Fiction. "For a long time I was scared to read MOTORMAN. It had come recommended to me in such hushed tones that it sounded disruptively incendiary and illegal. Not only would the reader of this crazed novel burn to ashes, apparently, but he might be posthumously imprisoned for reading the book—a jar of cinder resting in a jail cell. Books were not often spoken of so potently to me, as contraband, as narcotic, as ordnance. There was the whispered promise that my mind would be blown after reading MOTORMAN. There was the assurance that once I read it I would drool with awe, writerly awe, the awe of watching a madman master at work, David Ohle, awesomely carving deep, black holes into the edifice of the English language."—from the introduction by Ben Marcus

Author Hometown: LAWRENCE, KS USA



About the author: David Ohle's first novel, MOTORMAN (Calamari Press), was first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1972 under the now-legendary editorial aegis of Gordon Lish. His short fiction has appeared in Harper's, Esquire, the Paris Review, and elsewhere. A native of New Orleans, Ohle now lives in Lawrence, Kansas, and teaches at the University of Kansas. His last name rhymes with "holy."

Reviews:
Shelley Jackson @ Bookforum
Theobald @ Loads of Learned Lumber