Three Novels

Rosalyn Drexler embarked upon a vibrant career as a pop artist, playwright, screenwriter, pseudonymous author, short-lived Mexican wrestler, and a writer of surreal, satirical, and beguiling comedic fictions, three of which are collected in this omnibus. Highly regarded by Norman Mailer, Gloria Steinem, Stanley Elkin, and Donald Barthelme, Drexler's short fragmented novels have faded into relative obscurity alongside numerous postmodern or "avant-pop" writers, deserving of a fresh audience and to be read for their brilliant comedic energy and sharp satirical eye. I am the Beautiful Stranger is a bold novel of teenage sexuality, familial dysfunction, and knotty self-awakening; One or Another the darkly comic tale of collapsing marriage, infidelity, and racial unrest; and The Cosmopolitan Girl explores the unlikely romance between a style-obsessed woman and her talking dog. These three novels represent Drexler's exuberant and thoughtful prose style at its finest.