Terry Southern's novel The Magic Christian (1959, 1960): the text. Eccentric billionaire Guy Grand goes around making outlandish pranks, usually involving vast sums of money. In between his grand antics, he hangs out with his aunts Esther and Agnes, plus Miss Ginger Horton and her Pekinese Bitsy. The text reveals no "classic" conflict, no character development and few clues as to inner motivation. Grand disrupts the status quo, but only for a while, then moves on to his next escapade. He shows what people will stoop to in pursuit of easy money, but no one seems to learn anything -- including Grand.
The context. Published in a time fraught with artistic upheaval and experimentation at the brink of "the Sixites," The Magic Christian comes off like one of Grand's pranks -- as does the praise lavished on it at the time by fellow writers and artists. Peter Sellars thought it hilarious and sent a copy to Stanley Kubrick, who then hired Southern to help infuse the script of what became Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963, 1964) with dark and sometimes goofy comedy.
In 1969, Ringo Starr and Peter Sellars starred in the movie version of The Magic Christian; in the meantime, an image of Southern was included on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) -- second row from the back, wearing shades, near Tony Curtis and Dylan Thomas.
I picked up a copy of the book at the Texas Theatre on May 1, 2011, during the Terry Southern Day celebration in Oak Cliff, based on the title alone.
Today's Rune: Fertility.
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