Cocksure

by Mordecai Richler

In the swinging culture of sixties’ London, Canadian Mortimer Griffin is a beleaguered editor adrift in a sea of hypocrisy and deceit. Alone in a world where nobody shares his values but everyone wants the same things, Mortimer must navigate the currents of these changing times. Richler’s eccentric cast of characters include the gorgeous Polly, who conducts her life as though it were a movie, complete with censor-type cuts at all the climactic moments; Rachel Coleman, slinky Black Panther of the boudoir; Star Maker, the narcissistic Hollywood tycoon who has discovered the secret of eternal life; and a precocious group of school children with a taste for the teachings of the Marquis de Sade. Cocksure is a savagely funny satire on television, movies, and the entertainment industry. This is Mordecai Richler at his most caustic and wicked best.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Humor, Canadian Literature, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Working-class Jewish background based novels, which include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Saint Urbain's Horseman (1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.

People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.

A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.

Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.

Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.

Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.

Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.

In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.

Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.

Richler died of cancer.

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the dirtiest, creepiest, most outrageous, most insane, more provocative novel I’ve read in some time. It’s also the most biting, razor-sharp satire I may have EVER read.

Richler takes everything that is cliche about the 1960s and flays it like a freshly-caught salmon. Feminism, capitalism, communism, anti-semitism…ANY “ism” you can think of…it’s all skewered via the egos of some of the most vacuous cast of characters ever assembled. They are uproarious, disgusting, hilarious, insulting…walking, talking airheads, unable to escape their desire to belong to an oppressed minority. Minorities obsessed with terrorizing the majority, for slights that were, at one time, real…but more often imagined.

Even better are the digs at Hollywood films, and the television talk show industry. Whether it be trans-sexual studio moguls and cloned film stars designed to appeal to EVERYONE, or snobby intellectual TV hosts looking down their noses at traditional values…and encouraging audience participation in the ridicule. As for the whinging about sexual frustration and gender roles…good lord, this takes the biscuit!

At times, Richler pushes a little too hard…but this is a novel that speaks not only to a generation long gone, but to a society still obsessed with similar superficial concerns. A generation of Fox News/Paris Hilton/Jersey Shore watchers…forty years after the fact, by Richler’s count. This novel is a true eye-opener…and it’s guaranteed to make you laugh out loud at least a dozen times!

[Troy Parfitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mordecai Richler's Cocksure is an amusing and fast-paced satirical novel that challenges – nay, skewers – political correctness; cheers for that. However, though it is a decent read, it doesn't quite come off and isn't as fulfilling as the writer’s previous work, The Incomparable Atuk, a lesser-known gem in Richler’s ground-breaking repertoire. (By the by, the reason Atuk is less known probably has to do with its wonderful political incorrectness. Or, as Richler once said, “Satirical novels are probably least seriously treated in Canada because... in Canada there’s an insecure attitude about culture.... People feel that culture is a very serious thing, and a duty, and connotes earnestness... and haven’t got enough confidence to realize that something funny may be of the highest seriousness... and people in England and the United States haven’t got that problem.”)

In any event, Cocksure revolves around Mortimer Griffin, a white-bread WASP from Caribou, Ontario who makes his mark in the London book trade. When an eccentric, self-obsessed Hollywood magnate named The Star Maker buys his publishing firm, Griffin is confronted by the fact he (Griffin) is not Jewish (many people think he is) and the impact this has on his career and personal life.
So, we've got a bit of a weak premise, especially for Richler, whose more serious efforts weave dozens of themes and characters together in a complex, erudite, and oh-so-satisfying mix. Regard, if you will, the literary pyrotechnics of Solomon Gursky Was Here, the profoundly good storytelling within the covers of Joshua Then And Now, or even the more conventional delivery and ba-dump tshewww! comedy of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. And we all know, or should, about the subtle intricacy and tragicomedy of Barney’s Version.

