Charles Darwin in Cyberspace: A Novel
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This novel about Emma Wedgewood, wife of Charles Darwin, centers around her hallucinative mind. Her grief at the death of their child Annie is given a bizarre twist by some ergot mold on the bread she uses for her pudding; her world becomes the twentieth century. Burch presents her husband's sympathetic letters which contain fragments from Darwin's Expression of the Emotions In Man and Animals and contributions from other characters such as the social worker and Emma's unusual later offspring, Ralph Waldo Business Administration. Claire Burch, whose abilities with fiction are complemented by her previous research and publications in psychiatry, experiments with narrative voice by apparently doing away with it. This technique is striking, like overhearing a conversation of strangers in the dark. Are these the imaginings of Charles Darwin's wife, or is she someone who thinks she's Darwin's wife? She lives in our time or does she just think she lives in our time? ! The reports of Emma's caseworker place the wife among us struggling with her schizophrenia, her kids and her ex who won't fork over past due child support payments. Contemporary slang jolts the reader in its juxtaposition to Darwinian ideas. Hundreds of line drawings by the author continue the mystery. The unexpected is well presented here. -Michael Healy
About the Author
I recall "starvation days" in New York City when Claire and James Baldwin and I struggled with early efforts. I remember Jimmy and I agreeing that of the three of us Claire had the only claim to genius. I have been aware during the intervening years of her extraordinary work, both in prose and the visual arts, dealing with the plight of the homeless and dispossessed. If anything, this has given her deeper insights and understanding which, coupled with her artistic gifts have led to a body of rare accomplishments. I consider it somewhat of a national disgrace that her work has not received the attention and acclaim it deserves. -Elliot Baker, author of A Fine Madness.
Charles Darwin in Cyberspace: A Novel,Claire Burch,Regent Press,1587901161,Fantasy - Historical,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Humorous
Book Updates:
Recommended Books