With bold originality and a high degree of literary technique, McCoy infused his story with a bitter and restless mood, creating one of the most original works of contemporary American fiction.

Beyond any intention and artistic control - with the intuition that always distinguishes an original creative imagination from all others - the way McCoy handled the rare setting and the extreme conclusion of his novel took it beyond the social and moral questions of its time and place.

McCoy's macabre marathon of dance has become a global parable of the existential misery of modern man. His strange and mournful imagination has resonated with meaning through the literary and spiritual undergrounds of this last quarter of the century through the existentialists of occupied France, the outcasts of post-war America...

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]