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Cockpit by Jerzy Kosinski (1975) Hardcover
An agent known only as Tarden is a former operative of the mysterious security agency "the Service." He has erased himself from all dossiers and transcripts. Now a fugitive, he moves across the landscape free of identity, in search of adventure and intrigue. But Tarden is a man of many disguises, and he is alternately avenger and savior, judge and trickster, as he enters the lives of others, forcing them into the arena of his judgement. In Cockpit, Kosinski is at his most startling and powerful, stripping away pretension and illusions of security to reveal the source of real strength within.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
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About the author
Jerzy Kosiński
62 books610 followersKosiński was born Josef Lewinkopf to Jewish parents in Łódź, Poland. As a child during World War II, he lived in central Poland under a false identity his father gave him to use, Jerzy Kosiński. A Roman Catholic priest issued him a forged baptismal certificate. The Kosiński family survived the Holocaust thanks to local villagers, who offered assistance to Jewish Poles often at great personal risk (the penalty for assisting Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland was death). Kosiński's father received help not only from Polish town leaders and churchmen, but also from individuals such as Marianna Pasiowa, a member of the Polish underground network helping Jews to evade capture. The family lived openly in Dąbrowa Rzeczycka near Stalowa Wola, and attended church in nearby Wola Rzeczycka, obtaining support from villagers in Kępa Rzeczycka. They were sheltered temporarily by a Catholic family in Rzeczyca Okrągła. The young Jerzy even served as an altar boy in a local church.
After World War II, Kosiński remained with his parents in Poland, moved to Jelenia Góra, and earned degrees in history and political science at the University of Łódź. He worked as an assistant in Institute of History and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1957, he emigrated to the United States, creating a fake foundation which supposedly sponsored him; he later claimed that the letters from eminent Polish communist authorities guaranteeing his loyal return, which were needed for anyone leaving the communist country at that time, had all been forged by him.
After taking odd jobs to get by, such as driving a truck, Kosiński graduated from Columbia University, and in 1965 he became an American citizen. He received grants from Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967, Ford Foundation in 1968, and the American Academy in 1970, which allowed him to write a political non-fiction book, opening new doors of opportunity. In the States he became a lecturer at Yale, Princeton, Davenport University, and Wesleyan.
In 1962 Kosiński married Mary Hayward Weir who was 10 years his senior. They were divorced in 1966. Weir died in 1968 from brain cancer. Kosiński was left nothing in her will. He later fictionalized this marriage in his novel Blind Date speaking of Weir under pseudonym Mary-Jane Kirkland. Kosiński went on to marry Katherina "Kiki" von Fraunhofer, a marketing consultant and descendant of Bavarian aristocracy. They met in 1968.
Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses towards the end of his life, and was under attack from journalists who alleged he was a plagiarist. By the time he reached his late 50s, Kosiński was suffering from an irregular heartbeat as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. Kosiński committed suicide on May 3, 1991, by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates. His parting suicide note read: "I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity".
After World War II, Kosiński remained with his parents in Poland, moved to Jelenia Góra, and earned degrees in history and political science at the University of Łódź. He worked as an assistant in Institute of History and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1957, he emigrated to the United States, creating a fake foundation which supposedly sponsored him; he later claimed that the letters from eminent Polish communist authorities guaranteeing his loyal return, which were needed for anyone leaving the communist country at that time, had all been forged by him.
After taking odd jobs to get by, such as driving a truck, Kosiński graduated from Columbia University, and in 1965 he became an American citizen. He received grants from Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967, Ford Foundation in 1968, and the American Academy in 1970, which allowed him to write a political non-fiction book, opening new doors of opportunity. In the States he became a lecturer at Yale, Princeton, Davenport University, and Wesleyan.
In 1962 Kosiński married Mary Hayward Weir who was 10 years his senior. They were divorced in 1966. Weir died in 1968 from brain cancer. Kosiński was left nothing in her will. He later fictionalized this marriage in his novel Blind Date speaking of Weir under pseudonym Mary-Jane Kirkland. Kosiński went on to marry Katherina "Kiki" von Fraunhofer, a marketing consultant and descendant of Bavarian aristocracy. They met in 1968.
Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses towards the end of his life, and was under attack from journalists who alleged he was a plagiarist. By the time he reached his late 50s, Kosiński was suffering from an irregular heartbeat as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. Kosiński committed suicide on May 3, 1991, by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates. His parting suicide note read: "I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
December 21, 2014
As my very first meeting with Kosinski's work, this experience was like an emotional rollercoaster. A rollercoaster you can't get out of, cause it tights you to the bones. At times I despised him with open hatred and disgust and my eyes were this_close to burn the pages of that damned book. But every time I turned that new leaf spilled with arrogant, insolent moody letters, I was quickly enchanted, elusively seduced to the level of maximum respect and listening to his every word.
