Publishers Weekly
05/01/2017
Entrancing prose enhances the unusual plot of Morrow’s successful melding of history and fantasy. Francis Wyndham, a self-described “bookish farm boy from central Pennsylvania,” had his life changed, in 1913, by an inspirational visit to a modern art exhibition. Wyndham heads to Paris, where he adopts the identity of a descendant of “a line of North American gypsies famous for their spare but powerful folk art.” His initial efforts to get access to the giants of the age ends poorly, but he gets a new lease on life in 1914 when he’s offered the chance to serve as an art therapist at an asylum run by Dr. Alessandro Caligari. Despite Caligari’s poor opinion of Wyndham’s work, Wyndham lands the job, only to learn that his employer, who views WWI as a “grand-scale Nietzschean work of art,” has produced a painting, Ecstatic Wisdom, with unsettling powers that the American feels compelled to counter. Readers with a taste for the bizarre and unexpected will be satisfied. Agent: Emma Patterson, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Asylum of Dr. Caligari
B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog: The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of June 2017
Amazon Best Books of the Month: Editor’s Picks (June 2017)
io9 Summer Reading List
Best Summer Books, Campus Circle Feature,
Barnes & Noble.com Week’s New Sci Fi and Fantasy Books
“Entrancing prose enhances the unusual plot of Morrow’s successful melding of history and fantasy.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This provocative novella is well worth a look.”
—Asimov’s SF
“James Morrow explores ideas with visionary audacity and a satirical (yet nonetheless disturbing) bent perhaps unequaled since Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld series—as if directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.”
—See the Elephant
[Starred Review]“This is an erudite, fun book that can be enjoyed on many levels; it succeeds as a satire of geopolitics and warmongering elites, as a comic fantasy, and as a pastiche of the 1920 film that appears on so many fans’ ‘best of’ lists.”
—Foreword
“It’s a rich and wonderful mash-up of political satire, psychological fairytale and German Expressionist horror story . . . There’s a gorgeous edge to Morrow’s writing, a sense of fun and irreverence that never detracts from the dark jeopardy at the heart of the story. 10/10 stars.”
—Starburst
“[Morrow] is a crafty wordsmith who likes to hone in on poseurs and pretensions . . . Readers who are fond of wry esoteric musings will not be disappointed.”
—Diabolique
“As is always the case with Morrow, he keeps the ride interesting and at times painfully funny.”
—Locus
“A satirical, thought provoking, and stimulating novella.”
—New York Journal of Books
“I was reminded time and again of some horror greats including Dracula and Frankenstein.”
—The Booklover’s Boudoir
“No one does history-meets-the-fantastic like Morrow. The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is a great example—Impressionism versus expressionism, psychology in the asylum of ‘dreams,’ the weaponization of art, big laughs and big ideas, a wild imagination, and smooth, subtle writing.”
—Jeffrey Ford, author of A Natural History of Hell
“The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is a fast, funny book . . . Brilliantly walking the line, its zippy energy camouflages a surprisingly powerful resonance. It’s yet another seriocomic triumph from one of the genre’s best satirists.”
—Christopher East
“The Asylum of Dr Caligari is exquisite, inventive madness of epic proportions, laced with wicked humour.”
—Strange Alliances
“The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is laugh out loud funny, even as it tosses about ideas surrounding perhaps our most serious and vile aspects of existence: war and indoctrination to war.”
—Speculition
“The story makes points about the effect of art on humanity and its relevance to society, but it’s also terrifying, with dark humor and a clever tone.”
—RevolutionSF
“The Asylum of Dr. Caligari succeeds in being at once a brilliant rendering of an antique spooky passion play and a timeless lesson about megalomaniacs, art, science and love.”
—Locus
“This is a satire for the ages, a skillful blending of the history of World War One, and the fantastical realm of alchemy and magic . . . The wry, tongue-in-cheek amusement of Morrow’s writing reminds me of reading Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal.’”
—The San Francisco Review of Books
“It really reminds me of Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel . . . sumptuous and philosophical, thought-provoking as well as just good fun."
—Art District Radio
“A perfect fit for people who are not just interested in fantasy, but also history, art, geography and linguistics.”
—New Books Network
“I don’t think there is anyone writing today like James Morrow. I’ve seen him compared to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and to Harlan Ellison, but Ellison is too pedestrian compared to Morrow, and Vonnegut not quite risky enough . . . The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is another tour de force from James Morrow.”
—Looking For a Good Book
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
Entrancing prose enhances the unusual plot of Morrow's successful melding of history and fantasy. —Publishers Weekly
