Martin Bauman or, A Sure Thing [Paperback]

David Leavitt’s deliciously sharp novel is a multilayered dissection of literary and sexual mores in the get-ahead eighties, when outrageous success lay seductively within reach of any young writer ambitious enough to grab it. Martin Bauman — nineteen, talented, and insecure — is enrolled at a prestigious college and wins a place under the tutelage of the legendary Stanley Flint, a man who makes or breaks careers with the flick of a weary hand. An irresistibly entertaining epic, erotic, honest, and funny, Martin Bauman “draws one character so masterfully that this character will stick in the reader’s mind as strongly as Magwitch or Harry Lime” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

David Leavitt’s deliciously sharp novel is a multilayered dissection of literary and sexual mores in the get-ahead eighties, when outrageous success lay seductively within reach of any young writer ambitious enough to grab it. Martin Bauman — nineteen, talented, and insecure — is enrolled at a prestigious college and wins a place under the tutelage of the legendary Stanley Flint, a man who makes or breaks careers with the flick of a weary hand. An irresistibly entertaining epic, erotic, honest, and funny, Martin Bauman “draws one character so masterfully that this character will stick in the reader’s mind as strongly as Magwitch or Harry Lime” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Contents

1. flint’s first principle·1 2. the glass-bottomed boat·26 3. because very few mice know how to dance·50 4. titles not to be read beyond·83 5. dear mr. terrier·114 6. law of the jungle·142 7. at the children’s table·171 8. the deviled-egg plate·209 9. trial marriage·236 10. sleeping arrangements·261 11. i’m not here·301 12. king fag·334 13. flint’s limp·374