Fire Gospel (Myths S.) [Paperback]

Michel Faber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2009 | Series: Myths S.

When Theo Griepenkerl happens upon the fifth Gospel in a war-torn Iraqi museum, he can't believe his luck. Driven by greed and a lust for fame, he capitalises on his find by publishing it. His book is a sensation. But he can hardly imagine the incendiary consequences his discovery will have for Christians, Arabs, homicidal maniacs and Amazon customers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of The Crimson Petal and the White sends up the publishing industry in this stillborn satire. Visiting an Iraqi museum in the present-day, Aramaic scholar Theo Grieppenkerl discovers nine preserved parchment scrolls. After smuggling the documents home, he discerns that he has discovered a 2,000-year-old gospel composed by an associate of Jesus named Malchus that throws into doubt the New Testament's narrative of Jesus' last days and final words. Theo approaches (and is rejected by) every commercial publisher in America, eventually taking a $250,000 advance from an academic house called Elysium and undergoing the standard indignities of book promotion: reviews from ignorant readers on Amazon, humiliating interviews by bland media personalities and, of course, the eager attention of disturbed readers. The novel takes a dark turn after allowing its feckless protagonist to temporarily hobnob with high-flying literary types, but the scenes featuring Theo in danger are as unlikely as the humorous chapters are strained. The end product is less than the sum of its could-be interesting parts. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The New Yorker

In Faber�s novel, a Canadian linguist is visiting an Iraqi museum when the place blows up. A bas-relief cracks open, revealing nine papyrus scrolls, which turn out to be the Gospel of Malchus, a man mentioned only once in the New Testament, when his ear is cut off by Peter in Gethsemane. Unlike other recently discovered early Christian testimonies, this one is not of an especially lofty character: Malchus seems as interested in his own troubles (�My innards make noises when all else is quiet�) as in Jesus�. He reports no Resurrection; the disciples, he says, had a vision of Jesus making some gestures, but that was it, and drugs may have been involved. The publication of the gospel gives Faber the chance to satirize a number of sitting ducks (book tours, fundamentalists, Amazon reviews), plus some less likely targets (anti-Semitism, disputes among early Christian sects). Unsettlingly, the book at times rises to a great pitch of exultation, or just of sorrow.
Copyright ©2008 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (July 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847672795
• ISBN-13: 978-1847672797
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,905,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prometheus clothbound?, February 4, 2009

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fire Gospel (Myths, The) (Hardcover)

Featuring a splendidly observed chapter, "Judges," which shows an eager if rather callow, previously unknown, scholar on his book tour checking his Amazon rating, mulling over his reviews, Faber as a bestselling author (the deservedly successful "The Crimson Petal & the White") knows his subject. He revamps the myth of Prometheus for "The Myths" series from Canongate; this story of the hapless mortal who steals fire from the gods enriches the manic, wry, and entertaining story comprising this brief, fast-paced, witty novel, readable in a sitting or two.

Theo finds nine scrolls written by Malchus, Caiaphas' spy who had his ear severed by an angry Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. Malchus watches a less than edifying crucifixion of Jesus and renders an alternative account of the Deposition (removal of the body of Christ) which challenges the gospel accounts of any bodily Resurrection. He converts to follow Jesus after an ironic, yet movingly told, inversion of baptism.

Malchus writes his report in the language Jesus and his disciples spoke, Aramaic. The scrolls are dated circa AD 40, long before any Gospel. They predate Paul's letters. They relate the last hours of Jesus in the vernacular of Roman Palestine, therefore "the oldest surviving piece of Christian literature," from a witness on Calvary.

Naturally, when Theo, a flabby youngish Toronto-based academic, spirits these documents back from their hiding place-- revealed after the museum in Mosul he visited was bombed-- he begins to study them. Well-preserved, they represent a dramatic statement. Not for their polished prose, but for their fiery power to undermine what the churches and preachers control. Understandably, in the wake of "The Da Vinci Code," he's excited by their potentially lucrative contents.

He's also bored. Their literary quality lacking, their narrator a tiresome nebbish, they're still a truly eyewitness telling of the good news that, fifty years prior to Matthew or John, appears (according to expert Theo) verifiable. The early portions prove as dull as most real-life apocryphal texts. However, I must admit the section in the chapter "Acts" overcame tedium and ends movingly. A clever salesman of his own text, Faber lets the story Malchus tells unfold gradually as his narrative of Theo's impetuous promotion of this "oldest Christian gospel" continues.

