Jonathan Strong

Liked Strong's first book, TIKE AND FIVE STORIES, when I read it in 1969, and again when I reread it a few years ago. This novel, ELSEWHERE, not so much. He wrote it nearly twenty years after TIKE. The narrator is a closeted gay high school English teacher who carries on a secret 'thing' with a former student, while attempting to nurture the writing of another orphaned student, who impregnates a younger girl. This couple then moves in with the teacher, and ... Ah, never mind. It's all rather dreamy and soap opera-ish, and more than a little sleazy. I read about two thirds of it, but didn't care enough about any of the characters to finish it. Fortunately, I like only paid a quarter for it. A disappointment and a quarter wasted. Sorry, Mr Strong. Not recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (mehr)

I've had this Avon pb edition of TIKE AND FIVE STORIES ever since 1970. A prof in an American Lit seminar brought it into class one day when I was a grad student. We had been studying writers like Lardner, Norris, Faulkner and, of course, Hemingway. Dr Hepler, our prof, thought it would be interesting for us to compare this 'brand new' writer's experimental style to Hemingway's prose. True, they both wrote in short declarative sentences, but the similarities ended there. Strong's stuff seemed almost to parody Hemingway's terse macho style. And of course Jonathan Strong's subjects straddled the line between gay and straight. Tike, the novella's title character, appears to be heterosexual, but his excessive innocence and mechanical approach to sex, should probably have been a tipoff. And a couple other short pieces, "Supperburger" and "Sayin Good-bye to Tom" tipped a bit more overtly toward the homosexual side of things. But the truth is I can't remember anymore if we discussed the homosexual implications of the stories. And I'm purposely using "homosexual" because I also can't remember if the the use of the term "gay" had even yet come into fashion back then.

But ya know what? I just read the book again - it doesn't take very long - and it's still a damn entertaining read and a very authentic look at the way things were in the sixties. Tike is still a pretty interesting character. I've learned that Jonathan Strong later revised and reissued the book under the title HAUNTS OF HIS YOUTH. I'm not sure what he might have changed, but I think the original version holds up pretty well. It's become a kind of literary artifact. I'll recommend it.

I remember that my seminar-mates and I all enjoyed reading this slim little volume back in 1970 and it generated a pretty interesting discussion. I'll bet it still would more than forty years later.… (mehr)