Humour helps Cocksure along – the bit about Griffin analyzing why he thinks about hockey legend Gordie Howe when making love to his wife is priceless – but some of the jokes don’t work. One does get the impression, however, the story must have been fun to write. The dialogue is good; Richler had that ear for vernacular. He never needed to describe the colour of the sofa or what was happening in the background; he just provided authentic and sustaining speech. And Cocksure’s characters are quite funny: the “ageless” Star Maker, for example, and Polly, who pretends she’s living in a movie, with scene cuts at all the dramatic spots.

It’s interesting to note that well into the twenty-first century, Mordecai Richler’s writing still pushes the envelope. He wrote Cocksure in 1968. Sure, it’s a bit ribald in places (the title being the clue), but that was the Zeitgeist, wun’nit? Still, the book was judged too risqué for some and was banned by WH Smith in the UK and by bookstores in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. We’ve come a long way, and we have writers like Richler to thank. In a CBC interview about Cocksure, Richler said, “I guess it’s a rather vile book. It’s really a novel of disgust. It’s meant to create discomfort especially among liberals who are so insufferably smug and self-satisfied about being moderately good.”

Cocksure is a decent read, but shouldn’t be anyone’s first Richler experience. I would wager you’ve got to “get to know him” elsewhere before you can appreciate this idiosyncratic, mocking little yarn. Cocksure might not achieve typical Richlerian heights, but it is fun; 4-stars fun.

Troy Parfitt is the author of Why China Will Never Rule the World

[Czarny Pies · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a foul-spirited and foul-mouthed work from a writer who is normally shows us a very generous spirit and normally keeps his wit well within the bounds of good taste.

There are simply too many excellent books to read in the Richler catalogue to justify spending any time with this inferior effort.

[Giuseppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and uncompromising in his annihilation of sacred thoughts.

[Brookworm Rous]

for book club.

[Ben McPhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

the most ludicrous book I’ve ever read, too outrageous to be offensive I just laughed at it

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd, strange novel... is it a satire on the 1960s and Hollywood? Is it an alternate reality? The author takes liberalism and the sexual revolution to their extreme limits positing a world where middle school kids read de Sade and act out plays in the nude, sex is the only true form of self expression, War heroes are ridiculed and laughed at for their 'heroism' and the risk of life for others, a publisher commits heinous crimes to guarantee best-sellers. There is a sub-plot of modern Frankenstein monsterism that the movie LOOKER may have pilfered. And the accusation of anti-semetism haunts the narrative.
I just don't know what to make of it all. A stellar narration performance by Martha Henry.

[Dan Lalande · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mordecai Richler's defining cynicism at its most distilled. A no-holds-barred satire of the sexual revolution (penned in '67,) wherein a goodhearted WASP tries to keep his head above a teeming sea of self-serving degenerates posing as a progressive society. There are highs of hip sourness that rank with the work of Richler cronie Terry Southern (who obviously influenced) and schoolboy wit lows that play like forced Playboy cartoons.

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely hated this book, and the only thing that kept me from rating it a perfect “0” is the otherwise good reputation of this classic Canadian author. I found the book dated, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, and anti-black as well. What seems to be a 1960s attempt at comedy (and perhaps it succeeded back then), is now simply an unpalatable serving of political uncorrectness.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richler has a unique and simple writing style; similar to Hemingway Richler states the simple and honest truth 100% of the time, I appreciate that writing style. This book, while not his best work, is worth checking out if you a fan of either Canadian fiction, or of a writing style that contains no bullshit... except that which is intentional...

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outrageous! And hilarious. Intentionally provocative. A scathing satire of white, liberal guilt; political correctness; socially militant Jews; self-absorbed celebrities; and anything-to-succeed managers. Creepy, obscene, over the top—not one of Richler's great literary works, but a funhouse ride of society bashing.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great early Richler book.

[Shelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah it's satire but I wouldn't be surprised if Richler low key believed some of this stuff.
Also just because it's satire doesn't mean it's good and it'll age very quickly.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hahaha, Social Satire. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as The Incomparable Atuk, but still pretty hilarious at times. Starts out seeming kind of dated, but by the end felt surprisingly relevant.

