THE BEST CURRENT LITERARY NOVEL?

I've said before, "The Hippopotamus" by Stephen Fry is the best current literary novel that I know of. You could argue that this is faint praise given the sorry state of novels nowadays, but that would be to deny Fry recognition of his real achievements, which are substantial. As I said, he's the best, and this post is my argument. Here's an excerpt from the book. See if you agree.

A caveat: Fry is gay and if that bothers you, then you may not like the book. To tell the truth, it put me off a little bit. I'm not gay myself and reading stuff like this makes me wince sometimes, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I don't know of any modern novelist who can match this prose. Like all the best writers, the man makes us aware of the startling power of the English language when its used by a first-rate speaker. 

Another caveat: the story is just OK, it's whole reason for existence is to provide an excuse for the beautiful words and scenes.  If you buy the book and don't like the story, don't say you weren't warned. But you should buy the book anyway, just for the words and the characters...they're that good! Better still, buy the spoken word reading of the story by Fry from Amazon UK.  The reading is brilliant!

Finally, I'll just mention that I bought the book used and have had to put up with underlining left there by the previous owner. Also, part of the passage I chose deals with masturbation.  I have no interest in reading about that, so it's here in spite of the subject, not because of it. I chose this passage because it's mostly narrative, which is Fry's specialty.

The scene starts in a bar where a middle-aged guy is drinking to forget that he's just been sacked by the magazine he works for. He's joined by a cousin of his who asks if he'll come to her apartment so she can discuss something serious in private.

















Well, that's it! Do you agree on the literary value of the piece? Sorry about the light, less-than- clear text. I need to get a new printer.