Boswell is Stanley Elkin's first and funniest novel: the comic odyssey of a twentieth-century groupie who collects celebrities as his insurance policy against death. James Boswell—strong man, professional wrestler (his most heroic match is with the Angel of Death)— is a con man, a gate crasher, and a moocher of epic talent. He is also the hero of one of the most original novel in years (Oakland Tribune)—a man on the make for all the great men of his time—his logic being that if you can't be a lion, know a pride of them. Can he cheat his way out of mortality?