Rupert Owen reviewed Steps (Kosinski, Jerzy) by Jerzy N. Kosinski
Review of 'Steps (Kosinski, Jerzy)' on 'GoodReads'
3 stars
Being familiar with Kosinski to some degree, having read Being There and Cockpit (many years ago, wasn't taken to it greatly), I found Steps to be a simple prose progression of what the book's summary highlights, that being the oppressor and oppressed, in various timeless and geographically void communities. What I like about Jerzy's work is his sometimes absurd narrative explications on character motivation such as in one moment a character happens to be talking to a Detective Agency who suggests following him in order to reveal how their services work, this of course ties in neatly with the rest of the story which I wont reveal - as much as I sometimes say aloud in my head "Really Jerzy, are you seriously expecting me to swallow that", it seems to be an idiosyncrasy he has when blending motives into the story arch.
The perversions are well dispersed amongst quite …
Being familiar with Kosinski to some degree, having read Being There and Cockpit (many years ago, wasn't taken to it greatly), I found Steps to be a simple prose progression of what the book's summary highlights, that being the oppressor and oppressed, in various timeless and geographically void communities. What I like about Jerzy's work is his sometimes absurd narrative explications on character motivation such as in one moment a character happens to be talking to a Detective Agency who suggests following him in order to reveal how their services work, this of course ties in neatly with the rest of the story which I wont reveal - as much as I sometimes say aloud in my head "Really Jerzy, are you seriously expecting me to swallow that", it seems to be an idiosyncrasy he has when blending motives into the story arch.
The perversions are well dispersed amongst quite whimsical tales of stand over tactics and tall tales. Jerzy had a personal interest in 'underground' kink apparently and I enjoy the way he integrates the ideas into seemingly anecdotal accounts of life as lived by certain unnamed communities. There is nothing in this novel that is sensational, it is all dutiful 'anti-erotica' as I call it, and a term borrowed from the forward to Alfred Jarry's 'Visits of love'. Anti-erotica is where the kink and ritual takes over the sexual and the moral, the lasciviousness becomes more stylised - the perversion becomes pragmatic and allows for other ideas to be fleshed out so to speak.
Well, I quite liked it, and am not entirely sure what else of Jerzy Kosinski I would like to read but so far I think Being There and Steps are decent pieces of writing.
