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The Asylum of Dr. Caligari
If you think today's profiteers are diabolical, blink again. It is the summer of 1914. As the world teeters on the brink of the Great War, a callow American painter, Francis Wyndham, arrives at a renowned European insane asylum, where he begins offering art therapy under the auspices of Alessandro Caligari-sinister psychiatrist, maniacal artist, alleged sorcerer. And determined to turn the impending cataclysm to his financial advantage, Dr. Caligari will-for a price-allow governments to parade their troops past his masterpiece: a painting so mesmerizing it can incite entire regiments to rush headlong into battle. The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is a timely tale that is by turns funny and erotic, tender and bayonet-sharp-but ultimately emerges as a love letter to that mysterious, indispensable thing called art.
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First published June 13, 2017
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About the author
James K. Morrow
102 books328 followersBorn in 1947, James Kenneth Morrow has been writing fiction ever since he, as a seven-year-old living in the Philadelphia suburbs, dictated “The Story of the Dog Family” to his mother, who dutifully typed it up and bound the pages with yarn. This three-page, six-chapter fantasy is still in the author’s private archives. Upon reaching adulthood, Jim produced nine novels of speculative fiction, including the critically acclaimed Godhead Trilogy. He has won the World Fantasy Award (for Only Begotten Daughter and Towing Jehovah), the Nebula Award (for “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge” and the novella City of Truth), and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (for the novella Shambling Towards Hiroshima). A fulltime fiction writer, Jim makes his home in State College, Pennsylvania, with his wife, his son, an enigmatic sheepdog, and a loopy beagle. He is hard at work on a novel about Darwinism and its discontents.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
June 16, 2017
3.5 Stars
James Morrow’s new novella recasts the infamous villain of Robert Weine’s 1920 horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as a psychiatrist (and contemporary rival of Freud) running his own asylum in Germany at the dawn of World War I. The hero of the story is Francis Wyndham, an American expat trying to make a living as a painter in Europe. Wyndham accepts a position as an “art therapist” at Caligari’s asylum, where he discovers that Caligari is also a sorcerer who uses magic to great success as a war profiteer. Wyndham also falls in love with one of his patients, Ilona Wessels, who has a gift for sorcery to rival Caligari’s.
Weine’s film has always been read an allegory for Germany’s war lust and its attraction to tyranny, and Morrow literalizes the metaphor in his prequel-ish treatment of the character. Despite the novella’s dark themes and often brutal violence, its tone has more in common with screwball romantic comedies (recalling the films of another German-born director of that time, Ernst Lubitsch) than the oppressive horror of its source text. The verbal sparring and rib-poking pastiche are fun to read, but the characters all feel like they are participating in a prankish vaudeville act, and there is little to engage beneath the surface.
Film history buffs, art history buffs, and history buffs in general will find much to enjoy in Morrow’s slightly surreal mash-up. I had a reasonably good time reading it, but found it a little disappointing that a story with such weighty themes felt a little too light to the touch.
Thanks to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for the opportunity to read this ARC.
James Morrow’s new novella recasts the infamous villain of Robert Weine’s 1920 horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as a psychiatrist (and contemporary rival of Freud) running his own asylum in Germany at the dawn of World War I. The hero of the story is Francis Wyndham, an American expat trying to make a living as a painter in Europe. Wyndham accepts a position as an “art therapist” at Caligari’s asylum, where he discovers that Caligari is also a sorcerer who uses magic to great success as a war profiteer. Wyndham also falls in love with one of his patients, Ilona Wessels, who has a gift for sorcery to rival Caligari’s.
Weine’s film has always been read an allegory for Germany’s war lust and its attraction to tyranny, and Morrow literalizes the metaphor in his prequel-ish treatment of the character. Despite the novella’s dark themes and often brutal violence, its tone has more in common with screwball romantic comedies (recalling the films of another German-born director of that time, Ernst Lubitsch) than the oppressive horror of its source text. The verbal sparring and rib-poking pastiche are fun to read, but the characters all feel like they are participating in a prankish vaudeville act, and there is little to engage beneath the surface.
Film history buffs, art history buffs, and history buffs in general will find much to enjoy in Morrow’s slightly surreal mash-up. I had a reasonably good time reading it, but found it a little disappointing that a story with such weighty themes felt a little too light to the touch.
Thanks to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for the opportunity to read this ARC.
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March 25, 2017DNF at 49%
Sorry.
But it is the first time in my life when I feel to be stupid for a fictional book.
THAT makes me feel even worse.
To your information - the writing is superb.
The plot....too complicated for my small brain. Sorry.
**Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
Sorry.
But it is the first time in my life when I feel to be stupid for a fictional book.
THAT makes me feel even worse.
To your information - the writing is superb.
The plot....too complicated for my small brain. Sorry.
**Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
October 29, 2017
Morrow is one of my favorite writers, and this book is another reason why. A wonderful wordsmith, his stories are inventive and his words just flow with a unique rhythm that's all his. A bit of magic and fantasy, held together against an historical backdrop of WW I, this novel is chock full of wacky characters. Somehow, Morrow is able to make you care about them (even the antagonist...). No spoilers here; it's a fine yarn with some moral lessons spun with a sense of humor and an eye for detail.
July 16, 2017
Most people probably don't start pondering the power of art after seeing the classic German silent film
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
. But then author James Morrow isn’t your average person. After all, he spent the 1990s "killing God" in The Godhead Trilogy. A self-described "scientific humanist," Morrow’s last several novels explored the scientific worldview through the perspectives of the struggle between science and superstition in the early 17th century, genetic engineering and ethics, and evolutionary theory.
With his new book, The Asylum of Dr. Caligari , Morrow unmistakably moves from science to the humanities aspect of the definition of humanist. Morrow, who made 8mm and 16mm films in high school and college, uses the 1920 German silent horror film as inspiration and a foundation for the book. The movie is about a sideshow hypnotist, Dr. Caligari, who uses a somnambulist (Cesare) to commit murder and kidnap the narrator’s fiancee. When the narrator later follows Dr. Caligari, the hypnotist appears to be the director of an insane asylum. While some consider The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the first true horror film, it’s best known for its visual style, one which has led many to proclaim it the quintessential cinematic example of German Expressionism.
The movie’s sets and objects deliberately and bizarrely distort perspective, scale and proportion. Sharp-pointed forms, such as grass that looks like knives, and oblique and curving lines dominate. Streets are narrow and spiraling while buildings and landscapes lean and twist in unusual angles. Some of the landscape is painted on canvas and shadows and streaks of light also are painted directly onto the sets, imbuing the film with a two dimensional aspect. While Dr. Caligari is central to Morrow’s book, The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is built around and focused on the extensive expressionist art motifs in the film. In fact, art is both a centerpiece and the vehicle of the book’s antiwar theme.
The story is told from the perspective of American artist Francis Wyndham, whose first name is also that of the film’s narrator. Through him, Morrow introduces art from the outset. Wyndham attends what is known as the Armory Show, a 1913 modern art exhibition in midtown Manhattan that introduced the American public to European avant-garde paintings and sculpture. Wyndham is so enthralled with what he sees there, he ends up setting out for France shortly before the outbreak of World War I. He dreams of being an apprentice to Pablo Picasso, who promptly throws him and his portfolio down a flight of stairs. Wyndham refers to his encounter as “Rube Descending a Staircase,” a takeoff on Marcel Duchamp's “Nude Descending a Staircase,” displayed at the Armory Show. Undeterred, Wyndham seeks out other cubist artists, such as Duchamp, Georges Braque and André Derain.
When Wyndham meets Derain, the artist is being mobilized into the French military. He asks Wyndham to undertake Derain’s new position as art therapist at Träumenchen, an insane asylum. Located in the neutral fictional country of Weizenstaat abutting Luxembourg and the German Empire, Träumenchen is run by Dr. Alessandro Caligari. Echoing the film, Caligari is a former sideshow hypnotist and now an alienist who considers Freud a charlatan. Caligari believes hypnosis is the future of psychiatry and all treatment at Träumenchen on is based on the theory of heteropathy, in which a patient’s mental condition is treated by inducing an opposite disorder. (Cesare also resides at the asylum but in Morrow’s tale he is a black cat. Caligari’s sideshow somnambulist here is Conrad Röhrig, now his private secretary.)
Caligari also dabbles in painting, completing his magnum opus the night Wyndham arrives. Called "Ecstatic Wisdom" based on a chance remark by Friedrich Nietzsche when he was a patient at Träumenchen, the work is some 30 feet long and 15 feet high. Looking forward to the war’s "aesthetic intensity" and believing it "transcendentally meaningless," Caligari created the painting with alchemical pigments. The alchemy enables "Ecstatic Wisdom" to brainwash men into kreigslust ("war lust").
