The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, James Morrow
The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, James Morrow
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The Asylum of Dr. Caligari

Author: James Morrow

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 5 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/29/2017

Categories: Fiction, Satire, Absurdist


Synopsis

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.

About James Morrow

James Morrow is the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Towing Jehovah, the Nebula Award-winning novella Shambling Towards Hiroshima, and the New York Times Notable Book Blameless in Abaddon. His novels include The Last Witchfinder, hailed by the Washington Post as "literary magic," and The Philosopher's Apprentice, which received rave reviews from multiple outlets, including the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly.

Morrow is a master of the satiric and the surreal who has enjoyed comparison with Twain, Vonnegut, and Updike. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Gary

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 expa......more

Goodreads review by John

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......more

Goodreads review by Tim

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,"......more

Goodreads review by Jim

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......more

Goodreads review by Sibil

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 wri......more