The Macguffin [Hardcover]

Stanley Elkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991

 

A municipal employee sets out to unravel a murder—and save himself from the split personality that is pushing him to the brink

 

At age fifty-eight, Robert Druff’s destructive alter ego has begun to take over his life. Frustrated with his job as Commissioner of the Streets and desperate to protect his aura of power, Druff injects himself into the middle of a conspiracy revolving around the death of his son’s girlfriend—and everyone, from his employees to his mistress, seems to be complicit in the plot.

 

Deeply humorous and engaging, The MacGuffin is a striking exploration of obsession and the imaginative story of a man struggling against his own frailty to regain control of his life.

 

This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.

 

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this exuberant, offbeat novel, the wildly inventive Elkin ( George Mills ) unleashes a Hitchcockian MacGuffin (the narrative spirit) which takes over the ebbing life of Bobbo Druff, 58, the fairly honest but bribable street commissioner of a mid-size American city. Kafka-esque unseen enemies and their supposed spies, perhaps including Bobbo's newly acquired mistress, Meg Glorioso, may be trying to nail him for an unspecified crime linked somehow to the hit-and-run death of the Lebanese Moslem Shiite girlfriend of his son Mikey, a 30-year-old ninny. Bobbo winds up talking to the MacGuffin and eventually locks him out of his house. Elkin's imagination flags toward the end, but he has rewarded us with many comic turns, including the courtship of Bobbo and his future nagging wife under Hays Office rules: Bobbo has had to keep one foot on the floor at all times. First serial to Playboy.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Elkin here presents Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff, who, believing he is losing his power, orchestrates a series of useless and paranoid gestures to show that he is still top dog even though no one actually is challenging his authority. Though weird, the book was praised by LJ's reviewer for its "inspired, Joycean wordplay based on clich?s, shoptalk, and technical jargon" (LJ 2/1/91).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 283 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671673246
• ISBN-13: 978-0671673246
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,047,061 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

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended reading., April 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The MacGuffin (Paperback)

Aging City Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff, in an effort to hang on to his persona of authority and power, constructs a "MacGuffin", a paranoid plot where everyone is out to get him. Druff starts an illicit affair, instigates fights with his employees, invents lies for his family, and does anything he can think of to create a world in which he is placed at the center of influential, self-advertising scandal. A memorable comedy figure, Druff's self-conscious madness is hilariously inventive. Author Stanley Elkin writes his novel with the lyrical intensity of poetry and creates within his character universal qualities (including self-delusions and hopeless machinations) that resonate in us all. Highly recommended.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable, comic read, April 10, 2004

By 

J. Jacobs - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The MacGuffin (Paperback)

Disappointing ending, but enjoyable, comic read. 24 hours in the life of an aging, insecure, politician. Interesting dialogues between a male and his member.