Synopses & Reviews
Plot Summary
In the critically praised "THE PHYSIOGNOMY, a "New York Times Notable Book of 1997, Physiognomist Cley chronicled the fall of the Well-Built City, created from the mind of the evil Master, Drachton Below, and the inception of the independent city of Weanu. In "MEMORANDA, Cley, no longer the Physiognomist but a humble citizen, realizes that the antidote to the sleeping disease that has infected the people of Wenau is locked in symbolic form in a new mnemonic "palace" in the sleeping Below's memory. With the help of a demon, Cley must venture into the city of Below to search for the symbolic form that holds the secret of the antidote. As he searches through the bizarre city, Cley falls in love, knowing full well that the lady is merely the symbolic representation of an idea and that he must lose her if his quest to save the people of Weanu is to succeed.
Questions for Discussion
Discuss mnemonic devices you might use in the course of your day. Do the fanciful ways that memory is discussed in the novel have any bearing on your own concept of the working of memory? How would you describe the relationship between Below and Misrix? Misrix tries to capture the story of the Well-Built City by collecting debris from the ruins. How do the objects in your house tell your story? If you weren't there to piece the tale together for an observer, would the be able to come close to the truth of your life by "reading" those objects? Cley must find the antidote for the sleeping disease in Below's memory world. To do so, he must now determine meaning by reading the surface of mnemonic objects. How does that differ from his pursuits as Physiognomist First Class. Why is Anotineobsessed with "capturing the moment?" In relation to how your memory really works, what kinds of processes might the Fetch and the Delicate represent? Is Scarfinati's story to be taken at face value? Discuss the relation between the mnemonic happenings in this novel and how they might be seen to parallel the concepts of virtual reality. Is Cley's love for Anotine merely the return of his addiction or is it more than that? Does Cley fail or succeed in his mission in MEMORANDA?
The Author Recommends
The following novels have influenced Jeffrey Ford: "The writing styles, the craft, the stories of these books all seem to be in perfect balance as if one small change would ruin them. Most importantly, they instilled a sense of wonder in me -- something childlike, mystical and profound."
THE FOUR WISE MEN by Michel Tournier
THE BARON IN THE TREES by Italo Calvino
ARABIAN NIGHTS AND DAYS by Naguib Mafouz
FREDDY"S BOOK by John Gardner
MYSTERIES by Knut Hamsun
THE STREET OF CROCODILES by Bruno Schultz
MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS by Amos Tutola
THE WOMAN IN THE DUNES by Kobo Abe
Synopsis
In this sequel to "The Physiognomy", Physiognomist First Class Cley must enter the sordid depths of the unconscious mind of a godlike madman to find the antidote for a plague of sleep that has overcome a simple agrarian society.
Synopsis
The acclaimed author of the
World Fantasy Award-winning New York Times Notable novel,
The Physiognomy, returns us now to a shadow purgatory of strange dreams and striking moral ambiguities.
Once Cley held a position of respect and fear in Master Drachton Below'scruel autocracy. As physiognomist, Cley practiced a sanctioned, twisted science that condemned men and women to death for the size of their foreheads or thrust of their chins. Yet Cley emerged from the ruins of the Well-Built City a better man, dedicated to healing the physical ills of the simpler agrarian society he has chosen to join. Below's great evil, however, has never abated'and he was not destroyed when his dark social experiment exploded. For his own senseless reasons, he has unleashed a plague of sleep upon Cley's friends and neighbors'a disease that, ironically, has felled the Master as well. And the only antidote lies in a terrible place the former physiognomist fears to enter but knows he must: in the surreal house of a madman's dreams, imagination, and remembrances; in the intricate palace of memories Drachton Below has scrupulously constructed in the stygian depths of his mind.
About the Author
Jeffrey Ford's novel, The Physiognomy, was the winner of the 1997 World Fantasy Award and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. He has since written two sequels featuring Physiognomist Cley, Memoranda and The Beyond. He is the protege of the late John Gardner, author of the modern classic GRENDEL. Ford is a Professor of Writing and Early American Literature at a college in New Jersey.