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''The Ecstasy Business'', first published by The Dial Press in 1967, was the seventh book by the American satirist and political novelist Richard Condon. Already internationally famous at the time of its publication, primarily because of his 1959 Manchurian Candidate, this book was, somewhat surprisingly given his background, his first Hollywood novel. As a biographical afterword says: "For twenty-two years, Richard Condon labored as a theatrical producer and movie press agent, presumably to acquire the authentic details that permeate this novel. Among the moguls for whom he beat the drum were Cecile B. De Mille, Sam Goldwyn, Otto Preminger, Frank Sinatra, Sam Spiegel, Darryl Zanuck, Walt Disney, and Howard Hughes." 〔''Any God Will Do'', The Dial Press, New York, 1967, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-14467, page 306 plus one〕 Told in the third person, it is the broadly comic story of Tynan Bryson, "the greatest film star of his generation",〔''Any God Will Do'', The Dial Press, New York, 1967, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-14467, page 3〕 and his torturous relationship with the director Albert McCobb, a blatant caricature of Alfred Hitchcock, and with his tempestutous ex-wife, an Italian film star to whom he has been married three times. Although satiric and sardonic in its depiction of the film business, it is so broadly drawn and implausible in its plotting and manner of telling that it is far more of a burlesque than Condon's previous books. Unlike most "Hollywood novels", in spite of its mockery of the subject, Condon appears to be writing more with affection than bitterness. It does, however, amply illustrate the recurring theme that drives all of Condon's novels: "Money was at the heart of all art, and the thought of it quickened his pulse and cleared his mind." 〔''Any God Will Do'', The Dial Press, New York, 1967, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-14467, page 19〕 ==Critical reception== The first of two ''New York Times'' reviews called it a "fictional amusement park", beginning its review by: It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's ''The Ecstasy Business''... by Richard Condon. Faster than a speeding bullet zooms this balled-up potpourri of movie clichés—extended to their limits and beyond by Mr. Condon's fevered imagination.〔"Reader's Report", by Martin Levin, ''The New York Times'', October 29, 1967, at ()〕 A longer review in the Sunday book section was somewhat more mixed: Richard Condon, a cum laude graduate of the press agent's table at Lindy's, creates another of his Chinese-meal novels.... You feel hungry an hour later, but all those sweet and pungent sauces tantalize you right up to the fortune cookie. Break it open after 300 pages of spare ribs and it reads: Look out for funny Hollywood novels. The Condon cult knows that he is an earnest man using every weapon from brass knuckles to Sioux pogamoggans against his fictional adversaries. His novels would be merely in the Max Shulman gag class except for the fact that he is deadly serious about the pollution of our atmosphere by sham and hypocrisy.... ''Time'' magazine gave the book a quite favorable review: Hollywood is beyond parody. Almost anything said or written about it, no matter how absurd, somehow, somewhere, some time comes close to the truth. Author Richard Condon... has tried to defy that basic Hollywood tenet by inventing a story so preposterous that it cannot possibly seem real. He has only partly succeeded. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Ecstasy Business」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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