New York Review Books has a blog called A Different Stripe whose proprietress made an announcement the other day that I’ve been meaning to pass along:
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, with Terry Teachout’s eloquent introduction, will be available in June. Until then, you can see what he said about it in 1996, when he listed it as one of his favorite comedic novels. And his partner at About Last Night has also been a major advocate of the book.
The funny thing is that I’d forgotten the piece in question, in which I also singled out for praise Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, Bruce Marshall’s Father Malachy’s Miracle, Dawn Powell’s The Locusts Have No King, and Wilfrid Sheed’s Max Jamison, great comic novels all. I guess that’s what happens when you write too much!
The bottom line, however, is that The Dud Avocado will be back in print in June, at which time you can see for yourself what I had to say about it. (The cover art of the new edition, by the way, is very sexy.) I proofread the galleys of my introduction a couple of days ago, and I think I got it right, if I do say so myself.
I’d wanted to surprise Our Girl, who loves The Dud Avocado at least as much as I do, but now that the whistle’s been blown, I might as well ‘fess up in public. Play your cards right, Girl, and I’ll see about getting you an advance copy.
As for the rest of you, go here and you can order it now, which I strongly suggest.