Don't think high of yourself - you WILL agree with him. Eventually, you might fall in love. Very soon you will find yourself justifying every of his wrong moves and worshipping his ironic intellect. What is horrifying is that all the time you will know you are duped and manipulated into - crime - and you won't even care.
Going through all miserly, primitive, beastly scenes Kosinski is teaching us not only about certain aspects of human nature but also about You. I believe that the sense of this "lecture" is not only to read the book and make judgments about character's doings, but also reading your own reactions, your own conclusions, and mostly emotions you are manipulated in, by the attitude and style of confident Kosinski's lines.
So be careful and don't eagerly dive in without checking the safety of your breathing equipment.
Don't think high of yourself - you WILL agree with him. Eventually, you might fall in love. Very soon you will find yourself justifying every of his wrong moves and worshipping his ironic intellect. What is horrifying is that all the time you will know you are duped and manipulated into - crime - and you won't even care.
Going through all miserly, primitive, beastly scenes Kosinski is teaching us not only about certain aspects of human nature but also about You. I believe that the sense of this "lecture" is not only to read the book and make judgments about character's doings, but also reading your own reactions, your own conclusions, and mostly emotions you are manipulated in, by the attitude and style of confident Kosinski's lines.
So be careful and don't eagerly dive in without checking the safety of your breathing equipment.
March 8, 2015
I would describe this book as being like the diary of James Bond if he were a sociopath or like a series of Penthouse Forum letters written by George Orwell, but that would make it seem interesting. It is nothing more than a collection of fantasies and scenarios, some of them kinky, some of them downright degrading, into which Kosinski plugs his secret agent man, Tarden. If one man had done all that is described here, he would have had to have been globetrotting nonstop for the first sixty years of his life. He lives in mansions, he rents apartments, he buys houses, he goes to ski resorts, he lives in various countries under various identities, he seems to have unlimited wealth and friends and lovers, and yet it is never described how any of this is accumulated. This would be fine if the character progressed or, like in Kosinski's Steps, there were an overall theme connecting the fragments, but the character never changes, and there is no plot, no climax, nothing to speak of to signal that the book is going anywhere. Kosinski's writing is flat and emotionless, so no pleasure can even be gained from its fluidity. Kosinski must have been amused at all the situations described here. All the clever ways in which his character invaded others' lives. The only segment of the book that is involving, and which was likely drawn from Kosinski's own life, is the complicated ruse of false identities, forged letterheads, letters of commendation, and testimonies he uses to escape his totalitarian country, and this happens in the first forty pages. Novels about impostors and secret agents can be fascinating, as with the Ripley and Bond novels, but Cockpit is about as boring as a book can get.
February 13, 2024
The anonymous main character tells his life story through a series of threatening digressions. The stories demonstrate his freakish memory and pathological callousness. Some of the events take place behind the Iron Curtain some happen after he escaped. Most of his capers involve snooping, peeping, and pranking. The book title refers to an inventive act of vengeance he takes on a girlfriend/victim.
January 28, 2010
Well, I really loved Kosiński's The Painted Bird when I read it last year, so I picked this up at a used book store and found it kind of a letdown. It is very similar to Painted Bird, but what seemed like dark surrealism when the protagonist was a little kid, felt cruel and pointless when the character was a manipulative, isolated adult. I guess you could see it as an appropriate sequel -- it kills off any shreds of innocence you might have felt still existed in the world after reading the earlier book.
There was a weird attempt to make the narrator a bit of an anti-hero, and there was a strange narrative device where at the beginning the narrative is in second-person (in the vein of, "I hide in this creepy secret room and watch you have sex with your secret lover") then it never goes back to explain what that was all about. Actually, hardly anything made sense or seemed terribly plausible in this book... again I guess you could call it surreal.
I still sort of liked it. But it was occasionally awkward on the metro, reading fairly kinky sex scenes while surrounded by tourist families. I guess I was being a decadent city dweller. I'm ok with that, too.
There was a weird attempt to make the narrator a bit of an anti-hero, and there was a strange narrative device where at the beginning the narrative is in second-person (in the vein of, "I hide in this creepy secret room and watch you have sex with your secret lover") then it never goes back to explain what that was all about. Actually, hardly anything made sense or seemed terribly plausible in this book... again I guess you could call it surreal.
I still sort of liked it. But it was occasionally awkward on the metro, reading fairly kinky sex scenes while surrounded by tourist families. I guess I was being a decadent city dweller. I'm ok with that, too.
