THE WAR OF DREAMS: Angela Carter Bard 1977 1st Edition

THE WAR OF DREAMS
 
Angela Carter
 
Bard 1977 1st Edition
 
Vintage Paperback
 
Desiderio is a government minister in a otherwise prosperous city. Unfortunately, it is currently under attack by Doctor Hoffman's reality distorting machines. Desiderio has been tasked with assassinating Dr. Hoffman so as to stop the attack.
 
This picaresque novel is heavily influenced by surrealism, Romanticism, critical theory, and other branches of Continental philosophy. Its style is an amalgam of magical realism and postmodern pastiche. The novel has been called a theoretical fiction, as it clearly engages in some of the theoretical issues of its time, notably feminism, mass media and the counterculture.
 
Jeff VanderMeer has described The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman as "the finest surrealist novel of the past 30 years. It perfectly captures the ideas and ideals of surrealist beauty".
 
In the New York Times, William Hjortsberg recommended Carter's novel, noting its attention to detail and maintaining that while reading "We soon forget that the terrain she observes with such care is the interior of her own imagination, for the world she describes becomes as real as any naturalist's report.