The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter

The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman is a picaresque novel of sorts, with the hero Desiderio traveling from one bizarre adventure to the next. (Think Gulliver's Travels.) He is searching for the elusive Doctor Hoffman, who has somehow altered time and space and reality to turn Desiderio's home city into a hallucinogenic cauldron of illusions with no room for reason. He is also spurred on his quest by his desire for the seductive Albertine, Doctor Hoffman's daughter, who appears to him in many guises.

This is, however, Gulliver's Travels by way of Dali, surrealistic in the extreme, with myth and symbolism and philosophy and dreaming and psychology and who knows what else so mixed up together that it makes little rational sense. On another level, though, it makes perfect sense. At least I think it does.

All of the above is to say that I comprehended maybe only half of the book with my intellect, but I felt that I understood it even though I cannot articulate it.

This is a very strange and unique book, probably not one to be appreciated by everyone. It contains multiple incidents of what would be deemed perverted sex, and, though it is not erotic at all, the sexual happenings alone would be more than enough to condemn it for some. The plot is fragmented and not easily understood, so it cannot be enjoyed as one would a conventional novel.

But the language! Carter masterfully mixes lush, baroque prose with plain, straightforward narrative, perfectly reflecting the dichotomy between emotion and reason which is central to the meaning of the book. In psychological terms, they would reflect the conflict between the ego and the id. (At least I think that's what this is all about. I could be wrong.)