[Carlos CRT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like the kind of dream you want to remember but find yourself forgetting. It’s blurry and it’s great. I want MORE.

[Craig Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes, Cocksure by Mordecai Richler was a birthday gift from my university friend Christine Smereczynsky. I received it before the Barnes novel, so I have had it for more than thirty years. It has thus taken me three decades to read her birthday gifts.

I had to read several chapters before I realized what was going on in Cocksure. Richler presented the novel as if the reader was interrupting the narrative. This method of storytelling meant that the reader had to accept whatever the author had written, with no antecedents or other background information, and then piece it together. The novel was heavy on dialogue yet Richler made it easy to figure out who was speaking without having to identify the speaker all the time, thus avoiding inelegant “he said” or “Mortimer replied” structures.

Richler’s writing style from 1968 reminded me of Terry Southern’s in Candy, which was composed of short lines and filled with gratuitous sex scenes. The title is a double entendre on the protagonist Mortimer Griffin’s insecurity over his virility and size of his manhood. Cocksure did not lend itself to lengthy pages of description, so ongoing themes of impotence, premature ejaculation, penis size and fellatio were thankfully merely mentioned and not elaborated upon. Thus these passages seemed to be there only as a reason for the author to find another pun on the novel’s title. The real plot of the novel–Mortimer’s promotion to the head of a publishing house run under the omniscience and paranoia of a Big Brother character named Star Maker–is never advanced to the point of the reader caring.

The action took place in London in the late sixties, and I liked the allusion cited below, although it seems dated now:

“Among the literary lionesses who were making London a Saigon of the Sex War, Daphne’s name was writ large.”

Richler would often write contradictory statements on the same page. For careful readers like myself, I would restart the entire page to ensure I hadn’t misread it. Yet his frequency in doing this eventually led me to accept it as intentional. The contradictions played like a movie as I could picture the abrupt about-faces better on a screen. In fact, the novel’s structure (37 chapters over 250 pages) made it a perfect fit for a Warhol movie, with its multiple chapters suited to quick strobe cuts where nothing really happens.

The back cover of the book included the plug as a “brilliantly funny satire” and it is, especially of Hollywood and its creation of vapid vanilla movie stars. Running jokes throughout the novel involve Mortimer doubting his sexual orientation and others convinced he is Jewish. Racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic epithets run throughout Cocksure, so readers be warned. Mordecai Richler is a leading writer of English Canadian fiction yet I would not recommend this novel as an introduction to the Richler oeuvre.

[Tama · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much character. I want to note all of the strong character writing. The colourful prose. The cartoon of it. The strange. But I don’t have much of note to reference these things. By which I mean this is a comic book that lightly spoofs patriarchal scenes. And that’s about it. Sex politics. Sure.

I wouldn’t save it from a bookshelf on fire. But I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from reading it unless they can’t take racist, sexist characters. They often crack jokes they think are funny.

Often the humour isn’t funny but its characterful.

It’s a racy cartoon is what it is.

I thought I’d be keeping this one. For all that character. By the end Mortimer is nowhere near enough to carry it. Star Maker’s speech on sex change was almost better than good. Gladly I've forgotten most of what made it entertaining. So I can move onwards to forgetting it. I wouldn't mind re-reading if it was dialogue in script format and everything made tight sense (prose was condensed into the dialogue without adding words :)

The kind of spoof that spoofs too hard and loses relatability or commentary on stereo and archetypes. Reminded of 'London Fields' but that book is so much better (and sure of character) if too long.

[Paul C. Stalder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absurd, satirical fantasy that fears no topic. Based in 1960's London, Richler reveals a world that feels almost real. The budding liberal movements of the 60's are taken to the extreme in what is clearly meant to be hilarious. And they are; see the seen where Mortimer attends a theatre class. They are also shockingly prescient. The book may be in its sixth decade, but it pokes fun at what would become the woke/PC culture of today in a manner that feels planned. Richler, it seems, saw what was coming, and pointed out the absurdity that follows shucking off classical morality. I feel like he was trying to warn us, the future generations of readers. Cling to your values, he says. Pay critical attention. And be willing to die for cause. There is an almost dystopian feel to this world, and I can't help but think if he had leaned into that more, this book would be alongside 1984 and Brave New World. Sure, it is more crass than those works, but it is as instructional, if not more.

