I, Judas: A Novel

by James Reich

Overview

Judas Iscariot is the historical symbol of betrayal. But what really happened at the Garden of Gethsemane? What really compelled Judas to hang himself from a tree? I, Judas reimagines Iscariot’s relationship to Jesus Christ and explores Judas's orchestration of the elaborate con of the divinity of Jesus Christ, subverting the legend of Judas as he inhabits some of our most notorious literary and historic figures in their darkest hours. Custer, Sexton, Van Gogh: These famous suicides converge through the figure of Judas in a cutting-edge piece of fiction that exposes the dangers of seeking universal truths in myth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593764210
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	09/20/2011
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

James Reich is a writer and co-founder of the post-punk band Venus Bogardus. He was born in England and relocated to New Mexico in 2009. He is currently a contributing faculty member at Santa Fe University of Art and Design. He is the author of I, Judas.

Editorial Reviews

With the claustrophobic air of a mosh pit, Reich's experimental debut novel tells the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus Christ, with Judas narrating from his current seat in Dante's Hell. Reich skewers Christian orthodoxy (Judas rapes Mary Magdalene), and folds altered Biblical scenes into 19th and 20th century events, including Custer's last stand and JFK's autopsy. In the novel's surrealist non-chronology, historical characters segue into personalities familiar from the present—Herod's daughter becomes a punk-rock-loving teenager abused by her father. The organizing principle seems to be decadence, namely its fascination with death and suicide, which Reich uses as a lazy excuse to make literary and historical allusions which include John the Baptist, Sylvia Plath, and Bob Dylan. Dense with adjectives, adverbs, and metaphors that make little sense, the prose strains for an edgy feel: "With my hair in copper coils, my skull is the pornography of electricians, my features indistinct as stone in slow weather." Though clearly intended as a dark account about the death drive, moments of painful earnestness ("We are intoxicated by symbolic structures.") cause the novel to veer into self-parody. Despite its pretentiousness, it may appeal to disaffected youths between the ages of 13 and 17 who feel that the world just doesn't understand. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly