The most critically acclaimed literary biography published in the UK in 2004, Like a Fiery Elephant tells the story of B.S. Johnson, one of Britain's most innovative, passionate, and controversial writers of the 1960s and 70s. Johnson was an unflinching advocate for the avant-garde in both literature and film, and held strong (some would say extreme) views on the future of the novel. Working firmly in the tradition of Joyce and Beckett — the latter of whom became a friend and mentor of sorts to Johnson — he tormented his agents, editors, and publishers with innovations that included a book with holes cut throught the pages (Albert Angelo) and a novel published in a box so that its unbound chapters could be read in any order (The Unfortunates). Johnson committed suicide in 1973, at the age of forty.

The story of Johnson's life is fascinating enough — but what makes this biography truly extraordinary (even for those who have never heard of Johnson) is the intelligence and honesty that Jonathan Coe brings to the form itself. Coe is a novelist, not a biographer, and he enjoys telling stories. How, then, to write the biography of his one-time hero, whose whole career as a novelist was based around the belief that "telling stories is telling lies?"

The result is a brilliant, funny, and deeply moving book about what it means to be a writer, and about what it means to stick to your principles so doggedly that you end up with nowhere left to turn.

"In this quirky biography, British novelist Coe (The Winshaw Legacy, etc.) tackles the gloomy life of his one-time literary hero, the British working-class experimental writer B.S. Johnson, who published seven novels during the 1960s and '70s before taking his own life in 1973, aged 40. Drawing on the testimony of Johnson's surviving wife, former girlfriends, friends and colleagues, Coe traces his melancholic subject's wartime childhood, undergraduate days at London University and determined efforts to launch himself as a writer. With at times overindulgent empathy, Coe charts Johnson's professional frustrations, uncovering a singular style of exasperation in Johnson's bemoaning of British literary traditionalism and stubborn defenses of his commitment to avant-garde formalism (his novels feature black pages, holes cut into pages, and unbound pages to be read in random order). Coe also traces the genesis of some of Johnson's bizarre superstitions, such as his narcissistic identification with Christopher Marlowe. Avoiding psychobabble, Coe discerns pathological tendencies in Johnson's deep attachment to his beautiful mother and in the peculiarly intense lifelong grudge he bore a college girlfriend who jilted him. Reproducing generous extracts from Johnson's novels and more autobiographical poems, Coe perhaps hopes to attract new readers to Johnson's work; as many readers will be repelled as will be intrigued." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

B.S. Johnson, one of Britain's most controversial writers of the 1960s and 1970s, was an advocate of the avant-garde in both literature and film and attempted to reinvent the novel with each of his works. To do justice to his subject, Coe experiments with the biographical form, interspersing tape-recorded conversations, letters and extracts from Johnson's published and unpublished works throughout the text. The result is a moving and accurate portrait of this innovative author.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"At long last, Johnson, an author of literary merit, receives well-deserved recognition." Library Journal

"By no means a facile read, the book rewards with intimate insight into a tragic life....American readers may find the heavy use of British vernacular occasionally frustrating, but this does not becloud Coe's unique gifts and achievement." Booklist

"Quite the most exciting, impassioned and generous literary biography I think I have ever read. The title alone is lovely enough to win prizes. The book is a masterpiece and after it nothing will be the same again." The Times (UK)

"It is a book about a man who really cares about novels, by a man who really cares about novels. If you care too, you will rush out and buy it." The Observer (UK)

"A marvellous biography...On the evidence of this work alone, it would be a grievous mistake to consign Johnson to oblivion: he wrote some of the finest and funniest British novels of the past century. Coe is to be congratulated on this moving and superbly researched work." The Sunday Times (UK)

"Coe makes his subject feel so alive and so tormented that at times it is almost painful." John Lanchester, The Daily Telegraph (UK)

"[A] superb biography of a man who railed at life, but found a lugubrious comedy in human failings" Ian Thomson, Evening Standard (UK)

"Let me say — flat out and without any of the usual reviewer's cavils — that this is a wonderful biography....Like God in a pantheistic universe, Johnson is everywhere in his diverse oeuvre." Washington Post

The most critically acclaimed literary biography published in the UK in 2004, tells the story of B.S. Johnson, one of Britain's most innovative, passionate, and controversial writers of the 1960s and 70s, an unflinching advocate for the avant-garde. who worked firmly in the tradition of Joyce and Beckett — the latter of whom became a friend and mentor. The story of Johnson's life is fascinating enough but what makes this biography truly extraordinary is the intelligence and honesty of the writing of novelist Jonathan Coe. The result is a brilliant, funny, and deeply moving book about what it means to be a writer. From the London Times review: "The book is a masterpiece."