The Teleportation Accident - Softcover

Beauman, Ned

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340998431 ISBN 13: 9780340998434

Publisher: Sceptre, 2012

Synopsis

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2012 MAN BOOKER PRIZE The fantastically inventive, ingenious and hilarious new novel from Ned Beauman, author of the acclaimed and prizewinning Boxer, Beetle. HISTORY HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE HUNGOVER When you haven't had sex in a long time, it feels like the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. If you're living in Germany in the 1930s, it probably isn't. But that's no consolation to Egon Loeser, whose carnal misfortunes will push him from the experimental theatres of Berlin to the absinthe bars of Paris to the physics laboratories of Los Angeles, trying all the while to solve two mysteries: whether it was really a deal with Satan that claimed the life of his hero, the great Renaissance stage designer Adriano Lavicini; and why a handsome, clever, charming, modest guy like him can't, just once in a while, get himself laid. From the author of the acclaimed Boxer, Beetle comes a historical novel that doesn't know what year it is; a noir novel that turns all the lights on; a romance novel that arrives drunk to dinner; a science fiction novel that can't remember what 'isotope' means; a stunningly inventive, exceptionally funny, dangerously unsteady and (largely) coherent novel about sex, violence, space, time, and how the best way to deal with history is to ignore it. LET'S HOPE THE PARTY WAS WORTH IT

About this title

Review

'If you care about contemporary writing, you must read this ... BOXER, BEETLE was acclaimed as the most inventive fictional debut in years, buzzing with energy and ideas, and Beauman's second novel keeps up the pace' -- Tatler 'A glorious, over-the-top production, crackling with inventive wit and seething with pitchy humour ... A beguiling success ... Ingenious ... There is such an easy felicity in Beauman's writing and such a clever, engaging wit ... that one feels he could write something as much fun every two years. The prospect of which makes me very, very happy indeed.' -- Scotsman 'He's done it again ... Beauman does adolescent male lust and anomie with the verve of a young Amis and this is a great romp of a novel, delightful in its inventiveness.' -- Prospect ' ... fantastically inventive, ingenious and hilarious' -- Independent Praise for Boxer, Beetle -- : 'a piece of staggeringly energetic intellectual slapstick ... it's crammed with strange, funny and interesting things' -- Sam Leith, Guardian 'an enjoyable confection; witty, ludicrous and entertaining' -- James Urquhart, Financial Times 'An astonishing debut...buzzing with energy, fizzing with ideas, intoxicating in its language, Boxer, Beetle is sexy, intelligent and deliriously funny' -- Jake Arnott 'A rambunctious, deftly-plotted delight of a debut' -- Observer 'Ned Beauman's astonishingly assured debut starts as it means to go on: confident, droll, and not in the best of taste ... Many first novels are judged promising. Boxer, Beetle arrives fully formed: original, exhilarating and hugely enjoyable. ' -- Peter Parker, Sunday Times 'Frighteningly assured' -- Katie Guest, Independent on Sunday 'Exuberant ... There are politics, black comedy, experimentation and wild originality - and I haven't even got to the beetles. Terrific.' -- The Times 'Debut bout is a real knockout ... dazzling' -- Daily Express 'Its ambitions are enormous, in terms of the range, energy and quality of the writing' -- Literary Review 'Dazzling ... As in PG Wodehouse and the early Martin Amis the tone is mischievous and impudent without being merely jaunty or wacky ... in Erksine and Broom we have two endlessly curious heroes whose thoughts are fascinating even at their silliest.' -- Leo Robson, Express 'A witty, erudite debut ... thick with trivia, it confidently takes on British fascism, the Thule society, anti-Semitism, atonal composition, sex, and the class system ... An articulate and original romp ... often gobsmackingly smutty. Beauman is one to watch.' -- Katie Allen, Time Out 'Not one for the easily shocked, young scribe Ned Beauman subjects the reader to a parade of ghoulish events and ghastly theories throughout his dazzling first novel Boxer, Beetle ... deeply researched and punchily written, this is an utterly unique work that marks the London-based author out as an exciting new voice in fiction.' -- The List 'Beauman skips with panache between his dreadful version of the present and the macabre absurdities of a period when cock-eyed science and rabid anti-Semitism provided a toxic cocktail for the upper classes. His killer irony evokes early Evelyn Waugh, and his lateral take on reality Will Self at his unsettling best. This is humour that goes beyond black, careening off into regions of darkness to deliver the funniest new book I've read in a year or two.' -- Pete Carty, Independent 'Clever, inventive, intelligently structured, genre-spanning, as magpie-like in its references as any graphic novel, and above all, an enjoyable, high-octane read through a fascinating period in history.' -- Rob Sharp, Independent on Sunday 'The 1930s are wonderfully evoked, and the historical sections of the novel are taut, thematically rich and extremely well written ... it takes real skill to make a tragic hero out of the five-foot, nine-toed alcoholic Seth Roach ... it's clear from this compellin --Carl Wilkinson, Financial Times

Book Description

From the award-winning Ned Beauman, an 'unquestionably brilliant' (TLS) novel that establishes him as one of the exciting and influential voices in modern British fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0340998431
• ISBN 13: 9780340998434
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368