The Berlusconi Bonus: The First Draft of Adolphus Hibbert's Confession

Author:   Allan Cameron
Publisher:   Vagabond Voices
Volume:   No. 6
ISBN:  

9780956056092


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   13 August 2010
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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The Berlusconi Bonus: The First Draft of Adolphus Hibbert's Confession


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Overview

"Allan Cameron's intriguing novel is set in a near future where the predictions of the US theorist Francis Fukuyama have been taken to their logical conclusions. Fukuyama declared that, with the collapse of the USSR and the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism, history has come to an end. In Cameron's book, history has indeed been halted by decree and the citizens live in a permanent present of spurious consumer choice and endless material consumption, their bovine lives ruled by the embedding of Rational Consumer Implant Cards in their brains. A cardless underclass exists in the Fukuyama Theme Parks, vast squalid concentration camps on the outskirts of cities. At the pinnacle of this society sit those lucky individuals who, because of their dedicated pursuit of stupendous wealth, are awarded the Plutocratic Social Gratitude Award, popularly nicknamed the Berlusconi Bonus as it effectively puts the recipient beyond the law. The book takes the form of a confession by Adolphus Hibbert, a recent beneficiary of the Berlusconi Bonus, who is recruited by the sinister secret police officer Captain Younce to spy on dissident elements. Adolphus embarks on a dizzying journey among the clandestine opposition, in which he finds love, betrayal and violence; discovering terrifying truths about himself and his society.A"" - New Internationalist"

Full Product Details

Author:   Allan Cameron
Publisher:   Vagabond Voices
Imprint:   Vagabond Voices
Volume:   No. 6
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 1.00cm , Length: 21.00cm
Weight:   0.275kg
ISBN:  

9780956056092


ISBN 10:   0956056091
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   13 August 2010
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Reviews

"- a profound, intelligent novel that asks serious, adult questions about what it means to be alive.A"" - Martin Tierney, The Herald The Berlusconi Bonus is an adroit and satisfying satire on the iniquities of present-day life from insane consumerism to political mendacity, globalisation to the War on Terror. It is both very funny and an extremely astute analysis of the evil results of a philosophy which sings the victory song of extreme free-market economics.A"" - Peter Wittaker, The New Internationalist I say buy it. It makes you think.A"" - Dominic Hilton, The New Humanist Cameron grapples with Fukuyama's theories on the end of the totalitarian ideologies and a plausible future scenario in which 'all Muslims were either massacred or expelled from the Federation' and there are 'no tradesmen now, and there are no artists, musicians or writers.'A"" - La Stampa"


- a profound, intelligent novel that asks serious, adult questions about what it means to be alive.A - Martin Tierney, The Herald The Berlusconi Bonus is an adroit and satisfying satire on the iniquities of present-day life from insane consumerism to political mendacity, globalisation to the War on Terror. It is both very funny and an extremely astute analysis of the evil results of a philosophy which sings the victory song of extreme free-market economics.A - Peter Wittaker, The New Internationalist I say buy it. It makes you think.A - Dominic Hilton, The New Humanist Cameron grapples with Fukuyama's theories on the end of the totalitarian ideologies and a plausible future scenario in which 'all Muslims were either massacred or expelled from the Federation' and there are 'no tradesmen now, and there are no artists, musicians or writers.'A - La Stampa


Author Information

"Allan Cameron writes in English and Italian, and has published two novels: this one and The Golden Menagerie (Luath Press, 2004). He has published a book on language, In Praise of the Garrulous (Vagabond Voices, 2008) and a collection of poetry (Vagabond Voices, 2009)He has also translated twenty-five books and has published articles in Reset, Teoria Politica, L'Unita and Renaissance Studies. Praise for previous books: ""The Golden Menagerie (Luath Press, 2004) is highly rewarding in the richness, precision and humour of its language, the enviable lucidity of its thought and in that classical humanist quality it insinuates, of simultaneous lightness and profundity, a sleight which can alter perception."" - Suhayl Saadi, Scottish Review of Books ""Allan Cameron's The Golden Menagerie is a work almost impossible to classify, although it is just possible to fit this marriage of fantastic invention and reflections on the human predicament and our times, ..., into the capacious container called the 'novel'. In some ways it recalls the conversation pieces of Thomas Love Peacock, although the invention is more fantastic. Whatever we call it, it is consistently fascinating and readable, the work of a writer of high intelligence who has a stylish way with words."" - Eric Hobsbawm In Praise of the Garrulous - ""a deeply reflective, extraordinarily wide-ranging meditation on the nature of language, infused in its every phrase by a passionate humanism"" - Terry Eagleton ""[In Presbyopia Cameron]steers clear of personal topics, turning his presbyopic gaze outward in a sequence of poems that take in eco-vandalism, press barons, George W. Bush and death. One admires his determination to reject the pretension and obscurantism that winds its way around to much of the poetry that crosses the desk these days."" - Colin Waters, Scottish Review of Books"

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