The Sweet-Scented Manuscript [Paperback]

Tito Perdue (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: Baskerville Publishers (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880909685
• ISBN-13: 978-1880909683
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,096,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tito Perdue was born in 1938 in Chile, South America where his father, an Alabama native, was employed as an electrical engineer with the Braden Copper Company. Returning to the United States in 1941, his family settled in Anniston, Alabama, remaining there until his father's employer relocated to St. Louis in 1955. In 1956 Tito graduated from Indian Springs School, a private academy located south of Birmingham, and was admitted to Antioch College in Ohio, an institution from which he was expelled in 1957 for having cohabited off-campus with the former Judy Clark, also an Antioch student. They were married later that year, both at age 18, and are together still. This year at college is the subject of The Sweet-Scented Manuscript, published in 2004 by Baskerville Publishers.

Tito attended the University of Texas in 1957-59 and 1960-61, receiving the B.A. at the end of that period. His daughter Melanie was born in January 1959, in Austin, Texas. During 1959-60, he worked as an assistant bookkeeper in the financial district of New York City. He returned to New York after graduation from the University of Texas and was employed for one year as an insurance underwriter, an experience lovingly described in his novel The New Austerities published in 1994 to very good reviews.

Tito was employed by the University of Iowa Libraries in 1968-70, and then began work as The Social Sciences Bibliographer at Iowa State University, a position held for ten years ending in 1980. He then became Assistant Director of the State University of New York at Binghamton Library and left in 1982 to become Associate Director of Emory University Library. He was discharged from that position in early 1983 as a result of policy disagreements and opted to devote himself full-time thereafter to novel writing.

In 1991 Tito's first published novel Lee was issued by Four Walls Eight Windows, a small press in New York City. The book received favorable reviews in The New York Times and elsewhere, being declared "spellbinding" by The New England Review of Books and "a stunning debut" by The Los Angeles Reader. Among negative reviews, Publishers' Weekly exposed the book as the work of a reactionary snob and revealed that "it sinks under the weight of its own pretensions."

In 1994 his somewhat experimental Opportunities in Alabama Agriculture was published, a story based upon the history of his forebears on his mother's side. Extremely favorable and extended reviews were provided by Thomas Fleming, editor of Chronicles; a Magazine of American Culture, and by columnist Jim Knipfel of The New York Press. In 2007 a paperback edition of Lee was issued by Overlook Press. Tito's most recent novel, Fields of Asphodel also appeared in 2007 from the same publisher.
Tito determined to become a writer as a result of having read the novels of Thomas Wolfe when he was an adolescent. Since that time he has been writing, or preparing to write (or resuscitating), for a period of about fifty years.

Depending upon the weather and the day of the week, Tito admires Orwell, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Hardy and the nearly-forgotten Ladislas Reymont. Among current American authors, he prefers Larry Brown, William Gay, and Wendell Berry. Tito's taste in music runs to Wagner and Mahler.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perdue's fine use of language, June 27, 2005

By 

Walker Evans - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sweet-Scented Manuscript (Paperback)

While the subject of Tito Perdue's "The Sweet-Scented Manuscript" (a country boy experiencing the world for the first time when he arrives at college) may not seem unique or special, it is in Perdue's deft manipulations of the novel's language that this artistic effort really shines. Perdue doesn't dumb anything down - rather, he exhibits an efficiency with words that gently demands that the reader pay full attention to the prose. Often, books like this can get bogged down in their own aesthetic self-importance, but Perdue sidesteps such problems with ease. Practically every sentence is phrased in such a refreshing manner that I found myself smiling while reading this book - not because of the situations or characters (though the characters are highly individual and fascinating throughout), but because of the playfulness of a sentence or the intricacy of a turn of phrase.

It is a shame that Tito Perdue has remained out of the mainstream for so long - this is his fourth published novel, and it reflects a capable and poetic wordsmith. I recommend this novel to anyone interested in having a fresh and compelling reading experience.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and entertaining story., November 13, 2007

By 

L. Bobolink "Bobby" (Southern USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sweet-Scented Manuscript (Paperback)

This book tells of a young man going off to college and what happens to him there. It describes the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a young man's first impressions of the world outside of Alabama. This could be considered a 'coming of age' in the 50-60's story, but through the magic of Perdue's prose, it is also much more. The descriptions of the world seen through Lee Pefley's eyes are unique, more beautiful and more ugly than you had realized, but they are instantly recognizable. The Lee Pefley character in this book is innocent, but learning, not yet angry and frustrated as in the later Lee Pefley books. The characters are real and their interactions true and amusing. This is a beautiful and entertaining book and I think anyone would enjoy it, even if not familiar with Perdue's other books. I think I've been reading these books out of sequence. This should be the first book in the Lee Pefley series, then New Austerities, where Leland is middle-aged, then Lee, where he is an old man, and finally Fields of Asphodel, where Lee is dead. I agree with the previous reviewer: it's a shame this book hasn't received more attention.The New Austerities Lee Fields of Asphodel Opportunities in Alabama Agriculture: A Novel

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love Tito's work, August 8, 2008

By 

Stephen Miroy "Wife of Stephen" (Stafford, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sweet-Scented Manuscript (Paperback)

The Sweet Scented Manuscript caught me unawares, I thought Mr. Perdue had given up writing since fewer people are reading these days. After all, most novels nowadays are hacked out with the hope that a Hollywood producer will take notice and pick up the movie rights. That will not happen in the Lee series for two reasons. First, because Lee Pefley is his own man, and has definite notions about what's what. And second because producers only take notice of comic books. Lee might best be described as a dinosaur in the Era of Louthood.

I must assume that there is a hint of autobiography in these novels, and Manuscript describes how Lee met his bride. The setting alterantes between Ohio and Chicago, with school and work in the former, and romance in the Big Shouldered City. It's Lee's attitude to work that fascinates me because he does absolutely nothing to please his bosses as if daring them to sack him. He's always trying to find out which will be the last straw. I can't live like that, but wish I could tell my toady bosses where to get off. It seems that most firings take place due to "lack of chemistry" rather than employee incompetence.

I have never met Mr. Perdue, but I did meet his neighbor once in Montgomery AL in a rally to support Judge Roy Moore. The young man seemed surprised to find somebody familiar with his work.