Darconville's Cat is a novel by Alexander Theroux. The main story is a love affair between Darconville, an English professor at a Virginia women's college, and one of his students, Isabel. The style is influenced by James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, and Edward Gorey, among others. The style relies on complex syntax and unusual words. The satire is broad, and uses southern culture cliches but is often very funny. Some of the names of the girls at the school, for example, are Mimsy Borogoves, Barbara Celarent, and Pengwynn Custiss. Recommended by no less an authority than the Catalog of Cool http://www.catalog-of-cool.com/longwriters.html.
