The Magic Kingdom (American Literature (Dalkey Archive)) [Paperback]

Stanley Elkin (Author), Rick Moody (Afterword)

Book Description

Series: American Literature (Dalkey Archive) | Publication Date: September 2000

-- Brimming with Elkin's comic brilliance and singular wordplay, The Magic Kingdom tells the story of Eddy Bale, who, determined to learn from the ghastly experience of his son's long, drawn-out death, decides to raise enough money to take seven terminally ill children to Disney World in order to give them a dream vacation before they die.
-- Stanley Elkin, a two-timer winner of the National Book Critics Award and three-time nominee for the National Book Award, is widely considered to be one of the most important writers of the contemporary period. Author of over a dozen novels and short story collections, his works include The Franchiser, George Mills, and Mrs. Ted Bliss.
-- First published by Dutton (1985), most recent paperback by Thunder's Mouth (1991).

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A splendid work of fiction.” —Newsday

“Hysterical and profound . . . Earns its place among the dark voyages that fiction must chronicle.” —The New York Times

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

From AudioFile

Meet Eddy Bale, whose 12-year-old son has tragically died from a terminal illness. Eddy is determined to take other terminally ill children to Disney's Magic Kingdom to experience life. Elkin's similes and stream-of-consciousness descriptions flow seamlessly from Graeme Malcolm's narration. However, Malcolm's bland droning and decidedly British accent require the listener to work a little harder to appreciate the tale buried within the literary technique. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; 1st Dalkey Archive ed edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156478259X
• ISBN-13: 978-1564782595
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #951,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches & Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh's Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love, death, and a malevolent Mickey, December 30, 2001

By 

Matthew Cheney (New Hampton, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Magic Kingdom (American Literature (Dalkey Archive)) (Paperback)

There's nothing quite like the experience of readiing a Stanley Elkin novel. The bizarre events, the over-the-top characters, and the sentences -- long, winding sentences filled with tangential details and parenthetical clauses, sentences which tumble and turn, drunk on themselves, but which somehow by the end all manage to add up.

The Magic Kingdom has all of the virtues of Elkin's other great books, as well as an irresistible premise: a man who mourns his dead son by taking a group of terminally ill children to Disney World. It's as unsentimental as such a story could possibly be, and though the characters all certainly have annoying qualities, by the end the children possess a nobility which is far truer than the superficial good intentions of the adults around them.

Certainly, this will not be a book for everyone. If you only want a straightforward story with sympathetic and coherent characters, look elsewhere, for The Magic Kingdom is a sort of cross between Virginia Woolf and Monty Python. If, however, you are able to keep your imagination open, appreciate wild flights of language, and don't mind moments where you aren't sure whether to laugh, cry, or throw up, then this book is for you.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, heartbreaking stuff, November 4, 2000

By 

Jason A. Newman (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Magic Kingdom (American Literature (Dalkey Archive)) (Paperback)

If you want sentimental garbage about dying kids and them being perfect little angels, don't buy this book, watch Oprah. On the other hand, if you want a book that is totally unsentimental, yet extraordinarily heartbreaking, about dying kids who are fatally human, not angels, then get this one and quick!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars elkin's best, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magic Kingdom (Paperback)

The Magic Kingdom should be required reading for _anyone_ interested in language or writing. It's about a fateful trip that 7 terminally ill children take to Disney World, and Elkin renders each character's consciousness with wild imagination and a perfect lack of sentimentality. This is a tour de force from the fiercest imagination this side of the twentieth century.