August 20, 2013
Worst book I've ever read in so many years. Most of the book contains unrelated short adventures or tales of the low-life ex-russian now american agent. Can't even spend time criticizing it any further.
March 19, 2010
What does one say about "Cockpit"? It's...Dr. Lecter meets "Man From UNCLE" meets Travel Channel meets Helmut Newton? Something like that. Not for the faint of heart, or for those who think the world has meaning or natural morality. Scary, bleakly funny, unsettling--- an old favourite.
December 3, 2024
Tarden, once an operative of the enigmatic "Service," has meticulously erased all traces of his existence, transforming into a fugitive adrift in a world devoid of identity. His escapades are a relentless pursuit of adventure and intrigue, as he adopts myriad disguises and personas, oscillating between avenger, sexual molester, savior, judge, and charlatan.
When Tarden meets people, it's like they've been cast in a reality show they never signed up for. He drags them into scenarios where they must face their deepest fears and wildest dreams, all while he sits back with a metaphorical bucket of popcorn. This is his way of playing puppet master, revealing just how flimsy our facades and security blankets really are. His antics often teeter on the edge of justice and sadistic cruelty, making him the ultimate wildcard.
With the finesse of a chameleon at a costume party, Tarden morphs identities, indulges in carnal capers, spins webs of lies, and even cheats at chess to achieve his offbeat goals. His knack for exploiting the greed and vanity of those around him turns every encounter into a chaotic tango, leaving his victims in a state of existential whiplash. What a strange book!
When Tarden meets people, it's like they've been cast in a reality show they never signed up for. He drags them into scenarios where they must face their deepest fears and wildest dreams, all while he sits back with a metaphorical bucket of popcorn. This is his way of playing puppet master, revealing just how flimsy our facades and security blankets really are. His antics often teeter on the edge of justice and sadistic cruelty, making him the ultimate wildcard.
With the finesse of a chameleon at a costume party, Tarden morphs identities, indulges in carnal capers, spins webs of lies, and even cheats at chess to achieve his offbeat goals. His knack for exploiting the greed and vanity of those around him turns every encounter into a chaotic tango, leaving his victims in a state of existential whiplash. What a strange book!
January 21, 2014
It's Tarden's world, the rest of us live in it.
That's the impression you get as you read this novel; essentially a plotless series of vignettes that delve into the mind and exploits of a brilliant sociopath mononymously known as Tarden. While fiction is fiction, there is an element of the autobiographical: Jerzy Kosinski, claims to have escaped communist Poland by forging travel documents issued by fabricated officials; a plot that is elaborately described in Cockpit.
Essentially the novel follows Tarden zeroing in on unsuspecting 'victims' -though they are not all victims in the traditional sense of the word. His ability to manipulate people and circumstance are the elements that give him an edge in a life where, under disguise, in various settings, sometimes a saviour, at other times avenger, and always a step ahead of everyone else, Tarden achieves any goal he puts his mind to.
Women are particularly interesting playthings for Tarden. He grows fixated on them and, using a combination of extreme honesty, blackmail, and charm, he convinces them to become his lovers. He's not always successful, and he's not always vindictive, but you always get a feeling that Tarden doesn't just 'let it go'. Behind the motives for his actions -most of them quite logical - there is a hint of menace even when he is well-intentioned. Tarden lives for the thrill of power and control.
Despite the stories' sometimes near fantastical nature, Kosinski builds a character who is entirely believable.
That's the impression you get as you read this novel; essentially a plotless series of vignettes that delve into the mind and exploits of a brilliant sociopath mononymously known as Tarden. While fiction is fiction, there is an element of the autobiographical: Jerzy Kosinski, claims to have escaped communist Poland by forging travel documents issued by fabricated officials; a plot that is elaborately described in Cockpit.
Essentially the novel follows Tarden zeroing in on unsuspecting 'victims' -though they are not all victims in the traditional sense of the word. His ability to manipulate people and circumstance are the elements that give him an edge in a life where, under disguise, in various settings, sometimes a saviour, at other times avenger, and always a step ahead of everyone else, Tarden achieves any goal he puts his mind to.
Women are particularly interesting playthings for Tarden. He grows fixated on them and, using a combination of extreme honesty, blackmail, and charm, he convinces them to become his lovers. He's not always successful, and he's not always vindictive, but you always get a feeling that Tarden doesn't just 'let it go'. Behind the motives for his actions -most of them quite logical - there is a hint of menace even when he is well-intentioned. Tarden lives for the thrill of power and control.
Despite the stories' sometimes near fantastical nature, Kosinski builds a character who is entirely believable.
