's Horseman
(1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
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April 1, 2020Questo è uno di quei libri che dovresti leggere due volte: la prima per abituarti al tono usato (di un satirico e umorismo nero che sfiorano l'indecente), la seconda per goderterlo (forse).
Peccato che non penso esista nessuno disposto ad andare oltre la prima - e, di certo, non sarò io a buttarmi in quest'impresa. Infatti, ammetto a mani basse che non mi è piaciuto: sarà stato il tono troppo spinto, oppure il disgusto fisico che provavo mentre leggevo del Creatore di Stelle, oppure il fastidio che mi ha dato la miriade di personaggi cretini che attorniavano il protagonista, o ancora il finale amarissimo. Peccato, perché alcuni momenti sono decisamente brillanti.
Visto che non so quanto questo derivi dal mio gusto personale, o dal libro stesso, niente stelline e via col prossimo libro, nella speranza sia uno di quelli buoni.
Peccato che non penso esista nessuno disposto ad andare oltre la prima - e, di certo, non sarò io a buttarmi in quest'impresa. Infatti, ammetto a mani basse che non mi è piaciuto: sarà stato il tono troppo spinto, oppure il disgusto fisico che provavo mentre leggevo del Creatore di Stelle, oppure il fastidio che mi ha dato la miriade di personaggi cretini che attorniavano il protagonista, o ancora il finale amarissimo. Peccato, perché alcuni momenti sono decisamente brillanti.
Visto che non so quanto questo derivi dal mio gusto personale, o dal libro stesso, niente stelline e via col prossimo libro, nella speranza sia uno di quelli buoni.
November 8, 2015
"Vuoi qualcosa da bere?" chiese Rachel. Mortimer l'attirò a sè sul divano, e le sue mani volarono su per la gonna. Rachel si divincolò ridendo. "Niente paroline dolci e carezzevoli per cominciare" chiese, gli occhi beffardi "come faresti con una ragazza bianca?"
Con una ragazza bianca. Potrebbe mai essere, pensò Mortimer terrorizzato, che la sua preziosa erezione fosse impura, il prodotto non di una molle sessuale, ma di una suggestione politica? Era possibile che il tum-tum-tum non fosse, come disperatamente sperava, la sua virilità ritornata, ma soltanto uno spregevole gesto liberal? L'indurimento nient'altro che condiscendenza bianca?
Un libro distopico, complicato, kafkiano, divertentissimo e spaventoso.
Con una ragazza bianca. Potrebbe mai essere, pensò Mortimer terrorizzato, che la sua preziosa erezione fosse impura, il prodotto non di una molle sessuale, ma di una suggestione politica? Era possibile che il tum-tum-tum non fosse, come disperatamente sperava, la sua virilità ritornata, ma soltanto uno spregevole gesto liberal? L'indurimento nient'altro che condiscendenza bianca?
Un libro distopico, complicato, kafkiano, divertentissimo e spaventoso.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews