The Sot-Weed Factor

There are only a few books on the Time 100 list that I do not plan to read. I opted out of A Clockwork Orange (although I saw the film) and The Blood Meridian due to excessive violence. I found two other books alarming in various ways (Lolita and Naked Lunch), but managed to complete them (or nearly so) anyway. Such was not the case with The Sot-Weed Factor.

I came to The Sot-Weed Factor, by John Barth, without any prejudice. I missed the not-so-soft-porn illustration on the back cover of my used-British version of the book showing half-nude women being tied up and raped. I also missed the quote next to it from Norman Shrapnel of The Guardian:

"Here be rapes pursuits, swivings, walking of the plank, epic poems, fantastical changes of identity, deep philosophical discussions, more pursuits, more rape."

Had I seen the back cover and blurb, I would have hesitated before opening the book. As it was, I didn't get much further than the first 30-40 pages before becoming thoroughly disgusted with it. I browsed the remainder of the book and decided to give it up. I can see that some will like it -- love it, as a matter of fact. I am sure that Barth has excellent social commentary buried in those sordid pages. I wasn't interested in dumpster diving to find those pearls buried amidst the garbage. It's a matter of taste.

Barth tells the tale of an innocent named Ebenezer Cooke who is a man of high morals, high aspirations but a weak spirit. Cooke spends his free time either gambling or working on an epic poem and both interfere with his earning his keep. He is an easy mark for the miscreants of the world who continuously show up on his doorstep. Although he tries to keep his affairs from his father, an uptight American tobacco farmer who now lives in England, a series of misfortunes befall Cooke and his woes reach his father's ear. In spite of his pleas for forgiveness, he is forced to move to Maryland to manage the family tobacco business.

There is an eventful journey to Maryland and an eventful life in the sot-weed (tobacco) factory. Barth does not treat this hero any better than he did Giles, in The Giles Goat Boy. Cooke is subjected to countless indignities everywhere he turns. He tries to keep to morally high ground, but in the end, the experiences change him deeply. This is a coming-of-age story (parody) that moves in the wrong direction. The book, true to Shrapnel's review, is bawdy: filled with rapes and atrocities.  But it's a parody and all is forgiven in a parody, isn't it? Well, that may not be true, but then one doesn't have to read it, do they. In the end, I chose not to.

I am glad to be rid of the book. On to something more suitable....