December 29, 2019
Rozprávačom je úchylný psychopat - bývalý špión, všetky jeho príbehy sú zvrátené a bizarné - okrem nechutností, ktorými zasahuje do života často náhodným ľuďom, sa o ňom nedozvedáme nič. Nevieme prečo je taký úbohý, ani čo tým sleduje a jednotlivé texty nemajú žiadnu kontinuálnu líniu.
Už pri Nafarbenom vtáčati mi napadlo, že koncept vyznieva - ako keby autor vzal strašné zážitky od desiatok a desiatok ľudí - a vpísal ich jednej postave. Pri Kokpite je taký postup nespochybniteľný. Na konci sa to snaží zachrániť alibisticky vyznievajúcim Dostojevského citátom, čo pocit trápnosti ešte umocňuje.
Avšak najneuveriteľnejšie na tom celom je, že ktosi do anotácie napísal, že okrem "ošklivosti, krutosti, ale i humoru" - kniha obsahuje aj krásne lyrické pasáže. - nie, ten román neobsahuje jedinú vetu, ktorá by sa dala označiť za krásnu a lyrickú pasáž. A humor už vôbec, jedine taký typ humoru, keď niekto povie niečo fakt mrazivé, nevhodné a hnusné - zasmeje sa tomu iba on sám a ostatní hľadia do zeme, pery majú pevne zovreté a hľadajú nejakú výhovorku, aby už mohli ísť domov...
Už pri Nafarbenom vtáčati mi napadlo, že koncept vyznieva - ako keby autor vzal strašné zážitky od desiatok a desiatok ľudí - a vpísal ich jednej postave. Pri Kokpite je taký postup nespochybniteľný. Na konci sa to snaží zachrániť alibisticky vyznievajúcim Dostojevského citátom, čo pocit trápnosti ešte umocňuje.
Avšak najneuveriteľnejšie na tom celom je, že ktosi do anotácie napísal, že okrem "ošklivosti, krutosti, ale i humoru" - kniha obsahuje aj krásne lyrické pasáže. - nie, ten román neobsahuje jedinú vetu, ktorá by sa dala označiť za krásnu a lyrickú pasáž. A humor už vôbec, jedine taký typ humoru, keď niekto povie niečo fakt mrazivé, nevhodné a hnusné - zasmeje sa tomu iba on sám a ostatní hľadia do zeme, pery majú pevne zovreté a hľadajú nejakú výhovorku, aby už mohli ísť domov...
June 24, 2017
I remember several of the vignettes in this book from the first time I read this back in the 1990's. Back then, they seemed more imaginative and interesting, but the book hasn't really stood the test of time. Now the main character, Tarden, just comes off a self-absorbed douche. Didn't enjoy it very much.
January 3, 2012
Bizarre read. Far fetched at times, other times impossible to put down. Disturbing, brilliant, nice escape for a couple of days.
April 30, 2022
This month I've taken an interesting path of looking into some of the known works from both the cinematography and literature of Poland, although I would say it was a bumpy start for the latter. On one end, I enjoyed various episodes described in it, even if they don't have chapters to differentiate them from one another, as well as some explicit scenes within it (I thought that the name of the title might reference it more than it's literal translate, hehe), while, on the other, I've found some of the details quite boring, alongside the great absence of dialogue between real characters (the entire book is a memoire of past events, which happens to be all over the world). It's a shame, because I do enjoy various biographies and social dramas, but it's very dry when the major part of the book pays attention to description of the surroundings and what's happening to some characters that don't say a word (I know I should feel sorry for them, when a tragedy happens to them, but if they are only exposition and not a real person, then I would lie that I care for them) in the entire episode. In a positive aspect, I'm taking this title as a new discovery and experience from a world that I wish to know more about.
January 28, 2018
How to explain this book? You leave work after a full day. Walking home you feel a little thirsty and have a need for a bucket of suds, so you stop in at your favorite watering hole, Duffy’s Tavern. The place is loaded. Only one spot left at the end of the bar and you sit down and Pegeen, the barmaid, serves your favorite. The guy sitting next to you turns to you and tells you his name is Tarden. Real name I ask? One of my real names he says and he wants to tell you some of his stories. He is a retired agent of “The Service.” Which Service? I ask. “The Service,” he says.
So he tells me stories of his life in no particular order. He came from a tight-assed Eastern European country where Ruthenian is spoken, lied and forged his way out, came to the States but went back to where most of the action was – Europe. He spied on one of his mistresses, murdered, stole, cheated, pretty much all on Service time and money and continued same into retirement. No remorse. Seemed to show pride in some of the things he had done, even if what he did was pretty crappy. He insinuated himself into many lives, partly as they came to him, partially as he weaseled in, out of necessity or just to entertain himself. He must have run into George Smiley sometime but never mentioned it. Actually he was kind of an anti-Smiley, to tell the truth. Maybe he was also a loose-lipped James Bond wannabe. Some combination.
