- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; New Ed edition (17 Aug 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 000655086X
- ISBN-13: 978-0006550860
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 267,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
‘Transfixing… an extraordinary debut… The Age of Wire and String, a treasury of interconnected fables of violence and hope, stands out as an exhilarating work of literature. Multiple readings are rewarding.’
Steven Poole, TLS
‘Frequently touching and funny, plenty of madness, magic and gods… a cross between a scientific manual, Monty Python and a kind of Bible, with a surreal and opaque logic of its own.’
Christina Patterson, Observer
‘The Age of Wire and String evades classification, persisting in your mind because of its psychotically ardent prose… It will find its fans among those people who relish prose that mimics dream, who love it when words are used as they once were, as incantations, as spells to summon up the contorted beings of the imagination.’
Matthew De Abaitua, The Idler
‘The most audacious literary debut in decades’
Robert Coover
Product Description
A potential cult classic – the Finnegans Wake of the 1990s.
A bulletin from a parallel universe where the relations between words and things are utterly changed.
Bewitchingly original, genuinely refreshing, The Age of Wire and String takes all of the linguistic value systems on which our great literature is based, chews them up and spits them out. At once artificial, bizarre and bewildering, this is a Finnegans Wake, a Tristram Shandy for the end of the millennium.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent in conception, sagging in execution,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Age of Wire and String (Paperback)
The "age of wire and string" initially strikes the reader as a wholly impenetrable onslaught. Words are detached from their conventional meanings, syntax is choppy and frequently highly ambiguous, and it is often difficult to discern quite what the subject of each chapter (or prose poem, of sorts) might be. However, perseverence does reap benefits. It soon becomes clear that, although to a great extent Marcus' apparent purpose is at least initially to disorientate the reader, the new meanings of his words do seem to have fairly fixed meanings. That is to say, they tend always to be used in similar ways with other similarly dislocated words, such that "Thompson" comes to denote some sort of godhead, "weather" a threat, a fear of violence or of exposure, and "the family" a subterranean refugee race.Once these initial realisations are made, the import of the book becomes clearer. The peculiar style (a kind of hallucinatory collage of National Geographic articles, encyclopaedia entries and users manuals), the strangely brutal combination of spurious objectivity and occasional shocking instances where the reader is addressed directly, or an entry is written in the first person, and the stuttering nature of the book stemming from its series of incredibly short bulletins, makes a kind of sense. Indeed, the reader becomes more able to appreciate the humour and pathos of the book's concerns. Its impact comes from the relationship between the aquired meanings of his words and the consequently alien landscape that they portray, and their conventional meanings which seem to denote some horrible family tragedy, possibly revolving around the narrator's brother, Jason Marcus. The main problem with the book in my view is that it seems to rely too heavily on this one dynamic; the tension between invented language and the conventional usage of words. For most of the course of the books length the reader's interest is sustained by the slow revelation of the the book's logic. However, even despite later attempts to vary the formula, the idea's seem overworked, and the format repetetive. This is not to say that the book does not have considerable value, and it is heartening to see that there are till writers prepared to push the envelope, and publishers willing to support them. Not a masterpiece then, but a fascinating American curiosity. I look forward to Marcus' next work with high hopes.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something to inspire and set alight your creativity.,
By
This review is from: The Age of Wire and String (Hardcover)
I stumbled upon this book whilst rummaging through the back street shops in Richmond. The title struck me first as strange, although after a quick flick through before purchase I became aware that this was not the strangest thing about this book. Ben Marcus plunges you into an intricate description of society through the eyes of an almost clinical observer. Although the emotion drips from the page interspersed with random punctuation, the tone remains cold and detatched, something that keeps you alert to the images he is portraying. He never allows the reader to become too involved in the effect of the words, this allows a liberating and quite unique read. I found the book useful for inspiration. As a theatre director I often need to verbalise the images I have in my head, which are quite often as bizzare as Mr Marcus'. His form and language, although almost alien, commuincated more than conventional prose, it was magical. Ben Marcus has created his own language, his purpose - to create an image of society in the future - although this is never stated in the book. He leaves the interpretation of this book up to the reader. This is only my reading others will find new and exciting versions when they read this book. In that sense the work becomes like theatre. No two readings will be the same. I recommend this book to anyone looking for words, looking for a way to communicate ideas and passions that they feel restrained by. Go forth and be inspired!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing,
By
This review is from: The Age of Wire and String (Paperback)
The use of constraint and utter economy to produce intense feelings of sadness, triumph, awe and love in the reader. One of the best books I've ever read, so there...
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