Here, the book shares a common analysis of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Dr. Caligari represented the militarist German government during World War I and Cesare symbolized how, upon becoming a soldier, the common man is conditioned to kill. Seeing the painting as financial security for his asylum, Caligari charges each warring nation as they send a constant procession of troop trains to Träumenchen. The soldiers march by the painting and afterwards "radiated a boundless desire to find a battle, any battle, and hurl themselves into the maw." This artistic war machine doesn’t just create the fodder. Within a month, the asylum is full of soldiers suffering from shell shock,
Throughout, Wyndham is teaching art therapy to a paranoid, a former chess grandmaster constantly narrating classic matches, a man who says he’s traveled the solar system in his private spaceship, and Ilona Wessels, who hails from Holstenwall, the fictional town that is the setting of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. She believes she is the Spider Queen of Ogygia, the island in Homer's Odyssey, and she and Wyndham are immediately attracted to each other. Caligari encourages them to live together to provide Wessels "la cura amore" treatment. Knowing of Caligari’s painting and its effect, they form a cabal with other patients and employees to sabotage the scheme.
Morrow uses language consistent with a story being told by someone living in that period (‘batwinged incarnations of melancholia, catatonia, paranoia, and dementia praecox swirled all about me"), helping set the book’s narrative tone. A variety of Latin, French and German phrases dot the text so an online translator will aid readers. Likewise, due to the numerous art references, a reader is well-advised to have handy access to art history sources (or even Wikipedia). Surprisingly, though, Morrow’s pursuit of verisimilitude is undercut by either "artistic license" or an error in the first chapter. It has Wyndham meeting artist Henri Rousseau in Paris in the summer of 1914. Rousseau, though, died in September 1910.
That aside, the book is generally well-paced through Caligari’s discovery of the cabal, except for the space allotted to depicting the sexual adventures of Wyndham and Wessels. The last third of the book, however, feels a bit rushed and underdeveloped considering the cabal ends up on the Western Front and Wyndham, for example, doesn’t return for a month. The hurried feel is bolstered by the fact the run-up to and the ultimate denouement feel chimerical and even more fantastic than Caligari and his creation.
The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is an inventive homage to and extrapolation of concepts in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. At less than 200 pages, it’s also a pithy commentary on the power of art and the folly and hysteria of war. Ultimately, though, despite being a thoughtful read, the book does not wholly realize its aims.
(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)
With his new book, The Asylum of Dr. Caligari , Morrow unmistakably moves from science to the humanities aspect of the definition of humanist. Morrow, who made 8mm and 16mm films in high school and college, uses the 1920 German silent horror film as inspiration and a foundation for the book. The movie is about a sideshow hypnotist, Dr. Caligari, who uses a somnambulist (Cesare) to commit murder and kidnap the narrator’s fiancee. When the narrator later follows Dr. Caligari, the hypnotist appears to be the director of an insane asylum. While some consider The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the first true horror film, it’s best known for its visual style, one which has led many to proclaim it the quintessential cinematic example of German Expressionism.
The movie’s sets and objects deliberately and bizarrely distort perspective, scale and proportion. Sharp-pointed forms, such as grass that looks like knives, and oblique and curving lines dominate. Streets are narrow and spiraling while buildings and landscapes lean and twist in unusual angles. Some of the landscape is painted on canvas and shadows and streaks of light also are painted directly onto the sets, imbuing the film with a two dimensional aspect. While Dr. Caligari is central to Morrow’s book, The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is built around and focused on the extensive expressionist art motifs in the film. In fact, art is both a centerpiece and the vehicle of the book’s antiwar theme.
The story is told from the perspective of American artist Francis Wyndham, whose first name is also that of the film’s narrator. Through him, Morrow introduces art from the outset. Wyndham attends what is known as the Armory Show, a 1913 modern art exhibition in midtown Manhattan that introduced the American public to European avant-garde paintings and sculpture. Wyndham is so enthralled with what he sees there, he ends up setting out for France shortly before the outbreak of World War I. He dreams of being an apprentice to Pablo Picasso, who promptly throws him and his portfolio down a flight of stairs. Wyndham refers to his encounter as “Rube Descending a Staircase,” a takeoff on Marcel Duchamp's “Nude Descending a Staircase,” displayed at the Armory Show. Undeterred, Wyndham seeks out other cubist artists, such as Duchamp, Georges Braque and André Derain.
When Wyndham meets Derain, the artist is being mobilized into the French military. He asks Wyndham to undertake Derain’s new position as art therapist at Träumenchen, an insane asylum. Located in the neutral fictional country of Weizenstaat abutting Luxembourg and the German Empire, Träumenchen is run by Dr. Alessandro Caligari. Echoing the film, Caligari is a former sideshow hypnotist and now an alienist who considers Freud a charlatan. Caligari believes hypnosis is the future of psychiatry and all treatment at Träumenchen on is based on the theory of heteropathy, in which a patient’s mental condition is treated by inducing an opposite disorder. (Cesare also resides at the asylum but in Morrow’s tale he is a black cat. Caligari’s sideshow somnambulist here is Conrad Röhrig, now his private secretary.)
Caligari also dabbles in painting, completing his magnum opus the night Wyndham arrives. Called "Ecstatic Wisdom" based on a chance remark by Friedrich Nietzsche when he was a patient at Träumenchen, the work is some 30 feet long and 15 feet high. Looking forward to the war’s "aesthetic intensity" and believing it "transcendentally meaningless," Caligari created the painting with alchemical pigments. The alchemy enables "Ecstatic Wisdom" to brainwash men into kreigslust ("war lust").
Here, the book shares a common analysis of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Dr. Caligari represented the militarist German government during World War I and Cesare symbolized how, upon becoming a soldier, the common man is conditioned to kill. Seeing the painting as financial security for his asylum, Caligari charges each warring nation as they send a constant procession of troop trains to Träumenchen. The soldiers march by the painting and afterwards "radiated a boundless desire to find a battle, any battle, and hurl themselves into the maw." This artistic war machine doesn’t just create the fodder. Within a month, the asylum is full of soldiers suffering from shell shock,
Throughout, Wyndham is teaching art therapy to a paranoid, a former chess grandmaster constantly narrating classic matches, a man who says he’s traveled the solar system in his private spaceship, and Ilona Wessels, who hails from Holstenwall, the fictional town that is the setting of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. She believes she is the Spider Queen of Ogygia, the island in Homer's Odyssey, and she and Wyndham are immediately attracted to each other. Caligari encourages them to live together to provide Wessels "la cura amore" treatment. Knowing of Caligari’s painting and its effect, they form a cabal with other patients and employees to sabotage the scheme.
Morrow uses language consistent with a story being told by someone living in that period (‘batwinged incarnations of melancholia, catatonia, paranoia, and dementia praecox swirled all about me"), helping set the book’s narrative tone. A variety of Latin, French and German phrases dot the text so an online translator will aid readers. Likewise, due to the numerous art references, a reader is well-advised to have handy access to art history sources (or even Wikipedia). Surprisingly, though, Morrow’s pursuit of verisimilitude is undercut by either "artistic license" or an error in the first chapter. It has Wyndham meeting artist Henri Rousseau in Paris in the summer of 1914. Rousseau, though, died in September 1910.
That aside, the book is generally well-paced through Caligari’s discovery of the cabal, except for the space allotted to depicting the sexual adventures of Wyndham and Wessels. The last third of the book, however, feels a bit rushed and underdeveloped considering the cabal ends up on the Western Front and Wyndham, for example, doesn’t return for a month. The hurried feel is bolstered by the fact the run-up to and the ultimate denouement feel chimerical and even more fantastic than Caligari and his creation.
The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is an inventive homage to and extrapolation of concepts in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. At less than 200 pages, it’s also a pithy commentary on the power of art and the folly and hysteria of war. Ultimately, though, despite being a thoughtful read, the book does not wholly realize its aims.
(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)
April 5, 2019
This book completely took me by surprise ... not unlike seeing the silent film classic, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, for the first time. The story is deceptively simple upon starting. However, as the Reader continues, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a subtext running through the plot that would render the novel superficially ridiculous if missed, but intriguing if pursued.
So much mental imagery is referenced that it will help the Reader to have a background foundation. (It is not essential, but there is yet another layer present if it is in place.) For instance:
* The original THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI not only has character links to this book, but also made use of an expressionist style in its sets that influenced quite a few films afterward. It also influenced my perception of some “set pieces” in this book, especially Caligari’s asylum;
* Victor Hugo’s THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is referenced a couple of times. Either reading the wonderful novel or viewing the 1928 silent film will help to enter a character’s mental state in this book;
* There are several references to artists, artistic works and styles (such as Cubism). Fortunately, representative works are mentioned by name and, if the Reader is unfamiliar with them, a quick internet search will add an enhancement. There are other fun references, too, such as Picasso’s fiery temperament;
* Again, an internet search for the controversies generated by the works of Freud, Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche provide a fun background and insight into Caligari’s character.
It’s not my intent to say that extensive supplemental work is required before reading. It will add to the enjoyment, though.
THE ASYLUM OF DR. CALIGARI then combines existentialism with its own philosophy to propel the story into some very unexpected circumstances. As I came to realize what was happening beneath the surface level, I greatly looked forward to my next reading time. Alas, the ending came much too soon.
This is a book that I recommend to the Reader who enjoys being startled and challenged.