So how many of his stories were true? Hard to tell, but he was pretty entertaining at the time and he sure as hell knew how to tell a story. I just had no stomach to sit next to him again and hear any more. I went home and took a long, hot shower that felt good. Maybe I should have done that in the first place.
So he tells me stories of his life in no particular order. He came from a tight-assed Eastern European country where Ruthenian is spoken, lied and forged his way out, came to the States but went back to where most of the action was – Europe. He spied on one of his mistresses, murdered, stole, cheated, pretty much all on Service time and money and continued same into retirement. No remorse. Seemed to show pride in some of the things he had done, even if what he did was pretty crappy. He insinuated himself into many lives, partly as they came to him, partially as he weaseled in, out of necessity or just to entertain himself. He must have run into George Smiley sometime but never mentioned it. Actually he was kind of an anti-Smiley, to tell the truth. Maybe he was also a loose-lipped James Bond wannabe. Some combination.
So how many of his stories were true? Hard to tell, but he was pretty entertaining at the time and he sure as hell knew how to tell a story. I just had no stomach to sit next to him again and hear any more. I went home and took a long, hot shower that felt good. Maybe I should have done that in the first place.
August 1, 2019
3.5/5 The autobiographical nature of this shocking novel definitely raised the score about a whole star for me. The events of Cockpit are quite outlandish, and far exceed Murakami in their male wish fulfillment gaze. The infinite resources and cunning of the protagonist would have made the outcomes of these wild vignettes predictable if it wasn't for their absurd plotting. The overall framework of the book is one of the weakest elements, with requisite re-positioning of time, place, and stature of the 'hero' totally absent in many sections. I felt the prose was fairly weak, and the description of events unfolding sometimes felt like a past tense retelling of an instruction manual. Faults aside, there are very wacky scenes in Cockpit and the alternating fun and horror of reading them make it worth the few hours I spent on the book. The fact that so many events are based on the author's real life was especially interesting to me. I would probably recommend this book to fans of spy fiction or psychological horror, and I admit I'm looking forward to reading The Painted Bird down the road.
April 27, 2013
L’abitacolo del titolo (Cockpit) è la cabina di pilotaggio: uno spazio chiuso e protetto da cui si manovrano i comandi. Uno spazio simbolico, dato che il filo conduttore della narrazione (episodica e rapsodica) è il piacere infantile (e quindi sadico) del controllo sulle vite degli altri al fine esclusivo di fare un bel gioco, tanto più divertente quanto più le catene causa-effetto innescate dal pilota sono complesse e studiate, micidiali nel loro effetto ultimo (lontanissimo e imprevedibile rispetto alla causa prima). L’apparizione di “abitacoli” reali in punti strategici (all’inizio, nella descrizione della nicchia segreta; nella scena cruciale del radar; infine in quella del contrappasso in ascensore) conferma la natura simbolica e profonda della scrittura di Kosinski. E compensativa: la vita solitaria, indipendente, libera, senza freni inibitori messa in scena dall’eroe di questo bizzarro romanzo è un canto dell’Es dolce come quello delle sirene.
December 29, 2016
I read this book a long time ago. I'm guessing it was in 1981.
I remember being amazed by it. It's a book about an unusual and enigmatic character called Tarden - who isn't a particular pleasant or likeable character. The story is told in the first person from Tarden's point of view.
The result was (in my view) magnetic.
Although the book purported to be a novel, it was, in truth, more of a series of short stories or vignettes, all of them quite fascinating in a surreal, horrible kind of way.
You could do a lot worse than giving this book a try.
Incidentally, my own novel 'Confessions of an English Psychopath' was, at least in part, inspired by 'Cockpit'. (I hasten to add that my book isn't an act of plagiarism - the similarity begins and ends with the fact that the main character isn't someone you'd necessarily want to meet, and the story is told in the first person from his point of view).
I remember being amazed by it. It's a book about an unusual and enigmatic character called Tarden - who isn't a particular pleasant or likeable character. The story is told in the first person from Tarden's point of view.
The result was (in my view) magnetic.
Although the book purported to be a novel, it was, in truth, more of a series of short stories or vignettes, all of them quite fascinating in a surreal, horrible kind of way.
You could do a lot worse than giving this book a try.
