Nog is a psychedelic novel by Rudolph Wurlitzer published in 1969. Written in an experimental style, the novel is described by Atlantic Monthly as being effective at replicating "the slight and continuous dissociation of reality...normally achieved by using soft drugs to tinker with the nervous system." Nog was republished in 2009 by the independent publisher Two Dollar Radio

Two Dollar Radio

Two Dollar Radio is an independent publishing house based in Columbus, Ohio, also known as The Two Dollar Radio Movement. The company was founded in 2005 by husband and wife team Eric Obenauf and Eliza Jane Wood, with Brian Obenauf. Emily Pullen joined the publishing house as an editor and outreach...

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Plot introduction

The novel follows the journey of an unnamed narrator as he meanders through life. The narrator makes very little sense to those around him, save a commune

Commune (intentional community)

A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...

 that seems to view him as a wise man. After the shooting of the commune's leader, the narrator is taken away by a girl named Meridith. The narrator gives his name as Nog, but makes several references to him which seem to imply his being another person. The role of Nog is not fully explained.

Characters in Nog

Nog- Possibly the narrator. The Unreliable narrator

Unreliable narrator

An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...

, perhaps a madman or drug-user/abuser. Nog also the name of a possibly-imaginary person who sold the narrator the truck-and-false-octopus he has at the beginning of the novel. The narrator spends much time imagining Nog's journeys through the world in contrast with his own current state and destinations.

Colonel Green-one of a number of commanding but silly old men, generally with military or maritime titles encountered in the novel, obsessed with maintaining a sea-wall to his beach-home.

Lockett- The commune's "leader," seems to view the narrator as an oracle, or at least pretends to in order to maintain control of the commune. Perhaps a drug dealer, or con-man, or visionary; certainly a schemer. Locket calls himself 'Nog' for a time. later on, after Lockett dies, Nog assumes his name and at times his identity, generally reacting to Merediths contrivance or confusion and also the assumption of those they meet that seem to know Lockett by reputation.

Meridith- A member of the commune who seems to be Lockett's closest companion. After Lockett's shooting she takes the narrator across the country.

The General-an apparently senile old man whom the Narrator encounters in a hospital that Lockett and Meridith raid for drugs.

Bench- A hunter the narrator meets while by himself. After almost shooting the narrator he is given a number of drugs. While deranged he attacks the commune and kills Lockett.

The Captain-another commanding and ambitious but futile old man, a survivalist-style hermit in the desert who knew Lockett's father, and mistakes Nog for Lockett, apparently at Meridiths' contrivance. He supplies with tickets to a ship as part of Meridiths effort to continue what seems to have been Lockett's original scheme.

The Captain (2)-Captain of the ship that Nog and Meridith board in the last phase of the novel. He also seems to mistake Nog for Lockett.