So much mental imagery is referenced that it will help the Reader to have a background foundation. (It is not essential, but there is yet another layer present if it is in place.) For instance:
* The original THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI not only has character links to this book, but also made use of an expressionist style in its sets that influenced quite a few films afterward. It also influenced my perception of some “set pieces” in this book, especially Caligari’s asylum;
* Victor Hugo’s THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is referenced a couple of times. Either reading the wonderful novel or viewing the 1928 silent film will help to enter a character’s mental state in this book;
* There are several references to artists, artistic works and styles (such as Cubism). Fortunately, representative works are mentioned by name and, if the Reader is unfamiliar with them, a quick internet search will add an enhancement. There are other fun references, too, such as Picasso’s fiery temperament;
* Again, an internet search for the controversies generated by the works of Freud, Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche provide a fun background and insight into Caligari’s character.
It’s not my intent to say that extensive supplemental work is required before reading. It will add to the enjoyment, though.
THE ASYLUM OF DR. CALIGARI then combines existentialism with its own philosophy to propel the story into some very unexpected circumstances. As I came to realize what was happening beneath the surface level, I greatly looked forward to my next reading time. Alas, the ending came much too soon.
This is a book that I recommend to the Reader who enjoys being startled and challenged.
June 12, 2018
2.5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and to the editor. I received a copy of this books in exchange for an honest review.
This one was another overdue review, and I am sorry to have waited so long before writing it, but, to be honest, this one was another meh reading and I was hoping to find something to write about it that was a little bit… well, that was more than “this was meh”. I can’t say I have found the words, but it’s not right to let it wait for ages. So, here we go!
It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t good, either. And, even if it was a short one, it took some time for me to finish it, because every time I put it down I had a hard time to pick it up again. The idea wasn’t so bad, but I am not into magical realism, and I think that this book it has more to do with this genre that it has to do with the horror, for example. Anyway… interesting idea, and also interesting setting. I liked it. But the characters didn’t click with me. I have tried, because they were fascinating, in some ways, but they couldn’t interest me, at all.
The asylum was an interesting setting and Caligari was a creepy character, but the other ones were pretty dull. I think they could have been more interesting, especially Ilona. She has a lot of potentialities but, in the end, she was as dull as the rest of them.
I haven’t a lot to say about this book because even if I liked the idea (once I read the synopsis I requested it on NetGalley, after all, so I was interested in something!) it was a meh reading, quite boring. I wasn’t intrigued by the story and the characters were quite dull (I have written this word a lot in just a couple of sentences, sorry!) and I couldn’t find a single interesting thing.
Thanks to NetGalley and to the editor. I received a copy of this books in exchange for an honest review.
This one was another overdue review, and I am sorry to have waited so long before writing it, but, to be honest, this one was another meh reading and I was hoping to find something to write about it that was a little bit… well, that was more than “this was meh”. I can’t say I have found the words, but it’s not right to let it wait for ages. So, here we go!
It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t good, either. And, even if it was a short one, it took some time for me to finish it, because every time I put it down I had a hard time to pick it up again. The idea wasn’t so bad, but I am not into magical realism, and I think that this book it has more to do with this genre that it has to do with the horror, for example. Anyway… interesting idea, and also interesting setting. I liked it. But the characters didn’t click with me. I have tried, because they were fascinating, in some ways, but they couldn’t interest me, at all.
The asylum was an interesting setting and Caligari was a creepy character, but the other ones were pretty dull. I think they could have been more interesting, especially Ilona. She has a lot of potentialities but, in the end, she was as dull as the rest of them.
I haven’t a lot to say about this book because even if I liked the idea (once I read the synopsis I requested it on NetGalley, after all, so I was interested in something!) it was a meh reading, quite boring. I wasn’t intrigued by the story and the characters were quite dull (I have written this word a lot in just a couple of sentences, sorry!) and I couldn’t find a single interesting thing.
March 8, 2019
I'm a Caligari aficionado, due in part to my ongoing but never-quite-finished attempt to write a musical version. With this in mind, I have no choice but to pick up every Caligari-adjacent book I can find, and James K. Morrow's magic-realist twist on the story has its charm. The central conceit is a clever one: a mad scientist fuses psychology, hypnotism, art and magic to attempt to create the ultimate war machine, and his enemies must stop him to save Europe from the ravages of World War.
Why, then, did I not love this book more? (Don't get me wrong, I DID enjoy it.) Maybe it's because the Caligari elements were entirely tangential, tacked onto a story that neither needed nor drew on them, in an attempt to bring more attention to an otherwise obscure novel. The ideas in this book would have been strong enough without a passing mention of the village of Holstenwall, or of a traveling somnambulist show. At a certain point, it gets to be like those "Die Hard" sequels that were written as generic action movies and then had John McClane grafted onto them. Not bad, but not really a Caligari novel, either.
Why, then, did I not love this book more? (Don't get me wrong, I DID enjoy it.) Maybe it's because the Caligari elements were entirely tangential, tacked onto a story that neither needed nor drew on them, in an attempt to bring more attention to an otherwise obscure novel. The ideas in this book would have been strong enough without a passing mention of the village of Holstenwall, or of a traveling somnambulist show. At a certain point, it gets to be like those "Die Hard" sequels that were written as generic action movies and then had John McClane grafted onto them. Not bad, but not really a Caligari novel, either.
March 23, 2017
Received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
So apparently this book was based on an old school movie, and I must say I could really get that whole vibe. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no old school movie expert. The oldest movie I've seen is probably Casablanca or Gone with the Wind, and while I loved both, they are timeless classics. I've never heard of the mad Dr. Caligari and his asylum... though I must say that I'm intrigued and wouldn't be opposed to a viewing if it was still available somewhere.
I'm not even quite sure how I really feel about this book to be honest. On the one hand, it was a quick and fun read. On the other, it made absolutely no sense and I felt no real connection to the story and the characters. I expect that's due to the length of the book as well as the way it's written. Most of the time I was reading this with a slight frown on my face. But I also quite enjoyed it, so at the end of the day I would settle for a 3 1/2 star here... rounded down to 3 because Goodreads... :/
So apparently this book was based on an old school movie, and I must say I could really get that whole vibe. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no old school movie expert. The oldest movie I've seen is probably Casablanca or Gone with the Wind, and while I loved both, they are timeless classics. I've never heard of the mad Dr. Caligari and his asylum... though I must say that I'm intrigued and wouldn't be opposed to a viewing if it was still available somewhere.
I'm not even quite sure how I really feel about this book to be honest. On the one hand, it was a quick and fun read. On the other, it made absolutely no sense and I felt no real connection to the story and the characters. I expect that's due to the length of the book as well as the way it's written. Most of the time I was reading this with a slight frown on my face. But I also quite enjoyed it, so at the end of the day I would settle for a 3 1/2 star here... rounded down to 3 because Goodreads... :/
July 1, 2018
As someone that fell in love with Morrow's The Wine of Violence, as a liberal, and as someone who devoured Lotte Eisner and Siegfried Kracauer in college, this was a disappointment.
The fictional country the novel is set in is called Weizenstaat ("Wheat-State"), which combined with the preaching against demagoguery and militarism, the plot element of art as propaganda, and a telling line about reason and fantasy suggests The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is about the United States and its politics.
But what does Morrow do with it? We learn war is bad, and often not conducted for the reasons given to the public. Fucking is fun. Art can uplift the spirit or be a tool for militarists and plutocrats. Well, thanks, but I knew that.
The fictional country the novel is set in is called Weizenstaat ("Wheat-State"), which combined with the preaching against demagoguery and militarism, the plot element of art as propaganda, and a telling line about reason and fantasy suggests The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is about the United States and its politics.
But what does Morrow do with it? We learn war is bad, and often not conducted for the reasons given to the public. Fucking is fun. Art can uplift the spirit or be a tool for militarists and plutocrats. Well, thanks, but I knew that.
July 20, 2022
I never know where James Morrow will take the reader. Just when you think you have an idea, he switches everything up and astonishes.
August 11, 2017
The Dr. Caligari here is, indeed, the one from the German silent film, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" but this story has wings of its own, so to speak. It is the year 1914 and World War I is just starting. The main character, Francis Wyndham, has taken a job as an art therapist in Dr. Caligari's asylum. Caligari has an agenda besides helping the mentally afflicted and is working on a secret painting, and that's all I want to say. You must experience this novel for yourself. It is an amazing, mind-blowing piece of work.
August 26, 2017
Using a cult class silent horror film (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) as the template for a speculative fiction anti-war novel might be a weird idea, but James Morrow has made a career out of weird ideas (including several books on killing God) and that experience mostly pays off in The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, though I would have preferred a shorter version of the tale.
On the eve of WWI, Francis Wyndham, artist-wannabe, makes the European circuit to try and find a mentor. But after getting pushed down a flight of stairs by Picasso and not finding much success otherwise, he’s happy to take on the job of Art Therapist at an insane asylum. Once ensconced in the gothic institution, where he offers up art instruction to a bevy of patients, including one who thinks she’s the Spider Queen of Ogygia and another who travels the solar system visiting aliens, he soon learns that the institute’s head (the titular Caligari) is more than a proponent of odd psychiatric theories and fellow artist. He is in fact a mesmerist and a sorcerer who has far grander designs than curing a few sick minds. The vehicle for Caligari’s goals is a massive painting that evokes in those who view it an unwavering Kriegslust (war lust). Soon Caligari is parading troops of all sides (French, English, German—he has no loyalty to any particular nationality) by his masterpiece, ensuring the growing carnage of the war continues unabated while Wyndham, aided by a few patients, plots to destroy the painting.
