A FROLIC OF HIS OWN

By William Gaddis

Scribner/Simon & Schuster, $15

Paul Heritage-Redpath

Written, initially disconcertingly, entirely in reported speech, this is a coruscating, dizzying annihilation of 'an adversary culture what America's all about' (sic).

Its key lies in its first line: 'Justice? - you get justice in the next world.

In this world, you have the law.'

The novel opens with the protagonist, Oscar Crease, lying in hospital having been run over by his own car.

He begins a lawsuit against the manufacturer on the basis that the car was defective because it slipped into drive when he was in front of it jump-starting it (the ignition was broken).

The insurer joins the action on the basis that Oscar was the 'driver' and he achieves the distinction of becoming both claimant and defendant in his suit.

While that rumbles in the background, Oscar commences an intellectual property action against a film-maker who has plagiarised his unpublished play (actually the author's own Once at Antietam, based on his grandfather's experiences in the American Civil War).

This is a superb pastiche of Gone with the Wind, which is quoted at length within the novel, and its plot would make a good book itself.

But that is not all.

Oscar's father is a judge and we learn of his travails on the bench over a dog named Spot who is trapped under a controversial modern sculpture.

Mr Gaddis's accomplished satire of American legal mores bursts most convincingly to life when he quotes verbatim from Oscar's testimony and his father's judgments.

The Spot saga begins when the owner of the sculpture defends his creative right not to have it broken up to rescue Spot.

When the structure is hit by lightning, Spot dies and his young owner sues the town and the sculptor for negligently creating an attractive nuisance.

Tourists and merchandisers flock to the site.

The respective parties then rotate their legal positions 180 degrees, the townsmen petitioning to keep the once-reviled sculpture for the revenue it brings in and the artist to tear it down.

No area of legal life escapes Mr Gaddis's withering gaze - those of you whose firms pay for your life insurance policies will be checking the small print after reading this.

A demanding but rewarding journey into the heart of contemporary legal darkness in the US - and salutary holiday reading for any litigator.

Paul Heritage-Redpath - a solicitor and founder member of the Law Society's law management section - is a consultant with legal software and computer supplier Videss, based in Swindon