Anatomy Courses [Paperback]

Blake Butler (Author), Sean Kilpatrick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2012

PRAISE FOR BLAKE BUTLER

"An endlessly surprising, funny, and subversive writer." -Publishers Weekly

"If the distortion and feedback of Butler's intense riffing is too loud, you may very well be too boring." -Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Try Blake on. Lace him up. Wear him around your neck in wreaths." -Vice

"If there's a more thoroughly brilliant and exciting new writer than Blake Butler . . . well, there just isn't." -Dennis Cooper

PRAISE FOR SEAN KILPATRICK

"This is a book you need. Language reset. Guidebook." -HTML GIANT on Sean Kilpatrick's fuckscapes

"The violent, sexual zone of television and entertainment is made to saturate that safe-haven, the American Family. The result is a zone of violent ambience, a 'fuckscape': where every object or word can be made to do horrific acts. As when torturers use banal objects on their victims, it is the most banal objects that become the most horrific (and hilarious) in Sean Kilpatrick's brilliant first book." -Johannes Goransson on fuckscapes

"Here is your I.V. drip of sphinx's blood." -CA Conrad

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Lazy Fascist Press (January 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1621050181
• ISBN-13: 978-1621050186
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.3 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #807,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Creepy and sticky, like mother's old couch April 11, 2012

By Joseph Bouthiette, Jr.

Format:Paperback

A fair warning: if you're one to label anything as "pretentious" for whatever reason, you might not like this book. If you like crisp, clean, linear stories, you might not like this book.

This book was a trip. I don't usually talk about plots in books as I'd rather not spoil anything and other reviews typically cover that for me. In the case of Anatomy Courses, I honestly couldn't give away anything, because I honestly have no idea what happened.

The book has words. Redundant? Maybe. But that's all I can really say for sure about this book. The order in which thOse words are arranged are so bizarre, that they create a completely different literary logic. The images they produce are all at once surreal, grotesque, and at times horrific.

There's a lot of talk about sex. I think. Maybe you can tell me:

"With one spurt we'd found the fountain in a crawdad-buried Mall of Streets..." (p. 11)

"When the moustache-broke-in-gravy came out reeking origin I longed for whatever wasn't in the room with me on the rare occasions waking up became insulin." (p. 44)

"I fitted the skull coming out of you back into my mouth, for it was soft now, and became glad." (p. 75)

Hell, I couldn't even keep track of if the protagonist was male or female (if there was a consistent protagonist; there are I's and yous and mothers and fathers...)

Don't take this as a negative review. As the five stars indicate, I absolutely could not get enough of this book. I was lost and loved every second of it. It has been my introduction to both authors, and if either of their solo works are half as compelling as this book was, I'll be devouring their other books too.

Get lost with me. Buy this book.

From the back cover: "THIS IS THE COLDEST LAMP IN AMERICA"

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The chaos the thrives in the heart of us all October 29, 2012

By Matthew Revert

Format:Paperback

Writing is built from words. It seems so obvious, but it's not something we typically consider when reading. The words serve a utilitarian purpose designed to convey an intention separate from the words. We may consider words as a conduit between expression and understanding. We learn to absorb the written form in an incomplete way. Rather than focus on each syllable we recognise key patterns and fill in a lot of blanks. If we knew just how little we actually read, we'd likely be astounded. A key function of poetry is the destabilization of the pattern. It is an acknowledgement of the inadequacy of the words when it comes to the conveyance of emotion. It deliberately slows us down, encouraging us to experience the word on a microscopic level. We are the walls we scream at.

This is an important book. It represents bravery on behalf of the authors and (especially) the publisher, Lazy Fascist. It requires the reader to disregard the learned patterns mentioned above.

Blake Butler and Sean Kilpatrick are young authors from America. Butler has garnered attention for uncompromising books such as 'Scorch Atlas' and, more recently, 'Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia'. Kilpatrick is an author I am unfamiliar with beyond a story in 'Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens'. While Butler's past books may tend toward the difficult at times, Anatomy Courses raises the bar. We're in a different world here. Subtitled `A Skin Dictionary', 'Anatomy Courses' is an electric shock through the body of written language.

While 'Anatomy Courses' may be a team effort, the results are singular, suggesting a symbiotic connection between Butler and Kilpatrick. One almost senses this piece started as a writing exercise and evolved into so much more. Discussing a narrative isn't a sensible way to approach this book. There are re-occurring themes and motifs, but there is no standard reference point to guide the reader through the experience. There's a pornographic attention to the body, both within and without, and many allusions to abuse. It's as if Butler and Kilpatrick's intention is to dismantle the body via a dismantling of language - a dismantling of reason.

And in subverting language to this extent, an interesting truth emerges. The chaos the thrives in the heart of us all is laid bare. We are meat and waste. We oscillate between instinct and civility. Anatomy Courses manifests reader discomfort not so much because of the fractured prose, but because of the selves we see within it. It's not hard to envision ourselves crawling through the excrement of the life we'd create were we not subject to learned reason. We see our basest selves. We become what we flush down the toilet - what we fear in the inscrutable darkness.

The book is divided into many short... I wouldn't call them chapters... more recommended serving sizes. Each chapter is broken down into smaller, individual passages. Their juxtaposition embodies an instinctual narrative thrust. How 'Anatomy Courses' is deciphered is up to the reader. Butler and Kilpatrick offer no suggestions - the writing is it what it is. The level of work required will likely put many people off. In dissecting and absorbing the prose, you can devote much time to the pure experience of word combinations and imagery. Your flow will be interrupted by the linguistic hurdles placed along the path.

I highly recommend Anatomy Courses. It's book at war with the foundation of which the written form is founded upon - language. In the midst of this war, language is forced to bend to what Butler and Kilpatrick require, while at the same time, Butler and Kilpatrick are bound to what the language requires. Screaming means more than any word.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It still mystifies me... January 30, 2013

By Emory B. Pueschel

Format:Paperback

Some have said that "Anatomy Courses" leans towards the incomprehensible.

I am inclined to agree.

I could not begin to describe the characters, the plot, the setting, the themes. After reading this book three times the whole thing still mystifies me.

And yet...

Those same elements I can not describe to you ARE there. They are all present and accounted for. Butler and Kilpatrick have put together a clear narrative that is obscured by the very language that constructs it. It is a thing of enigmatic beauty.

I can tell you that the vocabulary used is primarily organic, and not in some obscure metaphorical sense. The authors seem to have used words from a med student's desk reference to construct this entire work. It is really quite incredible.

The closest thing I can compare it to is Steve Aylett's "Accomplice" series of novels, but "Anatomy Courses" is far more obtuse and unwilling to part with its secrets so easily. This is experimental literature that will make you work, and work hard, for understanding.

I will be the first to admit: I don't get it. Yet I still keep coming back to it like the Cenobites' puzzle box. "Anatomy Courses" is like a religious calling. A madness, or a sickness even. So elegant in its architecture, so deceptive in its presentation. I want to understand. I want to know its secrets.