The Wilt Alternative

Author: Tom Sharpe

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 26.99 NZD
  • : 9780099466499
  • : Penguin Random House
  • : Arrow Books Ltd
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  • : 0.222
  • : April 2004
  • : 199mm X 132mm X 20mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 27.0
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Tom Sharpe
  • : Wilt Ser.
  • : Paperback
  • : New edition
  • :
  • : English
  • : 823.914
  • :
  • :
  • : 352
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Barcode 9780099466499
9780099466499

Description

In this, the second of Tom Sharpe's chronicles about Henry Wilt, our hero is no longer the victim of his own uncontrolled fantasies. As Head of a reconstituted Liberal Studies Department he has assumed power without authority at the Fenland College of Arts & Technology and the fantasies he now confronts are those of political bigots and reactionary bureaucrats -- in addition to his wife's enthusiasm for every Organic Alternative under the compost heap and the insistence of his quadruplets on looking at every problem with an unflinching lack of sentimentality. Wilt's problems are compounded by nature in the shape of a rose bush, nostalgia, temporary infatuation with a foreign student and the hostility of medical services unwilling to attend to his most urgent needs. But it is only when Wilt becomes the unintentional participant in a terrorist siege that he is forced to find an answer to the problems of power, which have corrupted greater men than he. With a mental ingenuity born of his innate cowardice, Wilt fights for those liberal values which are threatened both by international terrorism and by the sophisticated methods of police anti-terrorist agents.
In the confusion that follows, Wilt resumes his dialogue with the unflagging Inspector Flint and is himself subjected to the indignity of a psycho-political profile. Bitingly funny and brilliantly written, The Wilt Alternative exposes the farcical anomalies, which have become the social norms of our time.

Promotion info

Henry Wilt, Tom Sharpe's indefatigable hero, returns to battle bureaucrats, politicians, terrorists and much more, at Fenland College.

Reviews

A farce touching fingers with a rich comic vision... sublime orgiastic satire." -- "Guardian

Author description

Tom Sharpe was born in 1928 and educated at Lancing College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He did his National Service in the Marines before going to South Africa in 1951, where he did social work before teaching in Natal. He had a photographic studio in Pietermaritzburg from 1957 until 1961. From 1963 to 1972 he was a lecturer in History at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. In 1986 he was awarded the XXXIII-me Grand Prix de l'Humour Noir Xavier Forneret. He divides his time between Cambridge and Spain.