''Undermajordomo Minor'' is a 2015 novel by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt. It is his third novel and was published by

House of Anansi Press House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. History Anans ...

on September 5, 2015. The novel is a gothic fable set in an unspecified time and location that has been compared to 19th-century Central and Eastern Europe. It was longlisted for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Sophie Voillot's French translation was a finalist for the 2017

Governor General's Award for English to French translation This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for English-to-French translation awarded by the Governor-General of Canada. Winners and nominees 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s References {{Governor General's Literar ...

Influences

Patrick deWitt credits numerous writers and artists in the novel's acknowledgements as his influences while writing the writing the book, including

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...

, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Italo Calvino, Dennis Cooper, Robert Coover,

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

J. P. Donleavy James Patrick Donleavy (23 April 1926 – 11 September 2017) was an American-Irish novelist, short story writer and playwright. His best-known work is the novel ''The Ginger Man'', which was initially banned for obscenity. Early life Donleavy ...

, C.F., Knut Hamsun, Sammy Harkham, Werner Herzog,

Bohumil Hrabal Bohumil Hrabal (; 28 March 1914 – 3 February 1997) was a Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century. Early life Hrabal was born in Židenice (suburb of Brno) on 28 March 1914, in what was then the province ...

, Shirley Jackson, Pär Lagerkvist, Harry Mathews, Steven Millhauser, Jean Rhys, Robert Walser, and Eudora Welty.

Publication

''Undermajordomo Minor'' was published on September 3, 2015 in the United Kingdom (

Granta Books ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and m ...

), September 5, 2015 in Canada (

), and on September 15, 2015 in the United States ( Ecco Press).

Dan Stiles Dan Stiles is an American artist and designer, known for his rock posters. He is based in Portland, Oregon. Early life Stiles is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended the University of Oregon in Eugene, later noting that he had "used ...

made the cover artwork for the UK and Canada editions, and Sara Wood made the US edition cover art.

Reception

In his review for '' The New York Times'', author Daniel Handler praised deWitt for subverting genres in the novel and called it "a novel that offers the same delights as the fairy tales and adventure stories it takes on". Colin Dwyer of NPR also praised deWitt's genre blending and the character of Lucien Minor for giving the novel a "genuine earnestness", but criticized the novel's pacing for being rushed. Writing for '' The Guardian'', novelist

Liz Jensen Liz Jensen (born 1959) is an English novelist and climate change activist living in Copenhagen, Denmark. Biography Liz Jensen was born in Oxfordshire, the daughter of a Danish father and an Anglo-Moroccan mother. She studied English at So ...

felt elements of the novel's plot were often predictable and criticized the protagonist Lucy for lacking the "complexity and nuance" of Eli from ''The Sisters Brothers'', but nonetheless praised the success of the novel's backdrop and deWitt's "frolicsome chain of intrigues". In his review for '' The Washington Post'', author Glen David Gold criticized the novel's narrative for not having the "nimbleness" of other similar folk tales which also experimented with structure, but concluded his review with praise for the protagonist and the world conjured by deWitt. Steve Nathans-Kelly of '' Paste'' gave the novel an 8.5 out of 10 rating, writing, "deWitt has somehow created a fable in which the comic narrative voice is impossibly accomplished, and nearly every word is funny." Chris Feliciano Arnold of the '' SFGate'' felt the novel's characters lacked the "emotional weight" of those in ''

The Sisters Brothers ''The Sisters Brothers'' is a 2011 Western novel by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt. The darkly comic story takes place in Oregon and California in 1851. The narrator, Eli Sisters, and his brother Charlie are assassins tasked with killing He ...

''.

Film adaptation

In October 2016, director

Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt (; born March 3, 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities. Reich ...

revealed that for her next film she would be collaborating with author DeWitt in an adaptation of ''Undermajordomo Minor'', which could possibly be shot outside of the U.S. In October 2018, it was announced Reichardt had put ''Undermajordomo Minor'' on hold and would instead reunite with Jon Raymond to direct ''

First Cow ''First Cow'' is a 2019 American drama film directed by Kelly Reichardt, from a screenplay by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond based on Raymond's 2004 novel ''The Half-Life''. It stars John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, Ewen Bremner, Scott Shephe ...

'', an adaptation of his novel ''The Half-Life''.

References

{{Patrick deWitt 2015 Canadian novels House of Anansi Press books Novels by Patrick deWitt Canadian historical novels