If it sounds a bit over the top, well, it is. Morrow dives fully into gothic/surreal mode here, having fun with it even as he shows himself quite accomplished in its voice and tropes: the twisting, canted architecture; the purple and at times stilted prose; use of fire and shadow, classic types such as the mesmerist and sorcerer, and so forth. This is all wedded to the historical events of the time, such as the assassination of the Arch-Duke, the rolling in of one country after another due to alliances, specific military actions and strategy, the use of new weapons such as the flamethrower and the early tank. Morrow also raises the intellectual stakes with explorations of art’s power (or lack thereof) to affect human action, psychology, violence, propaganda, war profiteering, sexuality, the gross absurdity of warfare—either individually or as they are entwined in culture/human nature.
If you’ve seen the film or know a lot of early 20th Century/late 19th Century art, Morrow offers up a slew of allusions for you to revel in. If not, the book is still enjoyable for its prose style, big ideas, and especially for its humor. The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is peppered with lots of one-liners or funny dialogue bits. Not all the humor worked, and some would have stood better with a bit more subtlety (the line “Rube descending a staircase” would have been even funnier without the explanation just before of the painting itself I thought), but I laughed aloud a few times and chuckled many more. I’d offer up examples but don’t want to spoil the jokes (Freud and Nietzsche makes especially ripe targets here though).
I did think The Asylum of Dr. Caligari felt too long even though it comes in at just about 200 pages and would have preferred it as a long short story/short novella, maybe about 130-150 pages or so. But for such a short book this is a relatively minor complaint since the length of time to finish it was so minimal, making this an easy recommendation despite that one issue.
On the eve of WWI, Francis Wyndham, artist-wannabe, makes the European circuit to try and find a mentor. But after getting pushed down a flight of stairs by Picasso and not finding much success otherwise, he’s happy to take on the job of Art Therapist at an insane asylum. Once ensconced in the gothic institution, where he offers up art instruction to a bevy of patients, including one who thinks she’s the Spider Queen of Ogygia and another who travels the solar system visiting aliens, he soon learns that the institute’s head (the titular Caligari) is more than a proponent of odd psychiatric theories and fellow artist. He is in fact a mesmerist and a sorcerer who has far grander designs than curing a few sick minds. The vehicle for Caligari’s goals is a massive painting that evokes in those who view it an unwavering Kriegslust (war lust). Soon Caligari is parading troops of all sides (French, English, German—he has no loyalty to any particular nationality) by his masterpiece, ensuring the growing carnage of the war continues unabated while Wyndham, aided by a few patients, plots to destroy the painting.
If it sounds a bit over the top, well, it is. Morrow dives fully into gothic/surreal mode here, having fun with it even as he shows himself quite accomplished in its voice and tropes: the twisting, canted architecture; the purple and at times stilted prose; use of fire and shadow, classic types such as the mesmerist and sorcerer, and so forth. This is all wedded to the historical events of the time, such as the assassination of the Arch-Duke, the rolling in of one country after another due to alliances, specific military actions and strategy, the use of new weapons such as the flamethrower and the early tank. Morrow also raises the intellectual stakes with explorations of art’s power (or lack thereof) to affect human action, psychology, violence, propaganda, war profiteering, sexuality, the gross absurdity of warfare—either individually or as they are entwined in culture/human nature.
If you’ve seen the film or know a lot of early 20th Century/late 19th Century art, Morrow offers up a slew of allusions for you to revel in. If not, the book is still enjoyable for its prose style, big ideas, and especially for its humor. The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is peppered with lots of one-liners or funny dialogue bits. Not all the humor worked, and some would have stood better with a bit more subtlety (the line “Rube descending a staircase” would have been even funnier without the explanation just before of the painting itself I thought), but I laughed aloud a few times and chuckled many more. I’d offer up examples but don’t want to spoil the jokes (Freud and Nietzsche makes especially ripe targets here though).
I did think The Asylum of Dr. Caligari felt too long even though it comes in at just about 200 pages and would have preferred it as a long short story/short novella, maybe about 130-150 pages or so. But for such a short book this is a relatively minor complaint since the length of time to finish it was so minimal, making this an easy recommendation despite that one issue.
July 31, 2017
Art, Folly, Hysteria, Alchemy, and WarLust
As I read this book, and delighted in its descent, (ascent?), into absurdity, I couldn't help but make a connection to certain anti-Vietnam War movies from the late 60's, especially the British "Oh! What A Lovely War". In that movie various scenes from World War I, including the diplomatic run up to the War, were set to music in a pavilion at the end of a Brighton holiday pier, or were otherwise set in fantasy locations. The effect was not unlike what you get from this book, especially toward the end. I would not have been surprised by then to see a corps of German soldiers march by in tutus.
Some of the blurbs and summaries for this book make it sound like an action thriller involving a plucky band of misfits who defeat a nefarious war-profiteer who's working out of a secret lair. Actually, when I write it that way, that's entirely true. But that's not the point.
Rather, the book seems to me to be a mix of a great number of clever and compelling ideas and preoccupations. On one hand it's an homage and sly reworking of the 1920 German Expressionist silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", often considered the first "horror" movie and usually interpreted as a commentary on German militarism. On another hand the book is in part a very playful review of the state of psychiatry in the early 1900's. More compellingly, it is an amusing meditation on the early days of abstract and impressionistic art, and is loaded with sly references and jokes. About halfway through we turn to "kreigslust", (war lust), and the book becomes simultaneously a damning indictment of the madness of World War I and an absurdist farce, (that's the "Oh! What A Lovely War" part).
Through it all, though, the reader is allowed to enjoy some sharp, amusing, edgy and insightful dialogue. From our hero's early meeting with Picasso up to the villain's monologuing, and on to the characters' observations about the power of art, and then into the bizarre and absurd conventions of World War I, we are exposed to pithy, playful, melancholy, thoughts. The story becomes more satirical, absurd and even whimsically frivolous as it becomes more focused on the War, which creates an uncomfortable and odd, but oddly compelling, conflict in the reader, and drives home the mindlessness and idiocy of the War.
So, to me this was a book that, even though it had a plot of sorts, was a book of moments. Some were playful, some profound, some silly, some lovely, some absurd, some tedious, some fantastical. But all of it was interesting and inviting, which may perhaps be the most you can ever hope for.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
As I read this book, and delighted in its descent, (ascent?), into absurdity, I couldn't help but make a connection to certain anti-Vietnam War movies from the late 60's, especially the British "Oh! What A Lovely War". In that movie various scenes from World War I, including the diplomatic run up to the War, were set to music in a pavilion at the end of a Brighton holiday pier, or were otherwise set in fantasy locations. The effect was not unlike what you get from this book, especially toward the end. I would not have been surprised by then to see a corps of German soldiers march by in tutus.
Some of the blurbs and summaries for this book make it sound like an action thriller involving a plucky band of misfits who defeat a nefarious war-profiteer who's working out of a secret lair. Actually, when I write it that way, that's entirely true. But that's not the point.
Rather, the book seems to me to be a mix of a great number of clever and compelling ideas and preoccupations. On one hand it's an homage and sly reworking of the 1920 German Expressionist silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", often considered the first "horror" movie and usually interpreted as a commentary on German militarism. On another hand the book is in part a very playful review of the state of psychiatry in the early 1900's. More compellingly, it is an amusing meditation on the early days of abstract and impressionistic art, and is loaded with sly references and jokes. About halfway through we turn to "kreigslust", (war lust), and the book becomes simultaneously a damning indictment of the madness of World War I and an absurdist farce, (that's the "Oh! What A Lovely War" part).
Through it all, though, the reader is allowed to enjoy some sharp, amusing, edgy and insightful dialogue. From our hero's early meeting with Picasso up to the villain's monologuing, and on to the characters' observations about the power of art, and then into the bizarre and absurd conventions of World War I, we are exposed to pithy, playful, melancholy, thoughts. The story becomes more satirical, absurd and even whimsically frivolous as it becomes more focused on the War, which creates an uncomfortable and odd, but oddly compelling, conflict in the reader, and drives home the mindlessness and idiocy of the War.
So, to me this was a book that, even though it had a plot of sorts, was a book of moments. Some were playful, some profound, some silly, some lovely, some absurd, some tedious, some fantastical. But all of it was interesting and inviting, which may perhaps be the most you can ever hope for.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
July 5, 2017
***This book was reviewed for the San Francisco and Seattle Book Reviews, and via Netgalley
The Asylum of Dr Caligari by James Morrow, spun from the 1920s silent film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, is a commentary on duality- life and death, war and peace, science and art, reason and mysticism, sanity and insanity- and how things are often not as dualistic as first they seem, for they are connected. Like the yin-yang, there is always a bit of one in the totality of the other. Beyond that, it is an admonishment against war, the foolishness that starts it, and the lust that fuels it.
A young artist, Francis Wyndham, sets off from America, headed to Europe to learn from the masters. Unfortunately, poor Francis cannot find a place as an apprentice, and he begins to need to consider focusing on a trade in order to survive. He is spared from brickmason’s schooling when he is unexpectedly offered a job working as an art therapist for Dr Caligari at his asylum in Weizenstaat. Caligari is a mesmerist and alienist with unconventional methods including sex therapy and heteropathy. Francis accepts and begins teaching four gifted 'lunatics’.
On his initial tour, Francis is shown artwork done by his new students, which is held on display at a museum attached to the asylum. Shrouded in one section is a painting Dr Caligari has done. Francis asks about it and is pretty much told to mind his own business. Not only does Francis go back to see the picture, but he takes Ilona, one of his students, with him. What they find defies explanation. Using alchemy, Caligari has created a painting to arouse bloodlust in all who view it. As World War One looms on the horizon, Caligari begins to charge governments, and exposing soldiers to the painting, priming them for fighting. Francis and Ilona have to stop him, but how? Thankfully, Caligari isn't the only paint mystic around. Question is, can they pull off a peace painting to counter the lust for war?
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. There's so much going on in this book, philosophy and spiritual-wise. With Caligari, Francis, and Ilona, you have both Creator and Destroyer in each. The art they create can incite intense emotion, and it's a lesson that such power should be handled with care. Art, and creativity itself, in any form is a gift and a chance to give beauty back to the world. Abuse of that gift is tragic. Jedermann is a liminal guardian, and a psychopomp, in a quite literal way for Francis, and for countless soldiers in a more figurative fashion.
The wry, tongue-in-cheek amusement of Morrow’s writing reminds me of reading Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal many moons ago (and reread a few years past). I'm not a huge fan of satire, but this tale is eminently readable.
📚📚📚📚
The Asylum of Dr Caligari by James Morrow, spun from the 1920s silent film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, is a commentary on duality- life and death, war and peace, science and art, reason and mysticism, sanity and insanity- and how things are often not as dualistic as first they seem, for they are connected. Like the yin-yang, there is always a bit of one in the totality of the other. Beyond that, it is an admonishment against war, the foolishness that starts it, and the lust that fuels it.
A young artist, Francis Wyndham, sets off from America, headed to Europe to learn from the masters. Unfortunately, poor Francis cannot find a place as an apprentice, and he begins to need to consider focusing on a trade in order to survive. He is spared from brickmason’s schooling when he is unexpectedly offered a job working as an art therapist for Dr Caligari at his asylum in Weizenstaat. Caligari is a mesmerist and alienist with unconventional methods including sex therapy and heteropathy. Francis accepts and begins teaching four gifted 'lunatics’.
On his initial tour, Francis is shown artwork done by his new students, which is held on display at a museum attached to the asylum. Shrouded in one section is a painting Dr Caligari has done. Francis asks about it and is pretty much told to mind his own business. Not only does Francis go back to see the picture, but he takes Ilona, one of his students, with him. What they find defies explanation. Using alchemy, Caligari has created a painting to arouse bloodlust in all who view it. As World War One looms on the horizon, Caligari begins to charge governments, and exposing soldiers to the painting, priming them for fighting. Francis and Ilona have to stop him, but how? Thankfully, Caligari isn't the only paint mystic around. Question is, can they pull off a peace painting to counter the lust for war?
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. There's so much going on in this book, philosophy and spiritual-wise. With Caligari, Francis, and Ilona, you have both Creator and Destroyer in each. The art they create can incite intense emotion, and it's a lesson that such power should be handled with care. Art, and creativity itself, in any form is a gift and a chance to give beauty back to the world. Abuse of that gift is tragic. Jedermann is a liminal guardian, and a psychopomp, in a quite literal way for Francis, and for countless soldiers in a more figurative fashion.
The wry, tongue-in-cheek amusement of Morrow’s writing reminds me of reading Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal many moons ago (and reread a few years past). I'm not a huge fan of satire, but this tale is eminently readable.
📚📚📚📚
April 26, 2018
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.5 of 5
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.
In The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, Morrow mixes art, war, and madness - which, when you think about it, is a pretty natural combination.
American artist Francis Wyndham, perhaps searching for his own raison d'être, is hired to provide art therapy at an asylum run by the renowned Alessandro Caligari. There, Wyndham meets Ilona - a beautiful inmate at the asylum whose talent with art is rivaled only by her intense sexual drive. She might be the perfect woman if she didn't also believe she was the Queen of all spiders.
But is Caligari a genius (who belittles Freud and other therapists of the day) or a madman? Is there a difference? Caligari has created his own painting, titled "Ecstatic Wisdom", which he keeps veiled most of the time. From around Europe regiments of soldiers are marched past the painting and the soldiers are imbued with a strong sense of duty and a renewed vigor to fight. Wyndham finds this despicable and with Ilona and others from the madhouse he schemes to stop the on-coming war with a new painting, rather than encouraging and profiting from it as Caligari does. But this will be no easy feat as Caligari's painting possesses a magical property that has it protecting itself from being destroyed.
Morrow provides his unique take on the cult classic horror film from the 1920's as only Morrow can - with wry humor and a wicked twist. And of course sex.
Morrow's prose is literate and smooth and it's like eating a delicious piece of chocolate candy slowly so that you can savor it. You just want to chew on his language and keep moving forward into each new sentence in order to find the next piece of nougat-y goodness. And as if slick writing weren't enough, Morrow paints characters that have great appeal. Even Caligari is someone you want to know more about and like, in his own way.
And of course a heady story with a deep philosophical undertone runs through this Morrow book, just as it does with everything I've read of his. This sort of fiction really appeals to me - something that you can read and enjoy just for the surface story but that has deeper implications if you look for it.
I was just a little disappointed in the very ending - though I couldn't tell you what I was hoping for - which is why it doesn't get a full five stars from me.
Looking for a good book? The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is another tour de force from James Morrow and is a delicious read.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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.
In The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, Morrow mixes art, war, and madness - which, when you think about it, is a pretty natural combination.
American artist Francis Wyndham, perhaps searching for his own raison d'être, is hired to provide art therapy at an asylum run by the renowned Alessandro Caligari. There, Wyndham meets Ilona - a beautiful inmate at the asylum whose talent with art is rivaled only by her intense sexual drive. She might be the perfect woman if she didn't also believe she was the Queen of all spiders.
But is Caligari a genius (who belittles Freud and other therapists of the day) or a madman? Is there a difference? Caligari has created his own painting, titled "Ecstatic Wisdom", which he keeps veiled most of the time. From around Europe regiments of soldiers are marched past the painting and the soldiers are imbued with a strong sense of duty and a renewed vigor to fight. Wyndham finds this despicable and with Ilona and others from the madhouse he schemes to stop the on-coming war with a new painting, rather than encouraging and profiting from it as Caligari does. But this will be no easy feat as Caligari's painting possesses a magical property that has it protecting itself from being destroyed.
Morrow provides his unique take on the cult classic horror film from the 1920's as only Morrow can - with wry humor and a wicked twist. And of course sex.
Morrow's prose is literate and smooth and it's like eating a delicious piece of chocolate candy slowly so that you can savor it. You just want to chew on his language and keep moving forward into each new sentence in order to find the next piece of nougat-y goodness. And as if slick writing weren't enough, Morrow paints characters that have great appeal. Even Caligari is someone you want to know more about and like, in his own way.
And of course a heady story with a deep philosophical undertone runs through this Morrow book, just as it does with everything I've read of his. This sort of fiction really appeals to me - something that you can read and enjoy just for the surface story but that has deeper implications if you look for it.
I was just a little disappointed in the very ending - though I couldn't tell you what I was hoping for - which is why it doesn't get a full five stars from me.
Looking for a good book? The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is another tour de force from James Morrow and is a delicious read.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
May 29, 2017
With as much as I enjoyed James Morrow's THE MADONNA AND THE STARSHIP, I looked forward to his latest story, THE ASYLUM OF DR. CALIGARI. The novel is a side-quel/sequel to the 1920 German silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Actually it may not be either a side-quel or a sequel; however we wish to categorize it, Morrow takes the concept of the existence of a Dr. Caligari and an asylum and puts a fantastical twist into the story.
The year is 1915. Francis Wyndham, an American painter, finds himself traveling to Europe to take a position as an "art therapist" at the famous Traumenchen Asylum, run by Dr. Alessandro Caligari. The asylum is located in the principality of Weizenstaat - which apparently is situated between "the German Empire and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". It was also annexed by Luxembourg after World War I in case you're interested (either I missed the connection, or that bit of information doesn't have anything to do with the story other than being a bit of trivia that Morrow throws into the mix just in case some readers decide to go looking for the place and can't find it).
The asylum's fame and success was such that "the people of Weizenstaat took to joking that their country's principal import was irrationality and its principal export rehabilitated lunatics" - a line I consider one of the best in the book.
Dr. Caligari is rumored to be a sorcerer, and that there is more to him and his asylum than meets the eye. The fact that he is indeed a sorcerer of sorts is the root fantastical element that Morrow injects into the Caligari mythos. And while Caligari does manage to heal mentally ill patients, his main project - and dark secret - is the enchanted painting that he himself is working on in the bowels of the asylum. The painting fills men who view it with something called "Kriegslust", a sort of fanatical desire to go to war for his country without regard to personal safety - or anything else for that matter. The painting is discovered by Wyndham who, with the aid of one of his art therapy students, Spider Queen Ilona Wessels (who quickly becomes his lover with a bit of unnecessary encouragement by Caligari himself), attempt to counter the affect of the piece of art with a work of
their own. The point of Caligari's painting, of course, is to allow him to make huge sums of money selling its effects to countries that are about to enter the war.
Morrow fills the book with a good number of scenes that must have been as fun to write as they were to read: Wyndham and his cohorts watching soldiers of various countries being marched in front of the painting and coming out ready to march to their death for their countries; a similar scene with Wyndham's and Wessel's painting, except with the opposite results; and in a bit of storytelling reminiscent of the scene of Dick Van Dyke's character in Mary Poppins jumping into a painting to do a song and dance, Wyndham and Wessels jump into their painting - with characters there recognizing who Ilona is - to try to stop Caligari's effort.
The key word in that paragraph is storytelling. Morrow spins a great yarn in this novella. The writing is excellent, the characters come to life on the page and make us care about them, and there is enough magic, psychology, art and romance to keep most readers engaged and interested. Indeed, Morrow injects a good variety of things to think about, and yet the novella doesn't feel forced when it finally comes to an end - and make no mistake, there is a definite ending here. The ending itself is a bit melancholy; it's almost as if Morrow is showing us that as with any fictional character, those who live in magical paintings can come to an end too. The ending didn't leave
me wanting for more, but it was a satisfying conclusion to the story and the characters therein.
We're not looking at a great piece of literature here that will be remembered for decades to come, I think. But what we are talking about is a fun and whimsical story that will keep the reader eagerly turning the pages and being very happy with what they've read. A lot of times, that's all readers really need anyway.
The year is 1915. Francis Wyndham, an American painter, finds himself traveling to Europe to take a position as an "art therapist" at the famous Traumenchen Asylum, run by Dr. Alessandro Caligari. The asylum is located in the principality of Weizenstaat - which apparently is situated between "the German Empire and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". It was also annexed by Luxembourg after World War I in case you're interested (either I missed the connection, or that bit of information doesn't have anything to do with the story other than being a bit of trivia that Morrow throws into the mix just in case some readers decide to go looking for the place and can't find it).
The asylum's fame and success was such that "the people of Weizenstaat took to joking that their country's principal import was irrationality and its principal export rehabilitated lunatics" - a line I consider one of the best in the book.
Dr. Caligari is rumored to be a sorcerer, and that there is more to him and his asylum than meets the eye. The fact that he is indeed a sorcerer of sorts is the root fantastical element that Morrow injects into the Caligari mythos. And while Caligari does manage to heal mentally ill patients, his main project - and dark secret - is the enchanted painting that he himself is working on in the bowels of the asylum. The painting fills men who view it with something called "Kriegslust", a sort of fanatical desire to go to war for his country without regard to personal safety - or anything else for that matter. The painting is discovered by Wyndham who, with the aid of one of his art therapy students, Spider Queen Ilona Wessels (who quickly becomes his lover with a bit of unnecessary encouragement by Caligari himself), attempt to counter the affect of the piece of art with a work of
their own. The point of Caligari's painting, of course, is to allow him to make huge sums of money selling its effects to countries that are about to enter the war.
Morrow fills the book with a good number of scenes that must have been as fun to write as they were to read: Wyndham and his cohorts watching soldiers of various countries being marched in front of the painting and coming out ready to march to their death for their countries; a similar scene with Wyndham's and Wessel's painting, except with the opposite results; and in a bit of storytelling reminiscent of the scene of Dick Van Dyke's character in Mary Poppins jumping into a painting to do a song and dance, Wyndham and Wessels jump into their painting - with characters there recognizing who Ilona is - to try to stop Caligari's effort.
The key word in that paragraph is storytelling. Morrow spins a great yarn in this novella. The writing is excellent, the characters come to life on the page and make us care about them, and there is enough magic, psychology, art and romance to keep most readers engaged and interested. Indeed, Morrow injects a good variety of things to think about, and yet the novella doesn't feel forced when it finally comes to an end - and make no mistake, there is a definite ending here. The ending itself is a bit melancholy; it's almost as if Morrow is showing us that as with any fictional character, those who live in magical paintings can come to an end too. The ending didn't leave
me wanting for more, but it was a satisfying conclusion to the story and the characters therein.
We're not looking at a great piece of literature here that will be remembered for decades to come, I think. But what we are talking about is a fun and whimsical story that will keep the reader eagerly turning the pages and being very happy with what they've read. A lot of times, that's all readers really need anyway.
April 21, 2024
I am back and forth between three and four stars for this one, and I've once again erred on the side of generosity.
Apart from Allesandro Caligari's use of mesmerism and his role as head of a mental asylum, the Caligari of Morrow's novel does not have much in common with that of Reine's film. This, of course, isn't a problem in itself, but since I read this as part of my research about a different theatrical adaptation of the film, I'm not 100% sure how this is going to fit into my analysis.
The story is primarily about a young would-be artist who ends up as the art therapy teacher at Caligari's famed mental asylum in a small neutral European country during WWI. He falls in love with one of the patients, and together they use her magical painting abilities to foil Caligari's sorcery. Caligari painted a massive work that inspires kriegslust--the thirst for war--in its viewers, and he allows the different European armies to parade their regiments in front of it so the soldiers will be super hyped up for battle. By contrast, our heroes create a painting about the horrors of war, which inspires pacifism, and then cover it with a non-enchanted facsimile of Caligari's painting, thereby turning a bunch of soldiers into pacifists who desert en masse. When Caligari finds out about this--which seems to take several months, surprisingly enough--he burns their painting, but not before the central figure of the painting steps out of it into reality and whisks the heroes away to safety through the painting, which is apparently also a portal. They commandeer Caligari's magical flamethrower and an experimental German tank, destroy the walls of Caligari's art gallery and burn his painting, during which both of the primary heroes die--but they come back briefly as art people because before the heroine dies she paints a portrait of the hero, and then as an art person he paints a portrait of her.
There are a couple of issues I have with this novel. First, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that a small group of people in a mental institution could paint two massive pictures, move them through the asylum, and replace one massive picture with their own, all without anyone noticing.
My second, and perhaps more serious issue, is that Caligari is ultimately quite boring here. He has this potentially very interesting psychological methodology, combining mesmerism and heteropathic medicine. And certainly the painting encouraging blood lust does, sort of, rely on mesmerism--though it's presented as magic, so even then it's not properly hypnosis as such. But Caligari completely drops the element of heteropathic medicine--the idea that by moving patients to the opposite extreme of their disorder, their psyche will force itself back into a balance. He simply magic up supersoldiers because governments want supersoldiers. I was hoping for a twist where this was supposed to somehow create peace--in line with the heteropathic medicine theory--but that never came. At the end, Caligari is a war-profiteering sorcerer. And since he has magic, it's not entirely clear why he needs all the money he's making from these governments; why he can't just keep the asylum running by magic.
https://youtu.be/giMyl3WVxHk
Apart from Allesandro Caligari's use of mesmerism and his role as head of a mental asylum, the Caligari of Morrow's novel does not have much in common with that of Reine's film. This, of course, isn't a problem in itself, but since I read this as part of my research about a different theatrical adaptation of the film, I'm not 100% sure how this is going to fit into my analysis.
The story is primarily about a young would-be artist who ends up as the art therapy teacher at Caligari's famed mental asylum in a small neutral European country during WWI. He falls in love with one of the patients, and together they use her magical painting abilities to foil Caligari's sorcery. Caligari painted a massive work that inspires kriegslust--the thirst for war--in its viewers, and he allows the different European armies to parade their regiments in front of it so the soldiers will be super hyped up for battle. By contrast, our heroes create a painting about the horrors of war, which inspires pacifism, and then cover it with a non-enchanted facsimile of Caligari's painting, thereby turning a bunch of soldiers into pacifists who desert en masse. When Caligari finds out about this--which seems to take several months, surprisingly enough--he burns their painting, but not before the central figure of the painting steps out of it into reality and whisks the heroes away to safety through the painting, which is apparently also a portal. They commandeer Caligari's magical flamethrower and an experimental German tank, destroy the walls of Caligari's art gallery and burn his painting, during which both of the primary heroes die--but they come back briefly as art people because before the heroine dies she paints a portrait of the hero, and then as an art person he paints a portrait of her.
There are a couple of issues I have with this novel. First, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that a small group of people in a mental institution could paint two massive pictures, move them through the asylum, and replace one massive picture with their own, all without anyone noticing.
My second, and perhaps more serious issue, is that Caligari is ultimately quite boring here. He has this potentially very interesting psychological methodology, combining mesmerism and heteropathic medicine. And certainly the painting encouraging blood lust does, sort of, rely on mesmerism--though it's presented as magic, so even then it's not properly hypnosis as such. But Caligari completely drops the element of heteropathic medicine--the idea that by moving patients to the opposite extreme of their disorder, their psyche will force itself back into a balance. He simply magic up supersoldiers because governments want supersoldiers. I was hoping for a twist where this was supposed to somehow create peace--in line with the heteropathic medicine theory--but that never came. At the end, Caligari is a war-profiteering sorcerer. And since he has magic, it's not entirely clear why he needs all the money he's making from these governments; why he can't just keep the asylum running by magic.
https://youtu.be/giMyl3WVxHk
July 8, 2023
I'm rounding down to 3 stars. I might have read this earlier if it hadn't been referencing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's a film that I love and have seen many times, but it's value lies more in its aesthetic than in the story, so I wasn't interested in a book based on it. Fortunately, I suppose, this book can barely be said to relate to it all, though that leaves a sour taste in my mouth for using a great work of art as deceptive marketing. If anything, it has more in common with Bergman's take on film noir, The Serpent's Egg, though I wouldn't lump the two works together in any sense. Arguably, the tone was more like a French new wave film, with characters kind of just going along with whatever absurdity came their way, be it romance, war, or sorcery, on their way to nowhere in particular.
That aside, it's a pretty good book, though I feel that it doesn't live up to its potential. I think that it needed to either use a more expressionistic – or even surrealist – style to tell the story or be fleshed out into a fantastical mystery. The ending, I think, favors the former and it's what I'd prefer, but the tone of the storytelling makes me think that the author would do better with the latter. Either way, the secondary characters in the asylum could have stood a little more development, the romantic relationship could have had had a real reason to develop aside from enjoyable sex, and the protagonist could have spent a little more time learning about Caligari and his art before discovering the story's MacGuffen. Still, it's a fun (somewhat anachronistic) historical fantasy and an enjoyable read.
That aside, it's a pretty good book, though I feel that it doesn't live up to its potential. I think that it needed to either use a more expressionistic – or even surrealist – style to tell the story or be fleshed out into a fantastical mystery. The ending, I think, favors the former and it's what I'd prefer, but the tone of the storytelling makes me think that the author would do better with the latter. Either way, the secondary characters in the asylum could have stood a little more development, the romantic relationship could have had had a real reason to develop aside from enjoyable sex, and the protagonist could have spent a little more time learning about Caligari and his art before discovering the story's MacGuffen. Still, it's a fun (somewhat anachronistic) historical fantasy and an enjoyable read.
November 26, 2019
Being a fan of the 1920 film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" directed by Robert Wiene, and currently finding high favor with novellas in the fantasy, science fiction, horror, and thriller genres, the instant the slimy green binding of James K. Morrow's "The Asylum of Dr. Caligari" lured my eye I had to check it out.
And what a Hell of a bizarre, philosophical, and deeply artistic ride it was!
Expressionism as a movement is revolutionary in how it fully embraces and depicts the external and internal horrors, the grotesque, the taboo and the modern in various mediums of art. Morrow's book, in under 190 pages, dampens the reader in the blunt and the real with little left to the imagination.
Now, there might be some theories, themes, and motifs that could be better understood by mature readers of any subject or genre. There are plenty of larger and more extravagant adjectives used to describe the inner thoughts (and demons) of the various characters. They paint a vivid picture of the madness, but might also require the reader to have a dictionary or philosophy reference book on hand.
I do not think giving this book a chance was a bad idea, and I do not think many others would say otherwise after reading it. It might not be the best book I have read in 2019, or ever, but it left an impact that will shape how I view the balance and choices between war and love; in the world and within myself.
And what a Hell of a bizarre, philosophical, and deeply artistic ride it was!
Expressionism as a movement is revolutionary in how it fully embraces and depicts the external and internal horrors, the grotesque, the taboo and the modern in various mediums of art. Morrow's book, in under 190 pages, dampens the reader in the blunt and the real with little left to the imagination.
Now, there might be some theories, themes, and motifs that could be better understood by mature readers of any subject or genre. There are plenty of larger and more extravagant adjectives used to describe the inner thoughts (and demons) of the various characters. They paint a vivid picture of the madness, but might also require the reader to have a dictionary or philosophy reference book on hand.
I do not think giving this book a chance was a bad idea, and I do not think many others would say otherwise after reading it. It might not be the best book I have read in 2019, or ever, but it left an impact that will shape how I view the balance and choices between war and love; in the world and within myself.
July 2, 2017
This is a weird surreal adventure at the start of WWI, where Art and Sorcery in a lunatic asylum are used both on the side of good and peace and evil and war.
Dr. Caligari sells access to his masterpiece to the highest bidder. A masterpiece painting that compels its viewers into unbridled passion for war. Both sides of the building conflicts are eager to avail themselves of his services. Francis is an artist from America, who comes to the asylum to work as an art therapist. While there, he uncovers Caligari's plans and endeavors to stop him. With the help of his students, the Spider Queen of Ogygia, the Commander of an Alien Armada, a Grand Chessmaster, and several others, they construct an "antidote" painting to cause the viewer and equally unbridled passion for peace.
Its funny, satirical, and poignant. Its a quick read, and I'm not doing it justice, but if you like good witty writing its definitely worth your time.
"'This morning I learned something marvelous. Never have I hoarded so precious a secret'
'Pray tell'
'If I tell, it won't be a secret. If you pray, it will be a waste of time'"
"Vita Brevis, ars longa" (Life is Short, Art is Forever - to paraphrase the latin)
"Only God is flawless," said Ilona. "It's the first thing you'll notice about Him, if he ever gets round to existing"
8/10
S: 6/20/17 - 6/24/17 (5 Days)
Dr. Caligari sells access to his masterpiece to the highest bidder. A masterpiece painting that compels its viewers into unbridled passion for war. Both sides of the building conflicts are eager to avail themselves of his services. Francis is an artist from America, who comes to the asylum to work as an art therapist. While there, he uncovers Caligari's plans and endeavors to stop him. With the help of his students, the Spider Queen of Ogygia, the Commander of an Alien Armada, a Grand Chessmaster, and several others, they construct an "antidote" painting to cause the viewer and equally unbridled passion for peace.
Its funny, satirical, and poignant. Its a quick read, and I'm not doing it justice, but if you like good witty writing its definitely worth your time.
"'This morning I learned something marvelous. Never have I hoarded so precious a secret'
'Pray tell'
'If I tell, it won't be a secret. If you pray, it will be a waste of time'"
"Vita Brevis, ars longa" (Life is Short, Art is Forever - to paraphrase the latin)
"Only God is flawless," said Ilona. "It's the first thing you'll notice about Him, if he ever gets round to existing"
8/10
S: 6/20/17 - 6/24/17 (5 Days)
March 7, 2018
Got this one for review from NetGalley and finally got around to reading it.
Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I got about 51% through it but decided to put it down. The story revolves around a few main characters, primarily Dr. Caligari who runs an asylum with questionable methods, a few patients living there, and a man that has taken on the role of the art therapist, Francis.
Francis Wyndham wants to be a famous artist but continually is turned down as his work is deemed not yet good enough. Eventually he meets an artist that informs him that due to the impending war, he is unable to fulfill his role as the art therapist at a local asylum and needs to find a replacement. Francis quickly jumps on the chance to fill this role and discovers strange rumors about the man running the asylum, Dr. Caligiri.
The relationship that Francis has with the participants in his class is immediately inappropriate and not something I could get past. I know a bit about how therapy was done way back in the day and that there were definitely some inappropriate relationships between therapist and female patients, but I couldn't get past these ridiculous relationships.
I found the story interesting and the ideas that Dr. Caligiri had were fascinating, but ultimately there was too much that I didn't agree with for me to keep going.
Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I got about 51% through it but decided to put it down. The story revolves around a few main characters, primarily Dr. Caligari who runs an asylum with questionable methods, a few patients living there, and a man that has taken on the role of the art therapist, Francis.
Francis Wyndham wants to be a famous artist but continually is turned down as his work is deemed not yet good enough. Eventually he meets an artist that informs him that due to the impending war, he is unable to fulfill his role as the art therapist at a local asylum and needs to find a replacement. Francis quickly jumps on the chance to fill this role and discovers strange rumors about the man running the asylum, Dr. Caligiri.
The relationship that Francis has with the participants in his class is immediately inappropriate and not something I could get past. I know a bit about how therapy was done way back in the day and that there were definitely some inappropriate relationships between therapist and female patients, but I couldn't get past these ridiculous relationships.
I found the story interesting and the ideas that Dr. Caligiri had were fascinating, but ultimately there was too much that I didn't agree with for me to keep going.
July 3, 2017
Art, love, magic and insanity in an alternative history explanation for the outbreak of WW1.
A wannabe American artist, Wyndham, comes to a strange asylum to work as an art therapist after being turned away by every famous artist in Europe. The asylum is run by the strange and magical Dr Caligari, who uses unusual techniques to cure his patients. Wyndham is warned of Caligari's unorthodox methods and the odd goings-on before he accepts the job but he goes ahead regardless. The foolish Wyndham learns Caligari is also an artist, working on his own secretive masterpiece, which turns out to be magic woven into art with diabolical intentions.
Wyndham with his wild and sensual pupil and lover, Ilona, battle the evil schemes of Dr Caligari while considering magic and the true heart of art. Posing the questions of whether art is good or bad, whether art is forever or merely a transitory creation. Wyndham is foolish, while Ilona is the true hero of the tale, a goddess of her art.
Beautifully written and witty, told in the style of the period (think Grand Budapest Hotel), the Asylum of Dr Caligari is sumptuous and thought provoking, as well as good fun.
I received an ARC via NetGalley
A wannabe American artist, Wyndham, comes to a strange asylum to work as an art therapist after being turned away by every famous artist in Europe. The asylum is run by the strange and magical Dr Caligari, who uses unusual techniques to cure his patients. Wyndham is warned of Caligari's unorthodox methods and the odd goings-on before he accepts the job but he goes ahead regardless. The foolish Wyndham learns Caligari is also an artist, working on his own secretive masterpiece, which turns out to be magic woven into art with diabolical intentions.
