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 on September 5, 2015.[1] The novel is a gothic fable set in an unspecified time and location that has been compared to 19th-century Central and Eastern Europe.[2][3][4][5][6]
.png) Cover of first edition (Canada) | |
| Author | Patrick deWitt |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Simon Prebble |
| Cover artist | Dan Stiles |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | House of Anansi Press |
Publication date | September 5, 2015 (hardcover) |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audio |
| Pages | 352 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 978-1-77089-414-3 (hardcover) |
| OCLC | 907967739 |
It was longlisted for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.[7] Sophie Voillot's French translation was a finalist for the 2017 Governor General's Award for English to French translation.[8]
Influences
editPatrick deWitt credits numerous writers and artists in the novel's acknowledgements as his influences while writing the book, including Thomas Bernhard, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Italo Calvino, Dennis Cooper, Robert Coover, Roald Dahl, J. P. Donleavy, C.F., Knut Hamsun, Sammy Harkham, Werner Herzog, Bohumil Hrabal, Shirley Jackson, Pär Lagerkvist, Harry Mathews, Steven Millhauser, Jean Rhys, Robert Walser, and Eudora Welty.[9][10][11][12]
Publication
editUndermajordomo Minor was published on September 3, 2015, in the United Kingdom (Granta Books), September 5, 2015 in Canada (House of Anansi Press), and on September 15, 2015, in the United States (Ecco Press). Dan Stiles made the cover artwork for the UK and Canada editions, and Sara Wood made the US edition cover art.[13]
Reception
editIn his review for The New York Times, author Daniel Handler praised deWitt for subverting genres in the novel and wrote that it "offers the same delights as the fairy tales and adventure stories it takes on".[14]
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.[2]
Writing for The Guardian, novelist Liz Jensen 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".[3]
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.[11]
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."[15]
Chris Feliciano Arnold of the SFGate felt the novel's characters lacked the "emotional weight" of those in The Sisters Brothers.[16]
Film adaptation
editIn October 2016, director Kelly Reichardt 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.[17][18] In October 2018, it was announced Reichardt had put Undermajordomo Minor on hold and would instead reunite with Jon Raymond to direct First Cow, an adaptation of his novel The Half-Life.[19]
References
edit- ^ "Undermajordomo Minor". House of Anansi Press. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ a b Dwyer, Colin (September 12, 2015). "A Fable's Foibles: In Gilded Language, This Folk Tale Gets To The Point". NPR. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ a b Jensen, Liz (September 5, 2015). "Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt review – a comic tale with a touching protagonist". The Guardian. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ Liu, Max (August 27, 2015). "Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick DeWitt, book review: A strange and beautiful world". The Independent. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ Steele, Francesca (August 22, 2015). "Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick DeWitt". The Times. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ Dalton, Dan (September 27, 2015). ""The Internet Was Fucking Me Up:" Patrick DeWitt On Books, Bubbles, & Bullshit". BuzzFeed. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ "The Scotiabank Giller Prize Presents its 2015 Longlist". Scotiabank Giller Prize. September 9, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ "GGBooks 2017 finalists revealed". Canada Council for the Arts. October 4, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ deWitt, Patrick (June 13, 2016). Der Diener, die Dame, das Dorf und die Diebe: Roman. Manhattan. p. 237. ISBN 978-3-641-18364-6.
- ^ Newman, Miranda (September 8, 2015). "On Fables and Fiction". The Walrus. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ a b Gold, Glen David (September 10, 2015). "A dark fable of love, adventure and redemption". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ "Patrick deWitt and Neel Mukherjee in Conversation". Granta. December 18, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ "Dan Stiles Covers for Undermajordomo Minor". The Casual Optimist. 18 August 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ Handler, Daniel (September 17, 2015). "Patrick deWitt's 'Undermajordomo Minor'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ Nathans-Kelly, Steve (September 14, 2015). "Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt Review". Paste. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ Arnold, Chris Feliciano (September 17, 2015). "'Undermajordomo Minor,' by Patrick deWitt". SFGate. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ "With rugged feminist piece 'Certain Women,' Kelly Reichardt shows why she's the last indie purist (for now)". Los Angeles Times. October 21, 2016.
- ^ Tauer, Kristen (October 14, 2016). "'Certain Women' Director Kelly Reichardt Discusses Her Latest Film". Women's Wear Daily.
- ^ Raup, Jordan (October 31, 2018). "Kelly Reichardt Sets 'Certain Women' Follow-Up with 'First Cow'". The Film Stage. Retrieved November 25, 2018.