Timothy Mo, Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard

Elaine Ho (University of Hong Kong)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1995

Places

Hong Kong (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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(1995), Timothy Mo’s fifth novel, is also the first to be published by his own press, Paddleless Press. Set in the Philippines, the novel is divided into two parts, bracketed by a Prologue and Epilogue. The controversial Prologue describes a sexual encounter between a German professor, Detlef Pfeidwengeler, and a Filipina prostitute in which, among other graphic details, he climaxes as she defecates on him. This coprophiliac Prologue was supposedly one of the reasons why several publishing houses reacted unfavourably to the manuscript. Mo refused to change it because he saw it as an act of censorship, and decided to set up his own publishing venture.

The first part of the novel consists of nine chapters, and focuses on two families, the Boyets and the Inits, living in the…

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950 words

Citation: Ho, Elaine. "Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 October 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6173, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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