A Visit to Yazoo Author:Charles Neider Cruising at 90 miles per hour down the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Christopher Burbank's customized "special, all-American car" throws a rod and coasts into rustic Yazoo. In language that's alternately crisp and arch, Charles Neider (best known for his scholarly works on Mark Twain and Franz Kafka) swiftly shapes his latest piece of fiction, the ... more »novella "A Visit to Yazoo," into a mordant parable of contemporary America.
Burbank, a supercilious banker led by alcohol into compulsory "retirement," is isolated by his blustery self-importance and finds "a hollowness in his life which only trouble could fill." Broken down, forced to settle for retooled machinery that sacrifices ostentation for efficiency, this callous egotist proves tragically ill prepared for the roads that lie ahead.