Jonathan Messinger

After establishing herself in Britain's sixties experimental literary scene, Ann Quin traveled from her native U.K. to the United States where she gathered fodder for her fourth novel, "Tripticks."

And if the satire in "Tripticks"--a frenetic tale of a man chased across the country by his first ex-wife and her faceless new lover--were the direct result of her travels here, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Hunter S. Thompson was her tour guide.

Like Thompson, Quin reveals little but what happens through the eyes and in the head of the protagonist, forcing the reader to question events. The result is a surreal and often hilarious trip on the road that takes him away from his ex and to New Age huckster hot-spots that seem to give even Quin the creeps.

Though we are treated to all of the ex-husband's impressions, fears and opinions like they were shot from a machine gun, Quin's technique is more masterful than simple stream-of-consciousness. She indelicately arranges events with the thoughts of the fleeing driver to give us insight into how the predicament arose and what kind of a person hides under his car to avoid being shot by an ex. At one point she "reprints" a bundle of letters from ex-wives, in-laws and parents to lend narrative to the emotional collapse of the driver without him uttering a word.

The sad irony is that the publication of "Tripticks" came just before Quin's own mental collapse. She had made her name on her first two novels, "Berg" and "Three." "Passages" came in 1969 and "Tripticks" was published in 1972 in Britain, but neither made it over to the U.S. after Quin fell out of favor with critics. After several bouts with mental illness, she committed suicide in 1973.

Chicago's Center for Book Culture is bringing Quin back and last year began publishing her novels again. It's a worthwhile enterprise, given Quin's unique story-telling ability that blends the best of Thompson and James Joyce yet still manages to never lose the reader.

Now if the husband could only lose his ex-wife.

"Tripticks"

by Ann Quin

Dalkey Archive Press, $14.95, 192 pages

(2002-08-07)

Also by Jonathan Messinger

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