Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Grasshopper King

The Grasshopper King

Ellenberg, Jordan

Paperback

General FictionLiterary Fiction

Publisher Price: $17.95

ISBN10: 1566891396
ISBN13: 9781566891394
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Published: Apr 1 2003
Pages: 200
Weight: 0.85
Height: 0.70 Width: 6.04 Depth: 9.18
Language: English
This debut novel is a profoundly absurd campus satire about immortality, obsession, obscurity, and true love.

Chandler State University is the one thing keeping the dusty, Western town of Chandler on the map. Now that its basketball program has fallen apart, CSU's only claim to fame is its Gravinics Department, dedicated to the study of an obscure European country-its mythology, its extraordinarily difficult language, and especially its bizarre star poet, Henderson.

Having discovered Henderson's poetry in a trash bin, Stanley Higgs becomes the foremost scholar of the poet's work, accepts a position at Chandler State University, achieves international academic fame, marries the Dean's daughter, and abruptly stops talking. With all of academia convinced that Higgs is formulating a great truth, the university employs Orwellian techniques to record Higgs's every potential utterance and to save its reputation. A feckless Gravinics language student, Samuel Grapearbor, together with his long-suffering girlfriend Julia, is hired to monitor Higgs during the day. Over endless games of checkers and shared sandwiches, a uniquely silent friendship develops. As one man struggles to grow up and the other grows old, the Grasshopper King, in all of his glory, emerges.

In this debut novel about treachery, death, academia, marriage, mythology, history, and truly horrible poetry, Jordan Ellenberg creates a world complete with its own geography, obscene folklore, and absurdly endearing characters--a world where arcane subjects flourish and the smallest swerve from convention can result in immortality.

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