IBID - Paperback

by Mark Dunn (Author)

Only Mark Dunn, author of the acclaimed Ella Minnow Pea, would attempt to write a novel entirely in footnotes-and succeed so triumphantly. Ibid is the off-the-wall fictional biography of Jonathan Blashette, a three-legged circus performer and deodorant entrepreneur. Dunn, a character in his own novel, is Blashette's esteemed biographer. But when Dunn's editor destroys the manuscript in an unfortunate bathtub accident, all that remains are the footnotes, which they arrange to publish in a consummate portrait of Blashette's strangely hilarious life story, one that offers some infinitely interesting morsels of American cultural history. Of course, as endnotes go, these are the tidbits, the marginalia: snippets of commentary, correspondence, court transcripts, song lyrics, and even a recipe for Boston baked beans. But in the topsy-turvy world of Ibid, the footnotes tell the truest story of all.

Back Jacket

Unbearably hilarious. Los Angeles Times
After his editor's son accidentally drowns the sole copy of his latest manuscript in the bathtub, Mark Dunn (a character in his own novel) makes the best of a bad situation. He will tell the story of three-legged circus performer-cum-deodorant magnate and humanitarian Jonathan Blashette through the only part of the text that survives: the footnotes. The result is a riotous and irreverent romp through recent history that finds in the margins of a fictitious life a surprisingly revealing angle on who and what we consider newsworthy, and why.
As fun and non-nutritious as picking the most buttery kernels of popcorn out of the bowl. TIME OUT NEW YORK
If you re looking for a book with an original, offbeat resume, a book that will entertain and amuse, Ibid will do the job! THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Mark Dunn, the author of Ella Minnow Pea and Welcome to Higby. Originally from Memphis, he now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"