The Sot-Weed Factor [Paperback]

John Barth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1969

Back cover:
The great American novel of anti-Americana
"Outrageously funny, villainously slanderous... The book is a bare-knuckled satire of humanity at large... Barth's masterstroke is an alleged secret journal of Capt. John Smith. Its version of the Pocahontas story is truly Rabelaisian and marvelously executed." - The New York Times Book Review

"The Sot-Weed Factor is that rare literary creation - a genuinely serious comedy... Ebenezer Cooke, is this boisterous historical farce, emerges as one of the most diverting heroes to roam the world since Candide." - Time

Product Details

• Paperback: 819 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books (1969)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000PH100M
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,116,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll never look at an eggplant the same way again, January 14, 2002

By 

Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sot-Weed Factor (The Anchor Literary Library) (Paperback)

If you've read the book, then you know exactly what I'm talking about and are probably doubled over in laughter just at the mention of it . . . if you haven't, well there's just one more reason to start reading this. Widely considered Barth's best novel (I'm very much a novice with him, this being only my second book so I'm no man to judge) I can easily see why it deserves such a status. A parody of historical novels, Barth writes the story in the style of that time so it seems like all those books your teachers made you read in high school, but better. The book is massive and concerns the various adventures of would-be poet Ebenezer Cooke, writer of the poem "The Sot-Weed Factor" as he becomes involved, willingly or otherwise, in more situations than any man should reasonably have to undertake. An attempts to summarize the plot are useless, it's too sprawling, people who want instant gratification will be at a loss here, this is a book you have to absorb over the course of a few days and get used to the style before it sinks in just how much fun it is. The characters play everything seriously, making the jokes (and there are plenty, with the funniest of a vulgar nature and often involving the story of Captain John Smith of Pocohantus fame) come off as utterly hilarious, but at the same time Barth manages to make you care just a little bit about them, as quirky as they are, they still come across as typically flawed human beings. Probably the best thing about the book is its sheer unpredictability, not shackled by the morals of the 16th century, anything and everything does happen, nobody is what they seem and situations shift gears so rapidly that it'll make your head spin even as you can't stop laughing. A truimph on nearly every level, this is something a lesser writer would have only managed to turn into a stale stylistic genre exercise, something to wow the kids in the creative writing workshop . . . what Barth creates here is something lasting and no matter what century it was written in or evokes, will probably wind up being timeless.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, picaresque, bawdy tale, January 10, 2000

By 

Wordsworth (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Sot-Weed Factor (The Anchor Literary Library) (Paperback)

This true American masterpiece is written like a 17th century literary novel. The style could well be Fielding, except that Barth is even more hilarious.At a time when minimalist novelists seem to be in vogue, I revelled in the intelligent richness of the elaborate quixotic tale woven by Barth. When a novelist can write as well as peers like Saul Bellow or V.S. Naipaul, then a maximalist style like Barth's is to be savoured. Poor chaste poet laureate, Ebenezer Cooke, encounters harsh reality at every turn, including capture by pirates and Indians. His dreams drive him to ridiculous ends where his ambitions are constantly confounded by greater existential powers. "The road to Heaven's beset with thistles, and methinks there's many a cowpat on't." The dialogue is delicious and well-constructed with an authenticity and wit and bawdy truth. You have to marvel at the construction of such credible characters as Joan Toast, Bertrand, Boabdil, Andrew, Pocahontas and the pirate captain. Barth's dialogue on various letters of the alphabet, the trading of ancient insults and the scene where Ebenezer fears drowning in Chesapeake Bay were uproariously funny. Barth obviously knows the Eastern Shore near the Choptank River intimately: it's a lovely setting for his novel. For any true lover of great American literary novels, The Sotweed Factor should be on your must-read list.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpeice of Satire!, July 25, 2000

By 

"pynhead_reviewer" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sot-Weed Factor (The Anchor Literary Library) (Paperback)

Perhaps most impressive of all of John Barth's picaresque classic is the fact that it succeeds on many levels. It is quite difficult to imagine anyone taking this novel completely seriously, however it can be read as an epic. Most likely it will be enjoyed as a brilliant satire providing most readers with innumerable passages that will have them laughing out loud. However one senses many philosophical statements and themes communicated through the characters' preposterous actions and attitudes. It was the characters, in fact, that impressed me the most about "The Sot-Weed Factor," while appearing at times ridiculous to the point of being hilarious, most readers will likely find a little bit of themselves in characters like Ebenezer Cooke, Henry Burlingame, etc. My favorite character was Ebenezer's servant whose name eludes me at this time. Barth has coined himself a "smiling nihilist" and this book is a fine example of this sentiment, though most readers will likely spend less time smiling and more time doubled over in laughter. A must-read!