''The Fan Man'' is a cult comic novel published in 1974 by the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
writer
William Kotzwinkle
William Kotzwinkle (born November 22, 1943) is an American novelist, children's writer, and screenwriter. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for ''Doctor Rat'' in 1977, and has also wo ...
. It is told in stream-of-consciousness style by the narrator, Horse Badorties (the titular "fan man"), a down-at-the-heels
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
living a life of drug-fueled befuddlement in
New York City c. 1970. The book is written in a colorful, vernacular "hippie-speak" and tells the story of the main character's hapless attempts to put together a
benefit concert featuring his own hand-picked choir of 15-year-old girls.
Horse is a somewhat tragic, though historically humorous, character with echoes of other famous characters in popular culture such as Reverend
Jim Ignatowski of ''
Taxi'' fame. In his inability to follow anything through to completion he displays symptoms of
attention-deficit disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...
though this could equally be drug-induced. His defining characteristic is his joy in renting or commandeering apartments which he fills with street-scavenged junk articles until, full to bursting, he moves on to his next "pad". The name "fan man" is a reference to another of his traits; the collecting and selling of fans of all shapes and sizes. The book's most memorably absurd section is the chapter titled "Dorky Day" which features the repetitive statement of the word "dorky" by Horse as a cathartic mantra to dispel the ennui of a dead-end day.
1974 American novels
Novels by William Kotzwinkle
Novels set in New York City
Avon (publisher) books
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