Lint
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Synopsis
Jeff Lint was author of some of the strangest and most inventive satirical SF of the twentieth century. He transcended genre in classics such as "Jelly Result and The Stupid Conversation", becoming a cult figure and pariah. Like his contemporary Philip K. Dick, he was blithely ahead of his time. Aylett follows Lint through his Beat days; his immersion in pulp SF, psychedelia and resentment; his disastrous scripts for "Star Trek" and "Patton"; the controversies of "The Caterer" comic and the scariest kids' cartoon ever aired; and his belated Hollywood success in the 1990s. It was a career haunted by death, including the undetected death of his agent, the suspicious death of his rival Herzog, and the unshakable 'Lint is dead' rumors, which persisted even after his death.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Steve Aylett is possessed of genius. It is, however, a narrow form of genius, focused on a form of verbal free-association that finds its optimum expression in satire. In some of his earlier books, his uninhibited plays on words was sometimes too diffuse and failed to gel into a coherent work. 'The Inflatable Volunteer', for example, is a pyrotechnic display of absurdist wit that avoids going anywhere in particular. As happened with many of the early surrealist writings this removes the work from the sphere of human concerns to an extent that it is lost to most people.
In 'Lint' however, Aylett has found a brilliant framework on which to hang his extrapolations. Indeed, possibly because of the discipline of having a baseground from which to work, the inventions are even more outlandish, often approaching a mode of expression beyond expression (to paraphrase Breton).
Like most of the literary surrealism of the 20s and 30s (Breton, Eluard, Peret in particular) Aylett abandons visually evocative prose altogether and writes at the dictate of an 'inner ear'. The results are extremely disorienting. The laughter doesn't begin immediately, the first response being bafflement accompanied by a kind of growing unease knocking on the door of a nihilistic horror. For me, the reaction occured at the beginning of the third chapter when a chance combination of phrases unleashed a tide of hysteria. I was forced to read the rest of the book in a room on my own, away from my wife who threatened to kill me if I didn't shut up. The laughter became painful - this is not feelgood comedy! This is a humour whose basis is buried deep in the cellular level. Black and strong!
Aylett throws out at least one idea per sentence that somebody else would have written into a full-length work. Sketches and embryos for what could have been developed into whole other plotlines. Almost as if Aylett had been granted access to view some vast forbidden library and, like Dylan writing 'A HArd Rain's A Goona Fall' on what he thought was the verge of doomsday, condensed as much of it into a small space as possible.
My only worry is that, having crammed so much into 'Lint' Aylett will be emptied of inspiration, like an old wine-sack. Where will he go after this?
In 'Lint' however, Aylett has found a brilliant framework on which to hang his extrapolations. Indeed, possibly because of the discipline of having a baseground from which to work, the inventions are even more outlandish, often approaching a mode of expression beyond expression (to paraphrase Breton).
Like most of the literary surrealism of the 20s and 30s (Breton, Eluard, Peret in particular) Aylett abandons visually evocative prose altogether and writes at the dictate of an 'inner ear'. The results are extremely disorienting. The laughter doesn't begin immediately, the first response being bafflement accompanied by a kind of growing unease knocking on the door of a nihilistic horror. For me, the reaction occured at the beginning of the third chapter when a chance combination of phrases unleashed a tide of hysteria. I was forced to read the rest of the book in a room on my own, away from my wife who threatened to kill me if I didn't shut up. The laughter became painful - this is not feelgood comedy! This is a humour whose basis is buried deep in the cellular level. Black and strong!
Aylett throws out at least one idea per sentence that somebody else would have written into a full-length work. Sketches and embryos for what could have been developed into whole other plotlines. Almost as if Aylett had been granted access to view some vast forbidden library and, like Dylan writing 'A HArd Rain's A Goona Fall' on what he thought was the verge of doomsday, condensed as much of it into a small space as possible.
My only worry is that, having crammed so much into 'Lint' Aylett will be emptied of inspiration, like an old wine-sack. Where will he go after this?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A perfectly written fictional biograpy of a pulp fiction writer.
It encapsulates the insantiy of the Pulp genre and inbibes it with enough mad cap sci-fi, throw away comic book one liners, and charaterisation to make it a nigh on perfect read.
The book titles, and rivalries regualrly catch you unawares and leave you guffawing on the bus/train/tube.
Read it.
It encapsulates the insantiy of the Pulp genre and inbibes it with enough mad cap sci-fi, throw away comic book one liners, and charaterisation to make it a nigh on perfect read.
The book titles, and rivalries regualrly catch you unawares and leave you guffawing on the bus/train/tube.
Read it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By S. Jones
Format:Paperback
One of the funniest book I have ever read. At times, it was just impossible to read it as I was laughing so much.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A result, if not quite a full belly
Aylett's biographical study of the notorious pulp author Jeff Lint is a teasingly exquisite piece. It takes your hand, leads you into the tire-kicking world of the much-maligned... Read more
Published 19 months ago by sft
5.0 out of 5 stars
if a snake likes it, why not give it a try?
I cannot claim to be adequately qualified to review this astonishing book, but when something makes you bite your arm repeatedly to avoiding waking the neighbours with shrieks of... Read more
Published on 2 May 2011 by Mervyn Dacre
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