The Holdout

THE HOLDOUT is a philosophical novel set in modern-day Mississippi treating religion sexuality academic life and academic freedom sports and sports culture against the backdrop of the quotidian daily malaise (named torpor in the work) afflicting all people. The story is told through the first person viewpoint of Rhett Lawson an ex-NFL player finishing up graduate school. Rhett is a sincere Catholic although obsessed with women and sex and finds himself often trapped in the torpor. His two main companions are his friends Brent (an atheist) and David (an Evangelical Protestant). The three have wide-ranging discussions on various topics throughout the narrative. Additionally issues of race (Rhett is white his aunt Shelby a central figure to the story is black) the nature of contemporary academia and commentary on life in twenty-first century Mississippi (something largely unplumbed in comparison to the plethora of works that have tackled the Civil War South of the 1860s or the Civil Rights Era South of the 1960s) underpin the story.