 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Tito Perdue |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | The Overlook Press |
Publication date | 19 July 2007 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 252 |
| ISBN | 9781585678716 |
Fields of Asphodel is a 2007 novel by the American writer Tito Perdue. It picks up the story of Leland "Lee" Pefley where Perdue's first novel, Lee, left off.
Publication history
[edit]The novel was first published in 2007 by the Overlook Press simultaneously with the reissue of Perdue's first novel, Lee.[1] A new edition was published by Standard American in 2023.[2]
Reception
[edit]Publishers Weekly praises the book's "funny scenes and arresting lines."[3] In the Los Angeles Times, Antoine Wilson praises its "utterly charming and brilliantly comic penultimate scene" but also complains of "tone-deaf caricature" in passages where "satirical elements take center stage."[1]
Both Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly compare the novel to those of Samuel Beckett; but the latter finds that it lacks Beckett's "lyricism."[4][3]
In the Quarterly Review, Derek Turner judges it "without a doubt the strangest" of Perdue's books yet published.[5] Don Noble notes its "highly literate, idiosyncratic diction," while Turner finds it "difficult to know how to do justice to a book that combines ... courtly archaisms with crude street slang ... philosophical points ... with haemorrhoid-related humour."[6][7][5]
Series
[edit]The main character, Lee Pefley, and his forebears appear in many of Perdue's novels.[8][5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Antoine Wilson, "The Misanthrope," Los Angeles Times (15 July 2007).
- ^ Google Books (accessed 21 May 2025).
- ^ a b Publishers Weekly, 14 May 2007.
- ^ Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2007.
- ^ a b c Derek Turner, "Meet Lee Pefley – Sociopath (and Sage)," Quarterly Review (Spring 2008).
- ^ Don Noble, "Fields of Asphodel," apr.org (22 December 2008).
- ^ Don Noble, "Pefley Visits the Underworld," Tuscaloosa News (28 December 2008).
- ^ Jim Knipfel, "Tito Perdue: America's Lost Literary Genius," New York Press (June 2001).