A Congress of WondersSet around World War II, the three hilarious stories in the collection are linked by the presence of one Philander Cosmo Rexroat, B.S., M.S., "Pee Aitch Dee", resurrected here from McClanahan's bestselling book The Natural Man, where he appeared as "the Cecil B. De Mille of Sex Hygiene Entertainment". In these stories, Rexroat turns up in several new guises: preacher, sideshow spieler, and bogus physician. "Juanita and the Frog Prince" tells of a pregnant jailhouse laundress whose ill fate is transformed by a magical encounter with Luther "Two-Nose" Jukes, an inmate awaiting trial for murder. The title story walks us down the carnival midway and a step beyond, as the ubiquitous Rexroat, his consort Wanda Pearl, and a clairvoyant hermaphrodite - "It's that old morphadyke again!" - provide the way station for a boy's journey into the grown-up world of love, loss, and hocus-pocus. "Finch's Song", the tale of Needmore's most beleaguered denizen, a school bus driver endlessly tormented by his ruthless half brother, is both a love story and a story of retribution. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
afternoon ain't anyhow Aunt Jimmie Baby Elmo barn Bikey Billiards Blended Whiskey Bludgins Brownie Brownie's Burdock County Buster Capto Clarence Clarence's Claude Craycraft Claude's Clawvern Congress of Wonders Cosmo Rexroat courthouse cue stick curtain damn dead wagon Delano dollars eyes Finch fish Fronk girl goddamn Goldie gonna grinning hand heart homeplace Human Enigma inside jail JoJo Juanita Kinchlow lady look Lord's Prayer lovely and talented Lugnut Luther Jukes Maudie Maudie's midway Miss Gantley morning morphadyke Mount Ararat Needmore never night Pinhook pissery pith helmet poolroom Professor Rexroat reverend road Rodney Junior Sallie Jukes Saturday says school bus Sharky shoulder Signorina Skinner Worthington Skirvin Sonny Sonny's Souseley tell tent thing three-card monte tiny toadstone took turned Two-Nose Uncle voice Wade Waldo Wanda Pearl Warren Harding Warren Harding Skidmore wheel who'd window would've yard young