- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Paperbacks; Reissue edition (Mar 28 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0142000604
- ISBN-13: 978-0142000601
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 1.2 x 19.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,033,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Genius and madness blur in a daring, self-consciously literary debut that runs circles around the postmodern chestnut, the "death of the author," to speculate on the murderous theft of an author's identity. Czuchlewski, a 24-year-old medical student who started work on the book as a senior thesis project at Princeton, may lack the visionary gifts of the fictional author at his novel's center, but he has crafted a stylish, assured and gripping work of fiction. Jake Burnett, fresh out of Princeton, takes a reporting job with the Manhattan Ledger, a rundown weekly rag. He and his editor hatch a circulation-boosting plan to track down Horace Jacob Little, a Pynchonesque cult author who has never been photographed or interviewed. Meanwhile, Jake's former classmate Andrew Wallace, is documenting his own encounters with Little furiously penning his "Confessions" from his room in the Muse Asylum, a residential psychiatric facility for artists. For Andrew, tracking the author is more than just a hobby; his obsession with Little's identity permeates his troubled "Confessions." Jake and Andrew are linked not only by their interest in Little but by their romantic infatuation with Lara Knowles, a fellow Princetonian who dated both men and had planned to wed Andrew before his psychiatric break. When Lara lends Jake her copy of Andrew's "Confessions," Jake discovers that Andrew's schizophrenic rant may point to a surprising truth about Little that puts both Andrew and Jake in danger. While some of Czuchlewski's prose has the amateurish enthusiasm of an undergraduate taking his first class in literary criticism (the plot summaries of Little's stories make the fabled author seem like an ersatz Borges), the novel is well plotted, with nuanced characters and real intellectual heft. Czuchlewski is a writer to watch. Agent, Elly Sidel. Foreign rights sold in France.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Review
...cleverly devised, sharply composed, entertaining and moving... -- The Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2001
The Muse Asylum succeeds in establishing him as a new writer to be watched. -- San Francisco Chronicle
The Muse Asylum is a stylish, psychologically acute, and altogether captivating tale of madness and obsession. A grand debut. -- Jonathan Kellerman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Muse Asylum succeeds in establishing him as a new writer to be watched. -- San Francisco Chronicle
The Muse Asylum is a stylish, psychologically acute, and altogether captivating tale of madness and obsession. A grand debut. -- Jonathan Kellerman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sharply devised and moving,
By
This review is from: Muse Asylum (Paperback)
Jake Burnett is a freelance journalist working for a New York paper, the "Ledger". Since being a high school senior, Jake has always been a passionate admirer and reader of Horace Jacob Little's fiction. This author is much talked about because he is famous for the strange circumstances of his personality, his seclusion and his solitude. In fact, since nobody has ever approached him, Horace Jacob Little is not much more than a fiction himself. His true identity is a mystery, not even his literary agents have ever met him since they only communicate with him via a post office box. All of his books only feature a blank cover. There are no illustrations, no biographies and no photographs of Horace Jacob Little. He has never granted an interview and no one knows what he looks like or where he lives.One morning at Princeton university, Jake attends a lecture given by Professor Mullin about the works of Horace Jacob Little when suddenly a man inches up the side aisle, climbs onto the stage and, after a few confused sentences, identifies himself as Horace Jacob Little. But is it really him? Jake's startled and hyperalert classmate Andrew Wallace has no doubt about it: "If this isn't Horace Jacob Little, then who is? Who is?" And so begins Jake's awkward search of Horace Jacob Little. Perhaps Andrew's "Confessions" which he wrote at the Overlook Psychiatric Institute - a place for the artistic mentally ill, a house full of painters, musician and writers - also called The Muse Asylum and in which he purports to reveal the secret of Horace Jacob Little's identity will be of some help for Jake... A very ingeniously plotted postmodernist literary thriller. Philippe Horak / phorak@gibz.ch
4.0 out of 5 stars
taking barthes at his word,
By chrisbean (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Muse Asylum (Paperback)
This is honestly one of the best five books I've read in the past five years. Fusing elements of Mc Inerney's narrators, the pulling if-you-stop-reading-you-will-be-killed narrative of both Foucault's Pendulum and the stunning House of Leaves, as well as inside moments that only grad students in literature can possibly appreciate, this book is the perfect taco. Super suspenseful, scary, and beyond smart. I just can't say enough in praise of it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding, fun read,
By Devoted Bookworm (Alabama) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Muse Asylum (Paperback)
This book exemplies the best aspects of postmodern lit -- the attempt to create multiple layers of meaning from which the reader divines his own truth -- and does it without being heavy-handed or staid. It's a fun read, interesting and thought-provoking. Highly recommended.
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