The Great Indoorsman                                    

A collection of essays from the University of Nebraska Press.

Buy here: (University of Nebraska Press) (Amazon) (Bookshop)

“How does ‘outside’ differ from ‘the out-of-doors’? In his absurdist and absurdly amusing The Great Indoorsman, with searching rumination and exquisite comic timing, Andrew Farkas takes readers on a sublime tour through dive bars and coffee houses, video shops and casinos, pool halls and motel rooms, dilapidated movie theaters and dying malls. A true doctor of knowledge and language using just the right balance of erudition and humility, Farkas has created an enchanting yet down-to-earth collection perfect for reading indoors, outdoors, or anywhere in between.”

~Kathleen Rooney, author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey 

 

We forget that the “Hallway” is a relatively recent invention of domestic space along with the whole concept of “Privacy.” And it was only yesterday that the great fiction writer Freud constructed the “Unconscious” and cobbled together the notion that human character had “Depth.” Here the master renovator, Andrew Farkas, in these crafted and crafty essays of The Great Indoorsman is the ultimate interior decorator of all things turned inside out. Ecce Farkas! Here the raw and cooked, the deep-fried and flash-frozen reflections reflect infinite rooms where we are, at once, lost and found, found and lost with-in hallways of infinite with-in-ings.

~Michael Martone author of The Complete Writings of Art Smith, The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne, Brooding and The Moon Over Wapakoneta

 

Again and again in this deliriously inventive collection, Andrew Farkas finds himself in the middle of nowhere with only his wits to navigate him. Thankfully, those wits operate like a 1930s Rube Goldberg cartoon jalopy, nimbly galumphing through mundane worlds – a waiting room, a hamburger joint, Tuscaloosa. For all its elevated performance and stylistic hijinks, across its Odyssey-writ-small, The Great Indoorsman maintains a sincerity of purpose: to find its way home. 

–David Giffels, author of Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America

 

From the Desk of Andrew Farkas: Behind the Book on the University of Nebraska Press Blog

Review by Jesi Bender in North American Review

Review by Hugh Sheehy in Full Stop

Review by Vincent James Perrone in Heavy Feather Review

Review by Ben Tanzer in Lit Reactor