Topical Guide 746
Mark Dorset
Form (in Life, Art, Cookery): Hodgepodge
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 49:
He was talking about his theater, talking to himself, really. It was a hodgepodge of ideas, a stew, a salmagundi, a chowder.
Wikipedia, “Hodge-Podge”:
Hodgepodge or hotchpotch describes a confused or disorderly mass or collection of things; a “mess” or a “jumble.”
Wikipedia, “Stew”:
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef, pork, venison, rabbit, lamb, poultry, sausages, and seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, stock is also common. A small amount of red wine or other alcohol is sometimes added for flavour. Seasonings and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (simmered, not boiled), allowing flavours to mingle.
Wikipedia, “Mulligan Stew”:
Mulligan stew, also known as hobo stew, is a type of stew said to have been prepared by American hobos in camps in the early 1900s.
Another variation of mulligan stew is “community stew,” a stew put together by several homeless people by combining whatever food they have or can collect. […]
Mulligan stew is broadly defined as a stew made of odds and ends or any available ingredients.
Wikipedia, “Mulligan Stew (novel)”:
Mulligan Stew is a postmodern novel by Gilbert Sorrentino. It was first published in 1979 by Grove Press, simultaneously in hardcover and softcover.The book is a metafictional and parodistic examination of the creative process of writing a novel and its failing. It is dedicated to Brian O'Nolan and his “virtue hilaritas.”The title is a direct reference to the hodge-podge nature of the food. More cryptically, it is a punning allusion (“Mulligan’s too”) to the character Buck Mulligan in James Joyce’s Ulysses. […]The book is a multi-layered novel-in novel. […] Other matter is interspersed such as advertisement, erotic poems for Lamont to review, a masque play, and an academic-type manuscript concerning a mathematical proof. As part of the “stew” the novel contains intentionally “bad writing.”
Wikipedia, “Salmagundi”:
Salmagundi (alternatively salmagundy or sallid magundi) is a cold dish or salad made from different ingredients which may include meat, seafood, eggs, cooked and raw vegetables, fruits, or pickles. In English culture, the term does not refer to a single recipe but describes the grand presentation of a large plated salad of many disparate ingredients. […] Often recipes allow the cook to add various ingredients which may be available at hand, producing many variations of the dish.
Eric Kraft, on The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy:
Like the ingredients in a good clam chowder, each piece of this work is intended to contribute its individual flavor and texture to a single savory dish. In a chowder, there will be clams, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, some bits of bacon or salt pork, herbs, spices, and (if you’ve used good fresh clams) some dark, gritty bits at the bottom—with a rich broth to hold the whole thing together and distribute the combined essence of all the flavors throughout the bowl. Similarly, each of the books has its own texture and tang, and Peter Leroy’s personal history, adventures, experiences, and observations (and mine) are distributed throughout the bowl to hold the whole concoction together and flavor each bite with his imagination, voice, and style (and mine).
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
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At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, and Where Do You Stop?
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.