COREY FAH DOES SOCIAL MOBILITY by Isabel Waidner

Few literary awards get it as consistently right as the Goldsmiths Prize for innovative and original (dare I say experimental) literature. I mean, prizes are ultimately absurd but at least this one leans into it. When Isabel Waidner won the Goldsmiths for Sterling Karat Gold in the middle of the Covid lockdowns, it gave them a pretty unique take on the whole winning schtick, one that inspired them to lampoon it to multiple dimensions in this wonderfully wacky follow-up.

Relatively unknown author Corey Fah wins the Award for the Fictionalisation of Social Evils but must claim it in person to receive the money. This seemingly simple task proves extarordinarily difficult when an eight-legged murderous deer-spider called Bambi Pavouk slips through a wormhole and decides to chum up with Corey and their partner Drew. What follows is a wild prize chase, as the trio hunt down the trophy through an increasingly surreal wasteland of trash culture. Along the way there’s cartoon violence, Jerry Springer-like TV madness, time slips into childhood nightmares and more. It’s fun, hilarious and gleefully ascerbic. My new go-to recommendation for anyone wanting to try experimental lit.

Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner
Hamish Hamilton, 2023
145 pages