[Rebecca]

Questo è uno di quei libri che dovresti leggere due volte: la prima per abituarti al tono usato (di un satirico e umorismo nero che sfiorano l'indecente), la seconda per goderterlo (forse).
Peccato che non penso esista nessuno disposto ad andare oltre la prima - e, di certo, non sarò io a buttarmi in quest'impresa. Infatti, ammetto a mani basse che non mi è piaciuto: sarà stato il tono troppo spinto, oppure il disgusto fisico che provavo mentre leggevo del Creatore di Stelle, oppure il fastidio che mi ha dato la miriade di personaggi cretini che attorniavano il protagonista, o ancora il finale amarissimo. Peccato, perché alcuni momenti sono decisamente brillanti.

Visto che non so quanto questo derivi dal mio gusto personale, o dal libro stesso, niente stelline e via col prossimo libro, nella speranza sia uno di quelli buoni.

[grantlovesbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I've ever read.
Completely stupid, mean-spirited, unnecessarily ugly.
You can write a book where the main character is kicked the shit out of from beginning to end, but there should be some humour, at the very least, or at least a little hope that things will improve. In this novel it's just a deranged author exercising his abnormal cruelty.
I've already recorded my 'Worst Books of 2021' video, but if I had read this one month earlier, this novel would have taken first place.
Truly abysmal, and it makes me loath Richler. I will never mention him again as a notable Canadian writer.

[Rick Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is clearly a satire on various modern attitudes, and I could definitely see the parallels with today’s “woke” culture. But while I get what Richler was trying to do, some of the humour felt off. The blatant homophobia and racism are meant to be part of the satire, but for me it missed the mark. I can imagine it was more shocking and impactful when it came out in 1968. Not my kind of humour. Not my thing.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes using the extremely outrageous works as satirical humor (Paddy Chayefsky or Mel Brookes). But this doesn't. It could be because most of the characters are flaunting their outrageousness - I think the absurd needs to be accepted as normal for satire to work. It could just be that, having been writtenin the 60s, the satire has passed it's expiration date.

[B. Glen Rotchin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some novels capture your interest because the story is so seamlessly and elegantly crafted that you don’t feel the author’s presence. This is not one of those. This novel is all about Richler, chiefly his smart-alecky, wise-ass, frat-boy humour, and his sexist, and ethno-religious obsessions and preoccupations, and that’s what makes the book interesting. It’s a charmingly dated late 1960s novel, strictly for readers interested in the period, and in the author.

[Tom Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was, to me, very uneven. Don't get me wrong, there are passages that are extremely funny and some that are profound. All in all though, the likability of this volume wasn't strong enough. The "dirty" parts were fine though and they were pulled from another angle of the crazy 1970's. See Anthony Burgess's review.

[Kevin Milne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally enjoy Richler’s work and even in this early effort he’s clearly a writer of notable talent (despite repetitive use of overtly verbose adverbs).

Unfortunately this brief romp into a uniquely realized fucked up 60s satire seems far too shock for its own sake, and a bit unfocused in what it is trying to say.

Some truly funny sequences, though. Fans of Bukowski will be pleased.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly forgotten this one already. Contemporary satire ages quickly although as some things never change it can remain relevant. This one seemed to improve marginally as it "developed" so to speak. I certainly didn't hate it as much as "Son of A Smaller Hero"

[Doug · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are some books by Richler that I absolutely love. For instance, *Barney's Version* is probably my favourite work of Canadian literature ever. But this book sucked. I can imagine other people finding it funny, but I found it dull, lifeless, and substance-less.

[Jack Beaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a story and it took a while to catch the rhythm of the story. Funny, odd, neurotic...

[Karen Maguire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Mordecai Richler’s book but this one was just too weird for my liking.

[Colby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried too hard.