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FREE THE BRIEF AND FRIGHTENING REIGN OF PHIL: (INCLUDES THE IN PERSUASION NATION COLLECTION) PDF George Saunders | 368 pages | 16 Apr 2007 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9780747585961 | English | London, United Kingdom The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: George Saunders Someone once wrote that producing comedy is a far harder art than penning tragedy. Shockingly, I believe it was a humorous writer who made this selfless observation. Whether accurate or not, what certainly is true is that whimsy is a surprisingly tricky ingredient to get the right measure of in writing. A tad too little and the result is weak and insipid, a dab too much and the brew is overbearing. And either way it is very, very easy to come over as smug. Think of the output of Punch in the 80s or a great deal of Radio 4 comedy today to see feel the horror of what can unfold. So when a writer gets it right, praise is due. In his satirical fantasy novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil published inand his short story collection In Persuasion Nation published in and now reprinted togetherSaunders hits the spot, lightly yet accurately. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil hereafter referred to as Frightening is a dreamlike fairy story, twisted rotten. The other six citizens must wait their turn in the Short Term Residency Zone in the infinitely larger surrounding country of Outer Horner. Already existing at the sufferance of their benevolent surrounding power, the Inner Hornerites incur the wrath of the bounteous yet growingly impatient surrounding benefactors, when their small patch of ground sinks further into the earth. Our country never shrinks. Irked at this taking advantage of their good nature, the Outer Hornerites come under the spell of the demagogic Phil, a mesmeric megalomaniac whose brain is constantly falling out of a rack at the side of his head. As I said, such whimsicality can very easily become trying. Political parables, which this story undoubtedly is, have their own pitfalls, and can be dreadfully preachy and forced. Frightening evades both traps with its deftness of touch, its opaque absurdism side-stepping both the overly didactic and the twee. Imperialism, the vile hypocrisy of rich states imposing draconian migration restrictions on poorer neighbours, American arrogance, anti-immigrant populism, all these are undoubtedly alluded to, but seasoned with a healthy dose of cartoonish Dada-lite which kill off the sense of worthiness and disorientate enough to make The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: (Includes the In Persuasion Nation Collection) wonder whether what you have read has made any sense whatsoever. Above all, it is just genuinely funny. Looking out, Phil saw three handsome, well groomed, squat little men with detachable megaphones growing out of their clavicles. The humour in here is equal parts the satire and the absurdity, and such is the tone Saunders carries off with skill throughout. The ending of the story has the weirdly enchanting quality of a genuine fairy tale, yet with enough darkness to freeze the spine. A funny but chilly bedtime. It consists of a series of stories, mostly set in an unspecified near future where a creepy combination of consumerism, codification and bigotry hold sway. Some are simple one-line jokes writ large but writ well. I implore anyone who finds themselves in a Samish Sex Marriage: Change. If you are a feminine man, become more manly. If you are a masculine woman, become more feminine. If you are a woman and are thick-necked The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: (Includes the In Persuasion Nation Collection) lumbering, or have the slightest feeling of attraction to a man who is somewhat pale and fey, deny these feelings and, in a spirit of self correction, try to become more thin-necked and light-footed…. Sometimes the world described is not distinct from the present day at all. Touches such as the raining of corpses bring it closer to the fairy-tale nature of Frighteningbut with the macabre cranked up higher. Its unobtrusive nature, its essential lightness of touch, makes it fall short of any claim on greatness, but on its own terms it succeeds, quite triumphantly so. Your email address will not be published. Leave a Reply Cancel The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: (Includes the In Persuasion Nation Collection) Your email address will not be published. In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders: Summary and reviews An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone. Over six years in the writing, and brilliantly and beautifully packaged, this novella is Saunders' first stand-alone, book- length work—and his first book for adults in five years. Skip to main content. You are here Home. By George Saunders. In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power- hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria. Inhe was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant. He teaches at Syracuse University. Praise For… Praise for George Saunders: "An astoundingly tuned voice—graceful, dark, authentic, and funny—telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times. Saunders writes like the illegitimate offspring of Nathanael West and Kurt Vonnegut. His satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it is also ferocious and very funny. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: (Includes the In Persuasion Nation Collection) a Tote! Carmichael's Swag. Find a Book! Advanced Search. Shopping cart There are no products in your shopping cart. Digital Audiobooks - Buy Local! Gift Cards Buy a Carmichael's gift card! The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (Paperback) | Carmichael's Bookstore In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria. An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone. Over six years in the writing, and brilliantly and beautifully packaged, this novella is Saunders' first stand-alone, book-length work—and his first book for adults in five years. The shift of target to Iraq War era America proves problematic for major s satirist Saunders The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: (Includes the In Persuasion Nation Collection)who here checks in with an allegorical novella centered on the tiny imaginary nations of Inner and Outer Horner. The citizens of Inner Horner, live-and-let-livers who have a lot of unproductive discussions, are countable on two hands, and they are not-quite- human: one man's torso is simply a tuna fish can and a belt. When their nation suddenly shrinks, the group spills into Outer Horner, and a border dispute results. It paves the way for the rise of an everyman Outer Horner dictator named Phil a jingoistic, brute-force bully. The eventual fortuitous military intervention by Greater Keller, a neighboring technocapitalist nation of latte drinkers, comes after much lingering over the mechanics of Phil's coup. There are multiple references to the "spasming rack" from which Phil's brain periodically slides. Despite press-chat comparisons to Animal Farm, the book lacks Orwell's willingness to follow his nightmare vision all the way out to the end. Saunders delivers some very funny exchanges and imaginative set-pieces, but literally has to call in a deus ex machina to effect Outer Horner's final undoing. It's entertaining, but politics and war don't really work that way, allegorically or otherwise. Publisher Description. Tenth of The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: (Includes the In Persuasion Nation Collection). Lincoln in the Bardo. CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. Fox 8. Congratulations, by the way..

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