Paperback(60th Anniversary Edition)

$16.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Originally banned in Paris and published by the Olympia Press under the pseudonym Maxwell Kenton, Candy is the scandalous 1958 novel cowritten by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, now reissued with an introduction by B. J. Novak. Candy was greeted in America by white-hot controversy, becoming a bestseller and helping to cement Southern's reputation as a legendary absurdist comic. The book centers on the sexual misadventures of a young girl named Candy Christian—lithe, taut, impossibly sweet, and as naïve as she is irresistible. Chronicling her liaisons with everyone from her father's gardener, a pretentious professor, a shrink, a guru, and even her own uncle, Candy follows this luscious all-American girl as she breaks away from her small-town life and sets out to experience the world. Through it all, Candy is exploited, ravaged, and used—and eager as ever to please. A satire of Voltaire's Candide, Candy is an exhilarating romp through the fantasies and perversions of the American male and a fearless portrait of corrupted innocence in a society obsessed with narcissism, power, and commerciality. A hilarious and sexy fable, Candy is a countercultural tour de force.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780802127471
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date: 01/16/2018
Edition description: 60th Anniversary Edition
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 519,792
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Terry Southern (1924–1995) is the bestselling author of Candy, The Magic Christian, Flash and Filigree, Blue Movie, and Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes. An Academy Award–nominated screenwriter, his film credits include Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider, and Barbarella, as well as an adaptation of The Magic Christian.

Mason Hoffenberg (1922–1986) was an American poet and a writer for the Olympia Press in Paris whose works include A Sin for Breakfast and Until She Screams.

Read an Excerpt

In the fifth row center, Candy Christian slowly closed her notebook and dropped her pen into her purse. She was sitting on the edge of her chair, holding her breath; then she gave a soft sigh and sat back limply. She felt utterly exhausted, yet exhilarated too. A great man, she thought, a truly great man. I'm in the presence of a truly great man.

She gathered up her things and filed out slowly with the others. At the door she had a glimpse of Professor Mephesto walking down the hall toward his office, clasping his notes up to his chest, talking amiably to one of the students, his arm around the boy's shoulder—a very young boy with wild hair and a sullen face. She wondered what they were saying. She wondered what she would say. How she would love to be a part of the conversation! Yet, what could she say? She decided to go straight to the library and read for the rest of the afternoon, then she remembered that she had promised her father she would come directly home after class and go with him to Aunt Ida's. "Darn Daddy anyway!" she said to herself.

Candy was born on Valentine's Day. Perhaps this was why she was so beautiful—or so her father often remarked, at least in the presence of others; when they were alone, however, he was inclined to be a bit strict with her—not strict so much as insensitive to her needs, or possessively solicitous. But he was, after all, only a simpleminded businessman. At any rate though, there was something like a Valentine about Candy—one of the expensive ones, all frills and lace, and fragrance of lavender. But she was sometimes petulant, and perhaps it was this, her petulance, more than her virginity, which was her flaw and her undoing.

What People are Saying About This

William Styron

"Wickedly funny to read and morally bracing as only good satire can be."

Norman Mailer

"Terry Southern writes a mean, colly deliberate, and murderous prose."

Gore Vidal

"Terry Southern is the most profoundly witty writer of our generation."

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews