''The Feast of Fools'' (1994) is a novel by

John David Morley John David Morley (21 January 1948 – 18 February 2018) was an English writer and novelist. Early life The third and youngest child of the artist and sculptor Patricia Morley (née Booth) and John Arthur Elwell Morley, a District Officer in t ...

, a neo-

Joycean A text is deemed Joycean when it is reminiscent of the writings of James Joyce, particularly '' Ulysses'' or ''Finnegans Wake''. Joycean fiction exhibits a high degree of verbal play, usually within the framework of stream of consciousness. Works ...

translation of the Greek myth of

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

to contemporary

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Summary

On the day of her wedding to the artist Brum, Stephanie elopes with the undertaker Max at the autumn

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

. Thus begins an epic novel encompassing

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, antiquarian glossaries,

mortuary science Mortuary science is the study of deceased bodies through mortuary work. The term is most often applied to a college curriculum in the United States that prepares a student for a career as a mortician or funeral director. Many also study embalmin ...

, fencing guilds, love, sex and

Commedia Dell’Arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...

, spanning the dream-lives of a community of modern day characters during the medieval carnival season of

Fasching A variety of customs and traditions are associated with Carnival celebrations in the German-speaking countries of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. They can vary considerably from country to country, but also from one small region to another. Th ...

Reception

“A gorgeous puzzle-book of a novel, beautifully detailed and painstakingly crafted by a brilliant parodist,” judged ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

''. ""A stunning achievement," declared

D. M. Thomas Donald Michael Thomas (born 27 January 1935), is a British poet, translator, novelist, editor, biographer and playwright. His work has been translated into 30 languages. Working primarily as a poet throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Thomas's 1981 ...

. "''The Feast of Fools'' is one of those rare novels that has the richness and power of myth without sacrificing the more terrestrial virtues of elegance, erotic pleasure, wit, and narrative skill." “The glittering prose is enchanting” wrote

Erica Wagner Erica Wagner is an American author and critic, living in London, England. She is former literary editor of ''The Times''. Biography Erica Wagner was born in New York City in 1967. She grew up on the Upper West Side and went to the Brearley Sc ...

in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''.'Lost in Rich Dreams',

, ''The Times'' (June 4, 1994) “The style is rich and amethyst,” remarked Simon Rees in''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'': “There are memorable phrases, descriptions that stick in the mind like tunes or smells, and a relish for a huge vocabulary which is put to work on pear-picking, frost, sex, furniture and much besides.” “Although the year is not far advanced, it is unlikely to yield a more bizarre or ambivalent reading experience than ''The Feast of Fools''," wrote Robert Taylor in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''. "It is highly pretentious, often obscure, occasionally verbose and turgid,” Taylor continued, concluding: "''Feast'' could become a cult item like

John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...

' ''The Magus''." "In an age of planned literary obsolescence, serious writers can vanish in the cracks between hype and distraction," literary critic

Ihab Hassan Ihab Habib Hassan (October 17, 1925 – September 10, 2015) was an Egypt-born American literary theorist and writer. Biography Ihab Hassan was born in Cairo, Egypt, and emigrated to the United States in 1946. He was Emeritus Vilas Research Prof ...

noted in ''World Literature Today'': "John David Morley is a very serious writer, abundantly gifted — his work sometimes brings Joyce, sometimes Pynchon to mind — and he rightly demands our fullest attention." ''The Feast of Fools'' became, in 1991, the first non-German language book to receive a City of Munich Literary Prize while still a work in progress. Post-publication, the novel was designated a notable book by ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', and longlisted in the 'International Fiction' category for the 1995 ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' International Literature Prize, an award ultimately given to

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...

's ''

The Master of Petersburg ''The Master of Petersburg'' is a 1994 novel by South African writer J. M. Coetzee. The novel is a work of fiction but features the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky as its protagonist. It is a deep, complex work that draws on the life of Dostoy ...

''.

References

External links

'Mayhem in Munich'
Suzanne Ruta, ''The New York Times Book Review'' (January 22, 1995)
‘A Woman Flees Munich for Seasonal Reasons’
Andy Solomon, ''The Chicago Tribune'' (February 19, 1995) {{DEFAULTSORT:Feast of Fools, The 1994 British novels British philosophical novels Novels set in Germany Classical mythology in popular culture Novels by John David Morley Abacus books