"Dudley, there is no tomorrow!" "Then how about this afternoon?"

by Shepherd Mead

It is almost impossible to describe the wild and unconventional hilarity of this novel by the author of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying . With a Great Gatsby atmosphere and Goonish pace, it tells of a crumbling Long Island Railway station beside the glittering North Shore, where no train stops, or ever will again. Once the station was now (some say) it is beyond price.

Here is a wide variety of rare on the one hand a corpse, on the other a very alive ex-wife, to say nothing of two members of an entirely new species of aunt, who will not remind you of any of your relations. Finally, there is a blonde priestess of erotic balneal rites, an ex-long-distance swimming star believed to hold a valuable clue to what's going on, whatever that is.

And through it all--for just six days!--wanders DUDLEY, bringing with him the priceless gift of catastrophe.

"DUDLEY" is prime comic invention--and also a savage satirical portrait of American organization man, at home. You'll find the adventures of Dudley the funniest (and also the most serious) writing to come from one of the wisest and wittiest men, Shepherd Mead.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Shepherd Mead was one of those men dogged by success. After graduating from Washington University he went to New York to practice being an intellectual and ended up as a junior executive and then a vice-president of Benton & Bowles. His biting attacks against society only gained him greater fame and success, and he finally resigned and fled to Europe with his wife and three children in 1957. He spent a year in Geneva and then went to England in 1958.

As an author, Mead published over fifteen books, including: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Big Ball of Wax, The Admen, The Four Window Girl, How to Succeed at Business Spying By Trying and How to Succeed in Tennis Without Really Trying.

Reviews

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is painful

[Shawn Holman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get through it. Found it awfully dull

[Secretgeek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book. Shepherd Mead is an under appreciated, first class author.