The Royal Nonesuch; or, What Will I Do When I Grow Up?

Phillips, Glasgow (author).

Phillips grew up in privileged, permissive Marin County, as did, he notes, John Walker Lindh. But where Walker Lindh searched for meaning and direction among the ascetic fundamentalists of the Taliban, Phillips followed a much more American route, trying to find himself through adventures that included a bit part in a porno movie, a partnership in a “corporate brand strategy consultancy,” and a leading role in an entertainment company called CRAPtv—none of them ventures for which he was particularly qualified. He’d wanted to be a writer before any of that, but had found himself unable to follow up his promising novel Tuscaloosa (1994) with anything but self-doubt. His time spent on the fringes of Next-Gen Hollywood (he shares an apartment with guys who fell out with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone) provides momentum and diversion but little else. Through brief success and persistent failure, Phillips struggles to reconcile himself with the notion that great potential and great expectations guarantee us exactly nothing. Funny, insightful, disturbing, and diverting—but not quite profound.