The Paper Men : With an Introduction by Andrew Martin

Join an eccentric novelist on the run from his obsessive would-be biographer in this comic farce by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies. Why should I conceal the fact that I had found a full professor of Eng. Lit. rifling my dustbin? Fame, fortune, alcoholism, a failing marriage: for novelist Wilfred Barclay, his final unbearable irritation is his would-be-biographer, the young academic Professor Rick L. Tucker, who is determined to become The Barclay Man. Locked in a lethal relationship, the two men stumble across Europe, shedding wives, self-respect and identities in a game of literary cat and mouse - and the climax of their odyssey, when it comes, is as inevitable as it is unexpected...'A complex literary comedy from an extraordinarily powerful writer, which holds us right through to the end.'Malcolm Bradbury'Rich as a compost heap... It moves you and at times it can shake you.'Melvyn Bragg'[Golding's] splendid comic gift is used to often hilarious effect, running the whole gamut of comedy, from irony to farce... Hugely enjoyable.'Daily Telegraph