Dead Peasant

by Lisa Baldissera

Drawing on her decades of navigating the art world, Lisa Baldissera weaves writing conventions from the visual arts with the imaginative possibilities of magic realism and autofiction in this groundbreaking collection of short fiction.The stories in Dead Peasant reveal the fraught circumstances and neglected emotions of an underclass who toil below the glossy economies of the international high-art world, including artists and art workers. Here, characters from across centuries are haunted by war, floods, and their parental histories. An auction-house worker vomits blueberries on an art-collecting oligarch. An aspiring curator converses with Lindsay Lohan about an exhibition of horse paintings before tragedy strikes. An archivist studies planet Earth from space, reflecting on tax havens and the embattled ecology.Through these startling, affective, incisive, and fun stories, Baldissera chronicles the unique challenges of the art world and the damage it inflicts on those struggling to get by. Like the eviscerative work of Rachel Cusk and the dark humour of Miranda July, she satirizes the neoliberal double-speak of the ‘creative economy’ and its punifiying forces, to ask, what is it, truly, that art can do now? 

Genres: Short Stories

178 pages, Paperback

Expected publication November 10, 2026

Reviews

[Olga Vlasenko · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

Review of advance copy received from NetGalley.

As a fellow art historian, I was immediately hooked on this book. "Dead Peasant" by Lisa Baldissera is a collection of short stories on art world and around. The stories sometimes seem absurd and even weird but in a good way.

Most of all I loved "Weepers III/Soldier": "Nothing that I do can make the bears tell me about my father's whereabouts. They swill blackberry juice and smile with purple-stained teeth." This one is rich with images that resonated with me.

I loved the prose and satirical elements of the stories which focus on people in art world who create the world itself (the exhibitions and galleries, for example), but stay hidden – and also overworked and underpaid. "Dead Peasant" allows you to look closer to the art world and around – and although at times it seemed like "arthouse" on-the-nose intellectual prose, I quite enjoyed in the end.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this advance copy! 🙏

[Kara · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

The short stories of Dead Peasant are rich in descriptive metaphor and hit the nail on the head. From daydreaming at work to the mildly absurd, Baldissera connects us to the modern art world (or its fantasies) through people who fly under the radar. The relatable rumination is quite fun, making light of what can be a depressive corporate slog and touching on politics in a way that I found reminiscent of Disco Elysium. Weepers III is my personal favorite of the selection, and as an artist myself (who often struggles to make anything), I enjoyed going behind the scenes and considering what is often overlooked in gallery spaces. The prose is creative and often lyrical, it’s lovely, filled with referential lines and hazy sentimentalism. It vividly transports you to locations you’ve never been, to contemplate meaning and unique existentialism. Some of the references likely went straight over my head, but it was touching nonetheless. I would definitely recommend this to readers of “weird girl lit” or someone looking for bite-sized thought provoking text.