Wyndham with his wild and sensual pupil and lover, Ilona, battle the evil schemes of Dr Caligari while considering magic and the true heart of art. Posing the questions of whether art is good or bad, whether art is forever or merely a transitory creation. Wyndham is foolish, while Ilona is the true hero of the tale, a goddess of her art.
Beautifully written and witty, told in the style of the period (think Grand Budapest Hotel), the Asylum of Dr Caligari is sumptuous and thought provoking, as well as good fun.
I received an ARC via NetGalley
September 24, 2017
James K. Morrow's The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is a World War I-era art farce novella based on the 1920 silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari . In this 2017 iteration, we have a protagonist American painter wanna be named Francis Wyndham, working as an art therapist at an insane asylum where the evil Dr. Caligari--part artist, part hypnotist, part sorcerer--has created a painting that will inspire troops' bloodlust. For a fee, governments pay to have their young men marched by the painting so as to inspire their Soldatentum (soldierliness?). Learning of the plan and unable to destroy the ensorcelled painting, Wyndham and a handful of patients must create their own forgery that will inspire a peaceful alternative. Although apparently they are unable to even imagine a potential reality in which the viewers of the one painting will encounter the viewers of the other painting across a battlefield and what the horrific outcome will be. Duh.
Ummmm, okay. I'm not gonna lie. "Funny and erotic" this book was not. Instead, it felt like one hell of a slog for such a short book. The Farbenmensch was clever, but not enough to carry the whole story line. So let's just leave it at that.
Ummmm, okay. I'm not gonna lie. "Funny and erotic" this book was not. Instead, it felt like one hell of a slog for such a short book. The Farbenmensch was clever, but not enough to carry the whole story line. So let's just leave it at that.
October 7, 2019
Ribald, brimming with humor, philosophy and art gone wrong, Mr. Morrow’s novel re-imagines one of the great Expressionistic German films as a tongue-in-cheek comedy.
If war is a state where nothing makes sense, the topsy-turvy nature of the systems and societies within this novel are understandable distortions. In order to avoid warfare, sane men pretend to be mad. Art literally comes alive and produces visions. The eponymous Dr. Caligari dismisses Freud as a quack, believing that you can’t simply TALK psychoses into vanishing; radical therapy is needed. An art student is abused by almost every famous artist he meets. As Germany and every other nation are gripped by an artificially induced battle mania, the crazed inmates seek to stop their asylum director from sending more men to war with a sorcerous piece of artwork.
This is weird, absorbing stuff, dancing somewhere between supernatural and fantasy. The dialogue bounces, jiggles and wiggles into the mind like one of Fräulein Wessel’s spiders. If you want something a little bit off kilter to read, try this bit of black comedy, in living color.
If war is a state where nothing makes sense, the topsy-turvy nature of the systems and societies within this novel are understandable distortions. In order to avoid warfare, sane men pretend to be mad. Art literally comes alive and produces visions. The eponymous Dr. Caligari dismisses Freud as a quack, believing that you can’t simply TALK psychoses into vanishing; radical therapy is needed. An art student is abused by almost every famous artist he meets. As Germany and every other nation are gripped by an artificially induced battle mania, the crazed inmates seek to stop their asylum director from sending more men to war with a sorcerous piece of artwork.
This is weird, absorbing stuff, dancing somewhere between supernatural and fantasy. The dialogue bounces, jiggles and wiggles into the mind like one of Fräulein Wessel’s spiders. If you want something a little bit off kilter to read, try this bit of black comedy, in living color.
February 16, 2020
In how many classes in film school was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari required viewing? Easily more than half, and to such an extent that we began wondering if there weren't other German Expressionist films that we could analyze. So, that movie having been deeply ingrained in my identity, I was particularly excited to discover a favorite author paying homage to it here. Like Morrow's earlier Shambling Towards Hiroshima, this brief novel upends a cinematic classic by literalizing the films' allegorical content into a work of antiwar historical fantasy. It also literalizes the cliche "life imitates art," with the mad scientist of the title creating art that mesmerizes its viewers into "war lust." What the Caligari of the movie does with a single subject, the Caligari of the novel accomplishes on a population. Wedded into this mad scientist mash-up is a philosophical discourse on reason and fantasy, directly confronting Nietzschean aesthetics and the tension between the Apollonian and Dionysian in art and life. Heady concepts to take on in such a short space.
July 6, 2017
I am a sucker for Morrow's blending of fantasy, theology, philosophy, science, art, into stories that I can't imagine anyone else writing. This one got me to watch "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," which I had never seen before (and is a silent movie well worth watching).
Quotable quotes amidst the adventure recounted here:
"Only God is flawless...It's the first thing you'll notice about Him if he ever gets around to existing."
And:
"I don't think of divine things as injurious," I said.
"I don't think of them as anything else," said Ilona.
And this one about Caligari, that may also apply to our current President:
I decided his methods represented neither imagination bereft of intellect, nor revelation applied with logic, but a third phenomenon. He had seduced both forces into a condition of mutual betrayal, reason convincing fantasy that vilent monsters were desirable, fantasy coercing reason into forsaking its tedious allegiance to facts.
Quotable quotes amidst the adventure recounted here:
"Only God is flawless...It's the first thing you'll notice about Him if he ever gets around to existing."
And:
"I don't think of divine things as injurious," I said.
"I don't think of them as anything else," said Ilona.
And this one about Caligari, that may also apply to our current President:
I decided his methods represented neither imagination bereft of intellect, nor revelation applied with logic, but a third phenomenon. He had seduced both forces into a condition of mutual betrayal, reason convincing fantasy that vilent monsters were desirable, fantasy coercing reason into forsaking its tedious allegiance to facts.
August 13, 2017
James Morrow’s novella picks up Dr Caligari, the main character from the classic silent movie The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and tell us about his next enterprise: an asylum in a small neutral country just as the beginning of the Great War.
I loved the film, and I’ve also very much enjoyed this novella, which blends an entertaining and well written fictional story, with real First World War historical facts. And although a clear anti-war message pervades the book, the story is brilliant in itself, not a mere instrument in the service of the message. The book also deals with many other “serious” issues (art, psychology…), but the humor is present at all times, the characters are engaging and original and the plot is witty (although there were a couple of details I found a bit unbelievable). On the whole, a quick and highly enjoyable read.
I loved the film, and I’ve also very much enjoyed this novella, which blends an entertaining and well written fictional story, with real First World War historical facts. And although a clear anti-war message pervades the book, the story is brilliant in itself, not a mere instrument in the service of the message. The book also deals with many other “serious” issues (art, psychology…), but the humor is present at all times, the characters are engaging and original and the plot is witty (although there were a couple of details I found a bit unbelievable). On the whole, a quick and highly enjoyable read.
August 9, 2018
The best thing about this book was how far and how fast it went in a relatively short amount of pages. The narrator just sort of picks a goal (say, moving from the U.S. to Paris to meet famous artists) and a few pages later is interacting with Picasso and company. He gets a job referral and moves right into the job. Never taught but wants to be a teacher?--Gets the job straight off. None of the lengthy switchbacks that authors like to put their narrators through on the way to plot resolution.
Because of that, it was a fun beach read. There's magic and World War 1 history, a little bit of what might be called conflict and then the rollercoaster read is over. It's not going to leave a lasting impression other than being a light fantasy with a slightly snooty narrator with a penchant for big words. Still, there's worse ways to spend your day.
Because of that, it was a fun beach read. There's magic and World War 1 history, a little bit of what might be called conflict and then the rollercoaster read is over. It's not going to leave a lasting impression other than being a light fantasy with a slightly snooty narrator with a penchant for big words. Still, there's worse ways to spend your day.
July 22, 2023
I absolutely love the first half of this; the 1910s explosion of ideas, of modernism and technology and psychology leading both to boundary-pushing art and medicine and the madness of war, the supercharged ideas of the 20th century given terrible purpose. Which of course is very much part of the inspiration for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari too, and I really wish the novel had built on that more. Somewhere around the middle it abandons much of that in favour of a heist plot with some sub-Pynchon meta stuff, so by the time it circles around at the end it feels a bit like it suddenly remembered that the ending has to wrap up the ideas from the beginning as well. Fun, and not a bad companion to Miéville's The Last Days of New Paris, but could have been more.
Also, jfc, get a German proofreader for your Google Translated German.
Also, jfc, get a German proofreader for your Google Translated German.
September 8, 2020
I enjoyed reading this book, though it took me a bit longer to finish than most. Was a bit esoteric, but I have a fondness of art history. I was happy to look up paintings that the author mentions if I was not already familiar with them. Also, I enjoyed the many translations necessary to comprehend the short foreign language phrases (ie, German, French, Latin, etc.). I read books on my Kindle which makes most translations fairly well. It also provides me a fast way to consult dictionary on the many rare words the author uses. These things fascinate me enough to let nothing go that I do not immediately understand. Hope that makes sense.
lol, the author has a fine mind and way with words that suited my tastes for a nice, change of pace, read.
lol, the author has a fine mind and way with words that suited my tastes for a nice, change of pace, read.
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