Incidentally, my own novel 'Confessions of an English Psychopath' was, at least in part, inspired by 'Cockpit'. (I hasten to add that my book isn't an act of plagiarism - the similarity begins and ends with the fact that the main character isn't someone you'd necessarily want to meet, and the story is told in the first person from his point of view).
January 6, 2009
Cockpit is the story of Tarden, a man of unyielding power and intelligence; he is the narrator of the story as well. His voice uses total certainty & control and he never has little to say of himself. None of the stories highlight his experiences without an abnormal or terrifying twist, and most delineate his superhuman qualities. Because of his boasting, there were points where I had to put down the book and say, "Come on, Tarden, get over yourself!" However, his braggadocio is justified as you tread through. I became quite attached to him toward the latter half of the book - more & more eager with each page turn to know what unusual story he would share from his very private (until now) life. This made for fantastic fiction, extremely inventive and consistently bringing forth situations that we only dream or fear fathomable. Kosinski has stunned me on this one.
November 10, 2013
Cockpit is a difficult novel to describe. It's like a guy is looking back on his life and recollecting a series of unconnected and pointless anecdotes in no particular order. Hmm, I think that sums up my thoughts on the book pretty well. Cockpit is easy enough to read and has a few, er, interesting moments to save it from a single star rating but it's just nonsense really.
October 30, 2014
yazarlar ve fantezileri... dağınık, çok dağınık, her dala konan kosinski'nin aklına ne geldiyse boca ettiği bir kitap. çok kolay okunuyor, evet (tabii tiksintiniz okumanıza engel olmazsa) ama ne anlatıyor, ne katıyor insana? koca bir hiç.
February 9, 2017
"Esta novela nos despojará de cada una de las defensas con que pretendemos protegernos, acosándonos hasta hacernos sentir los únicos habitantes de una planicie lunar, rodeados de los restos de aquello en que nos apoyábamos: familia, amistad, sexo, amor, éxito profesional....."
May 16, 2024
Actually repulsed by this book. Put me in a reading slump. So much unneeded sexual violence. I don’t recommend this book to ANYONE!!!!
July 26, 2020
Rating: 3,5/5
Similar to The Painted Bird this novel gives a somewhat bizarre - some call it surreal, which I think does not in in any way touch upon either the premise of the story or the protagonist's (psychological) adventures - and loose account of the life of Tarden. Honestly, I doubt if the novel seeks to describe and explain the factuality of events that occurred in it. What I find more interesting is the apparent obsession of the author with manipulative behaviour of people in various social strata. The emphasis put on the extremity of such conduct - suspicion, lying, simulating, feigning, misleading etcetera - in all kinds of social contexts is utterly fascinating. The fragmentary composition, for example the absence of well-divided chapters, definitely enforces the social-psychological insights of not merely the protagonist, but modern individuals at the advent of technocracy, to whom Tarden bears witness, as well. I would doubt if Tarden is just one single person during the whole book. Through him, Kosinski dares to interview the manipulative dimension of individuals and institutions. On the one hand, this is what I find most compelling. On the other hand, the novel is fairly one-dimensional, therefore quite depressing and plausibly subject to rebuke. Yet, although the events that occur during the book may in reality not materialise, they may be idealised in the heads of many. Indeed, to me Kosinski accomplished another keen and stylistically consistent work of art. What is more, Kosinski reminds us of what some of our politicians anno 2020 either implicity or with sheer recklessness seek to attain for the populace - do not trust the motives of your own neighbours. 269 p.
Similar to The Painted Bird this novel gives a somewhat bizarre - some call it surreal, which I think does not in in any way touch upon either the premise of the story or the protagonist's (psychological) adventures - and loose account of the life of Tarden. Honestly, I doubt if the novel seeks to describe and explain the factuality of events that occurred in it. What I find more interesting is the apparent obsession of the author with manipulative behaviour of people in various social strata. The emphasis put on the extremity of such conduct - suspicion, lying, simulating, feigning, misleading etcetera - in all kinds of social contexts is utterly fascinating. The fragmentary composition, for example the absence of well-divided chapters, definitely enforces the social-psychological insights of not merely the protagonist, but modern individuals at the advent of technocracy, to whom Tarden bears witness, as well. I would doubt if Tarden is just one single person during the whole book. Through him, Kosinski dares to interview the manipulative dimension of individuals and institutions. On the one hand, this is what I find most compelling. On the other hand, the novel is fairly one-dimensional, therefore quite depressing and plausibly subject to rebuke. Yet, although the events that occur during the book may in reality not materialise, they may be idealised in the heads of many. Indeed, to me Kosinski accomplished another keen and stylistically consistent work of art. What is more, Kosinski reminds us of what some of our politicians anno 2020 either implicity or with sheer recklessness seek to attain for the populace - do not trust the motives of your own neighbours. 269 p.
