Mouthquake A Novel
Mouthquake A Novel by Daniel Allen Cox, published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2015, is a 205-page work that explores the complexities of communication and memory. Set in Montreal in 1979, the narrative follows a boy grappling with a stutter as he navigates his past, using sound as a means to unlock memories. The story intertwines elements of a coming-of-age tale with a unique structure that reflects the protagonist’s speech challenges, revealing the connections between personal history and the world around him.
Readers will encounter a narrative rich in themes of LGBTQ+ identity and the intricacies of growing up. The book delves into the influence of subliminal messages, cultural references, and the wisdom of a mystic named The Grand Antonio, who aids the narrator in his journey toward understanding his speech. Written with a poetic flair, Mouthquake presents a distinctive exploration of how past events can resonate in unexpected ways, making it a thought-provoking addition to contemporary literary fiction.
Official synopsis Publisher
Montreal, 1979. A boy’s speech starts to fracture along with the cement of le Stade olympique. Do they share a fault line? Daniel Allen Cox’s unconventional fourth novel tells the story of a boy with a stutter who grows up and uses sound to remember the past. A coming-of-age tale that telescopes through time like an amnesiac memoir, Mouthquake finds its strange beat in subliminal messages hidden in skipping records, in the stutters of celebrities, and in the wisdom of The Grand Antonio, a suspicious mystic who helps the narrator unlock the secret to his speech. This is a loudly exclaimed book of innuendo, rumours, and the tangled barbs of repressed memory that asks: How do you handle a troubling past event that behaves like a barely audible whisper?
Written with a poetic bravado and in a structure that mimics a stutter, the elegiac Mouthquake is speech therapy for the bent: the signal is perverted and the sounds are thrilling.
Includes an afterword by Sarah Schulman, author of Rat Bohemia and The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination.
Daniel Allen Cox is the author of Shuck, Krakow Melt (both Lambda Award finalists), and Basement of Wolves. He also co-wrote Bruce LaBruce’s film Gerontophilia, released in the US in 2015.
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