Description:
A tragicomic journey across America as one man attempts to create a fast food empire, and a legacy to leave behind.
From the prolific and peerless Stanley Elkin, The Franchiser follows Ben Flesh--one of the men "who made America look like America, who made America famous." He collects franchises, traveling from state to state, acquiring the brand-name establishments that shape the American landscape. But both the nation and Ben are running out of energy. As blackouts roll through the West, Ben struggles with the onset of multiple sclerosis, and the growing realization that his lifetime quest to buy a name for himself has ultimately failed.
Brief description: Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners "George Mills" (1982) and "Mrs. Ted Bliss" (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists "The Dick Gibson Show" (1972), "Searches and Seizures "(1974), and "The MacGuffin" (1991). His book of novellas, "Van Gogh's Room at Arles," was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.
Review Quotes:
"All Elkin's characters illuminate something of the systems that they were born within; systems that have been for better or worse, shaped by America's global reach, our competing needs for belonging and independence, and the price tag we put on each of these modes of being." --Cleveland Review of Books
"[Elkin's writing] remains incredibly vital: his novel The Franchiser was published 50 years ago, yet its evocation of relentlessly chasing success seems even more relevant now in an age of omnipresent hustle culture." --InsideHook