The sot-weed factor
John Barth (Author)
"The Sot-Weed Factor has been called everything from 'a great delight of bawdiness and adventure,; 'begotten by Don Quixote upon Fanny Hill' to 'a moral allegory cloaked in terms of colonial history'; from 'an epic farce' and 'a rowdy, ribald satire' to 'an historical novel to end all historical novels.' The Sot-Weed Factor is, certainly, the story of Ebenezer Cooke, poet and virgin. The time is the late 17th century, and Ebenezer's picaresque adventures- which put his 'innocence' to incredible tests- begin in London when he is appointed Poet and Laureate of Maryland and, commissioned to write an epic poem, The Marylandiad, sets out for the New World. In his erratic journeys to and through Maryland Ebenezer survives pirates, shipwrecks, political intrigues, rebellion, capture by Indians; sees his estate turned into an opium den- and worse, his sister carried off by Anatchwhoop prince; encounters swindlers, bawds, imposters, false-priests, arch-conspirators, run-away slave kings, dope peddlers, and knaves of every description. Appearing throughout in a variety of disguises is Ebenezer's ex-tutor, Henry Burlingame III, whose search for the identity of Burlingame I and II leads to the discovery of the amazing 'secret diary' of Captain John Smith. Ebenezer Cooke's career comes full circle with his creation, finally- not of the epic Marylandiad- but rather of The Sot-Weed Factor, a bitter satire detailing his disillusionment."- Publisher
Print Book, English, 1960
First edition
Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1960