When Robert Plunket’s My Search for Warren Harding was published, in 1983, it was declared an instant comic classic for its depiction of a hilariously horrible, deeply closeted narrator on an absurd quest in search of a historical scandal. Plunket’s next book, Love Junkie—originally published in 1992, and set to be re-released by New Directions on May 14—depicted a middle-aged suburban housewife’s wrenchingly funny romance with a handsome gay-porn star. And then nothing. The books went out of print, and Plunket moved to a trailer park in Sarasota, Florida, where he wrote a gossip column—under the pseudonym “Mr. Chatterbox”—for Sarasota magazine, reveling in the foibles of small-town bigwigs.
But the cutting barbs and awful behavior of his two novels continued to bring in admirers, including Larry David, Amy Sedaris, and Madonna. He is currently at work on his long-awaited third book, a take on the American Civil War, which revolves around the very Plunketian rumor that Confederate president Jefferson Davis was captured while wearing his wife’s dress. A better connoisseur of horrible things would be hard to find. —George Pendle