September 2, 2022
If you can accept that this is rather a series of discontinuous stories than a novel with a well-rounded conclusion, you will find a most entertaining and well-written book with fantastical stories of all sorts of sexual scenarios and eccos from the Eastern Block under communism.
(Why the name cock-pit? He is a cocky man with an adventurous cock? Falling into pit after pit of darkness?)
(Why the name cock-pit? He is a cocky man with an adventurous cock? Falling into pit after pit of darkness?)
May 29, 2020
This is a good 'un if you dig Kosiński's Steps. If you don't, avoid studiously.
March 21, 2025
love a sociopath
July 16, 2020
I'm a fucked up individual; I think this book is pretty damn great.
September 19, 2015
To be honest, this book is extremely fascinating to me - the way the protagonist, who we only know by the false name "Tarden", makes these meticulous, intricate plans in such ingenious ways is incredible. The section early on in the book where he plots his escape from his fascistic home country by taking advantage of their reverence for authority: he invents three diplomats from various high offices and manages to convince the entire government through subterfuge that he's being sent out of the country on a top-secret mission vital to the country's goals (though, thanks to their culture of secrecy, he never has to mention any part of the plan to anyone).
But the protagonist is an amoral sociopath with little regard for anyone else's life whatsoever. Sure, he manages to impart some good into peoples' lives near the end of the book, but the repugnant, reprehensible actions he undertakes during the course of the book are completely inexcusable.
Some examples:
He enters into an arrangement with a woman in which he agrees to set her up for marriage with a businessman who'd just recieved a large inheritance from his parents - but only if she'll agree to let him fuck her whenever he wants, no exceptions. He lets her know of the fates of the women who've stepped outside the boundaries of this agreement before - one he poisoned with a fungus that caused her to lose all her toes and fingers to gangrene; another, he killed her puppy and severely disfigured her with acid. She agrees anyway and becomes a famous heiress, though her marriage is quite unhappy. She grows apart from the narrator, and begins to ignore his advances. For this, he forces her to come with him to an undisclosed location. He promptly injects her with an unknown drug, ties her up and leaves her there while he finds three unwashed vagrants. He hires these men to come back to the house, where he invites them to strip nude and savagely beat and rape the woman while he photographs it under professional lighting, for blackmail purposes. This sequence is very uncomfortably detailed. When this plan doesn't work and the woman withdraws from him further, he decides to collude with an unwilling pilot to say goodbye to her at an airshow. There, he tells her to pose in front of the nose of a fighter jet as he goes into the cockpit, ostensibly to take photos of her. He then flips on the onboard radar, giving her a fatal dose of radiation. She has no idea.
The narrator tells of the days he owned a large dog, which he'd often go hiking with. He is disgusted by its domesticity, which he feels is a deep perversion of nature. When it fails to catch and kill a stray cat (as is his vision of its nature), he savagely beats the dog, "whipping him with my heaviest belt, swinging my arm high. As he whined, I silenced him by kicking his head until his eyes rolled in pain and terror... I stood over him, continuing to beat him, trying to force him to get up and attack me." But as the dog refuses out of its loyalty to its demented master, he gives up.
There is another segment where he remembers a childhood tradition in his home country - as the strong winter winds, known as the Thule, began, the children of the town would bring animals they'd collected during the waning days of fall and throw them in a lake. There, they'd watch them struggle to keep afloat in the quickly freezing water. As the animals would try to leave the lake, their owners would frighten them away from the banks, swinging brooms with hooks hidden inside them to keep the animals drowning. When an animal escaped or drowned, its owner lost the game. Eventually, each animal would lie atop the frozen lake, dead, where they would remain for the rest of the winter.
There are many examples of this extreme brutality in this book. Though it is honest, and most likely instilled with some measure of truth - man is indeed an animal with savage instincts - it is an extremely ugly read.
The writing style is nice, though - although I almost feel a bit dirty regarding any aspect of this book highly. It's like finding some admirable quality in a Nazi general. You don't want it to be there, but it inevitably is - he is a rightly-famed author, after all. And I'm sure there's some worth in writing about the base, ugly side of humanity.
I'm torn between never wanting to read this book again - to bury it in the recesses of memory like a regrettable crime - and wanting to go out and buy a copy immediately because it's so well-written.
But the protagonist is an amoral sociopath with little regard for anyone else's life whatsoever. Sure, he manages to impart some good into peoples' lives near the end of the book, but the repugnant, reprehensible actions he undertakes during the course of the book are completely inexcusable.
