The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart

by Filip Noterdaeme

Using Gertrude Stein's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS as a template, Filip Noterdaeme's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART tells the story of two eccentric expatriates who find love in New York City and carve out a delirious, dadaesque life on the margins of the contemporary art world.
"A lovely romp with the absurd, beguilingly ironic about art and social mores, and quietly sincere about love... It's hard to imagine anything more charming." - Andrew Solomon

368 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2013

Reviews

[John Treat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unless you are James Wagner or Barry Hoggard, or perhaps Mrs. Michael Feinstein, you will want to read this book but more of that later. There are many many characters in this story and who are they. I can think of more than a few who should be here but are not, but these who are will suffice: a downtown mostly but not entirely art and museum crowd sent up delightfully, just where they belong if you ask me. Heroes are Meow Meow, Tommy Tune, Penny Arcade and Filip Noterdaeme, and as for the villains well I have mentioned a few already. I'll just add that Lee Chappell will never work in this town again. The only fault with this book is it does not include the recipe for vegetarian salami pasta.

[Matthew Gallaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, about a gay couple striving to create their art (and lives, to the extent they can be separated) in 1990s and 2000s New York City, is filled with wit (lots of puns), biting satire, many drag queens, urban freaks (in the best sense), and other denizens of the city and the art world; on the whole, it walks a very delicate line between the existential hope and despair that marks so many artists whose uncompromising vision relegates them to the fringes of the societies to which they do and do not want to belong. (Thanks to Emily Books for bringing this one to my attention!)

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out brilliantly; I could not let the book down. Funny (at times hilarious) without lacking in substance. The first half reads like an art manifesto. Past the middle, it is still enjoyable but repetitious -- he seems to recycle the same story by adding the names of pretty much everybody he has met in his life. The last 20% of the book got almost too painfully ironic to read.
Here's a kinder review: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews...

[Hans · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for both fans of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas and the art scene of NYC! A bit gossip, a bit love story, and a lot of LIFE, just like the original by Stein 80 years ago!