Name: Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man
ISBN: 9780743202015

Joseph Heller

An aging writer attempts to pen one last great American novel to be remembered by--but what should he write? This book follows the journey that Eugene Pota undertakes as he sifts through the detritus of his life in an effort to settle on the subject of his final work.

A Novel

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man

Imagine an author who has become a legend in his own lifetime - all because of the novel he wrote in the first flush of youth. Novelist Eugene Pota is a cultural icon of the twentieth century, struggling to write what will be the last novel of his career. But what to write about when, like so many noted authors before him, all of Pota's output since that first, landmark novel has been scrutinized and dissected - and found wanting? PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST, AS AN OLD MAN follows Pota's efforts to settle on a subject for his final work. In his search, Heller - through Pota - pays homage to his favourite authors and discusses the problems that have plagued so many writers whose later works failed to live up to the successes of their first: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, Jack London, Joseph Conrad, to name but a few. It is a rare and enthralling look into the artist's search for creativity, a search that comes at a point in life when impotence - both sexual and spiritual - has become a frustrating fact. Joseph Heller must have known that this would be his final novel; it stands as a fitting testament to the life and works of a leading light in modern literature.

Ivan Zarea

A raw, vulnerable and painful journey into the author's mind. Incredibly sincere and sometimes not very good. 

Just like us, perhaps.

John Philpin

In all honesty - gave up. Then noticed it was published after his death. did he really finish it as he intended ? I I did like the part where he analysed the fate of author after author ... makes you wonder - but overall - naaah.

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man A Novel

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