Some examples:
He enters into an arrangement with a woman in which he agrees to set her up for marriage with a businessman who'd just recieved a large inheritance from his parents - but only if she'll agree to let him fuck her whenever he wants, no exceptions. He lets her know of the fates of the women who've stepped outside the boundaries of this agreement before - one he poisoned with a fungus that caused her to lose all her toes and fingers to gangrene; another, he killed her puppy and severely disfigured her with acid. She agrees anyway and becomes a famous heiress, though her marriage is quite unhappy. She grows apart from the narrator, and begins to ignore his advances. For this, he forces her to come with him to an undisclosed location. He promptly injects her with an unknown drug, ties her up and leaves her there while he finds three unwashed vagrants. He hires these men to come back to the house, where he invites them to strip nude and savagely beat and rape the woman while he photographs it under professional lighting, for blackmail purposes. This sequence is very uncomfortably detailed. When this plan doesn't work and the woman withdraws from him further, he decides to collude with an unwilling pilot to say goodbye to her at an airshow. There, he tells her to pose in front of the nose of a fighter jet as he goes into the cockpit, ostensibly to take photos of her. He then flips on the onboard radar, giving her a fatal dose of radiation. She has no idea.
The narrator tells of the days he owned a large dog, which he'd often go hiking with. He is disgusted by its domesticity, which he feels is a deep perversion of nature. When it fails to catch and kill a stray cat (as is his vision of its nature), he savagely beats the dog, "whipping him with my heaviest belt, swinging my arm high. As he whined, I silenced him by kicking his head until his eyes rolled in pain and terror... I stood over him, continuing to beat him, trying to force him to get up and attack me." But as the dog refuses out of its loyalty to its demented master, he gives up.
There is another segment where he remembers a childhood tradition in his home country - as the strong winter winds, known as the Thule, began, the children of the town would bring animals they'd collected during the waning days of fall and throw them in a lake. There, they'd watch them struggle to keep afloat in the quickly freezing water. As the animals would try to leave the lake, their owners would frighten them away from the banks, swinging brooms with hooks hidden inside them to keep the animals drowning. When an animal escaped or drowned, its owner lost the game. Eventually, each animal would lie atop the frozen lake, dead, where they would remain for the rest of the winter.
There are many examples of this extreme brutality in this book. Though it is honest, and most likely instilled with some measure of truth - man is indeed an animal with savage instincts - it is an extremely ugly read.
The writing style is nice, though - although I almost feel a bit dirty regarding any aspect of this book highly. It's like finding some admirable quality in a Nazi general. You don't want it to be there, but it inevitably is - he is a rightly-famed author, after all. And I'm sure there's some worth in writing about the base, ugly side of humanity.
I'm torn between never wanting to read this book again - to bury it in the recesses of memory like a regrettable crime - and wanting to go out and buy a copy immediately because it's so well-written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2013
What a strange and powerful book! Recommended for all those who feel powerless, defeated, or frustrated by the primary cultural institutions such as politics, jobs, sex, sports, marriage and family, and more. The way the author skewers and exposes the ridiculousness of sports and competition is particularly funny through his use of extreme irony. The book is essentially a set of many short stories but it is not presented that way. There are no section breaks at all, merely a capital letter which starts the next section. Each can be read independently, but the total effect, of course, is only appreciated by reading them all in sequence. It all adds up to a bittersweet statement of the power of individuality you won't soon forget.
March 26, 2017
I enjoyed the book quite alot. Funny I found the title thru reading a Lydia Lunch book recently, and she had been reading this title in one of her stories, so I thought...well why not give it a shot. I liked the main character, he was a solo person, and would create the most creative scenarios, everything from plotting sadistic outcomes to someone, to the ending up of blackmailing others. Some of the women he had/used as a means to financial or sexual gain. Some of them I related to, especially some of the streetlife he described and ladies of the night. I will be getting another title by this author in the future.
March 5, 2019
What a depressing novel! And really not a novel in the literary sense. A series of vignettes without the arc of emotional change or development found in most fiction.
The manipulative narrator is the survivor of horrors in the war and it's aftermath in eastern Europe and becomes the source of evil among people that become his prey.
Violence this unprovoked is difficult to read and impossible to relate to.
Kosinski's own life was a true horror, even if he embroidered substantially the details. The Wikipedia entry for him is of a piece with his book.
My first and last experience with the author.
The manipulative narrator is the survivor of horrors in the war and it's aftermath in eastern Europe and becomes the source of evil among people that become his prey.
Violence this unprovoked is difficult to read and impossible to relate to.
Kosinski's own life was a true horror, even if he embroidered substantially the details. The Wikipedia entry for him is of a piece with his book.
My first and last experience with the author.
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