Biggest Elvis: A Novel

Biggest Elvis: A Novel
Book cover for P. F. Kluge's novel Biggest Elvis
AuthorP. F. Kluge
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
PublisherPenguin
Publication date
1996
Publication placeUnited States
Pages341
ISBN0-14-025811-6

Biggest Elvis, also known as Biggest Elvis: A Novel,[1] is a novel[2] written by the American author P. F. Kluge, a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Pacific region[3] and writer-in-residence at Kenyon College.[4] This 1996 literary piece started out as a journalistic writing for Playboy magazine, to illustrate the nightlife in brothels and nightclubs when fleets of American naval servicemen dock for sailors' shore-leave[2] in the port of Olongapo City.[4] It is also a portrayal of the entrapment of poverty-stricken residents of Olongapo within a "military economy" through the nightly and ritualistic on-stage rebirths, deaths and resurrections of Elvis Presley by three American copycats living and making a livelihood while in the Philippines.[5]

Thematic description

In general, Kluge’s Biggest Elvis is the story of a former college professor and of America itself.[6] The "part mystery" and "part love story" novel[7] is set in Olongapo City, a Philippine town closest to Subic Naval Base, a former U.S. naval installation in the Far East during the 1990s. As a narrative and a commentary[8] regarding American "cultural imperialism"[3] – including "pop-culturalism"[5] – in the Asian region, and the final years of militaristic presence of the United States in Subic Bay, Biggest Elvis protagonizes three American Elvis Presley impersonators and caricatures[3] who perform in a nightclub known as "Graceland",[7] a building that started out as a movie theater.[5]

Plot and character outline

The triad of reborn Elvises include the fictional persons of Ward Wiggins, Chester Lane and Albert Lane. They were a representation of the changing roles of Americans in the world stage of the time, as "vigorous pioneers"[5] and "lean innovators" turned extravagant and colossal superpowers.[1][5] Wiggins was the eldest of the trio of impersonators and an unsuccessful English language professor. Chester Lane, known in the narrative as Baby Elvis,[1] was the imitator of the youthful Elvis Presley. His brother, Albert, revived the Elvis epitomized in American cinema, and called "Dude Elvis".[1] The most senior and an obese personification[1] of Elvis, Wiggins, came to be regarded as the "biggest Elvis" – a religious symbolic figure and savior – of the local people and bargirls of Olongapo City,[1][3] Wiggins was the most serious entertainer among the three because he reached out to the bargirls in order to uproot and lift them up away from their current flesh-driven livelihood, while the Lane Brothers only regard their performances as a momentary engagement.[2] For Wiggins, his show business entanglement was a saintly and spiritual calling. He believed that he was indeed the real Elvis, not just a mimic of America's king of rock and roll music.[5] However, their popularity as performers was overtaken in the end, before Wiggins' final and greatest Elvis Presley entertainment act, by five bargirls, namely Whitney, Elvira, Dolly, Lucy Number Three and Malou.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Paul Frederick (1996). Biggest Elvis: A Novel by P. F. Kluge. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-86974-9. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07.
  2. ^ a b c Pearl, Nancy (2003). Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 1570613818 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b c d Kluge, P. F. (1997). Biggest Elvis by P. F. Kluge. Penguin. ISBN 0140258116.
  4. ^ a b Lobanov-Rostovsky, Sergei. "Guns, Drugs, and Elvis: A Guide to Research for Fiction Writers". Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin. Archived from the original on 2010-07-01.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Ferguson, Sarah (September 1, 1996). "Graceland in the Philippines". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Eder, Richard (August 4, 1996). "Pretenders to the King's Throne, Biggest Elvis by P.F. Kluge". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ a b "Biggest Elvis: A Novel by P. F. Kluge". Flipkart.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ Inskeep, Steve; Nancy Pearl (July 23, 2004). "A Librarian Suggests Some Escapist Fare". NPR.

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