It's a credit to Faber that he manages to imitate both the awkward quality of Dead Sea Scrolls-types of scriptures, and the sporadically poetic verses of Gnostics. While parts of the storyline of Theo's promotional forays veered into welcome if tangential satire of the book world, the main structure elaborates intriguingly upon Prometheus, whom Theo will come to recall as his adventure escalates. (I recommend Wilton Barnhardt's "Gospel," by the way, as another novel on this general theme.)

Ultimately, as with fire, the power of what's marketed as "The Fifth Gospel" lies more in how Malchus' handwritten documents are interpreted, rather than their inherent value. Of course, this could be said of any religious writings.

But, the set of manuscripts maxes out at thirty pages with ample margins and large font. Theo has to expand these complaints and anecdotes of Malchus (Faber's little novel earns 213 generously formatted pages but Amazon lists it at a meager 184!) with his own tale of how he came to find them in Iraq and how he got them home.

Like the text that Theo Griepenkerl finds literally dropped at his feet, this adaptation of an ancient story that holds appeal thousands of years later, despite translation and shifts in faith, has found its critics for some padding of a slight plot. I do think a few pages could have been sharpened; the plot for a significant stretch does follow not very surprising directions after its red-hot first half. And, I don't know what to make of Jennifer anymore than Theo apparently did.

Yet, Faber wraps it up in the last few pages with aplomb; Faber shows again how his skewed perspective aligns with his graceful humanity and his vision of meaning. Advance reviewers appear to be let down by the second half. I was not, for he makes a comeback in the very last section, as he has before. A longtime admirer, I'm as delighted by Faber as I have been with his fiction. You can find his shorter stories packaged as "Vanilla Bright Like Eminem."

(That anthology was tellingly retitled for the American market from "The Fahrenheit Twins;" also find novellas collected as "The Courage Consort" a.k.a. in Britain as "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps"-- I reviewed both books on Amazon US. I also enjoyed his daring novel "Under the Skin" along with that triple-decker "Crimson Petal"-- my wife loved the latter's CD-audio version. By the way: why isn't "The Apple," further "Crimson" stories, in print outside of Britain? Faber earns his right to satirize the fickle book business here.)

Faber's prose shines. A few early examples? As he's kicked out of their flat, telling his suddenly ex-girlfriend about his escape from death in Iraq: "Meredith was unimpressed by his little display of sublimated joy in the dismemberment of a female." (13) Soon after: "The cold bed was waiting for him, there was half a pound of salami-encrusted, Pepsi-marinated mozzarella lodged in his stomach, and Meredith probably had her legs wrapped around the neck of the wildlife photographer by now." (38-39) To a publisher: "'My book isn't about teaching dogs geometry,' Theo reminded him." (48: this passage makes bemused sense in context!)

And, speaking of misspellers, hacks, ill-informed or pedantic audiences, Faber's chapter dramatizing Amazon's rating and reviewing system from an author's perspective deserves applause. (I recall one fictional predecessor applying a plot-point through this review process, a brief episode in Jonathan Raban's novel "Surveillance," also reviewed by me on Amazon!) Only one of the reviewers quoted takes time to thoughtfully critique Theo's work in a balanced, scholarly, and complete manner. Yet, the odds are stacked. "Twenty-three of fifty-nine people apparently found Frank Felperin's review 'helpful', which, given the trouble Frank had gone to, seemed a tad ungenerous." (85). I know that feeling!

Regarding the debased ravings-- and Faber glories bitterly in their typos, rants, and boilerplate-- that get posted on this very medium: "He wished there was a more dignified, alternative version of Amazon that well-educated people could access, an Amazon where such trash was automatically filtered out. He felt like a classical conductor forced to share a stage with a bunch of simpering pop babes." (79) (I add that many classical CD's feature cover shots of only the most luscious divas or prodigies, if female at least; savvy marketing works to hawk higher culture as well as middlebrow wares.)

Back to Theo's dilemmas after he captures the divine spark: are those goods stolen if the museum had no idea they had been hidden-- in the statue that falls apart in the bombing as Theo cowers inside a museum chamber? Are they Iraqi patrimony? How will true believers react to this obscure atheist on talk shows hawking his wares? Can he assert his claim to them vs. those on the Net ready to pounce on the "fire gospel" he translates, as public domain, once the book-- complete with silver-foil embossed title and cut-away double cover-- draws the attention Theo craves along with the profits and luxuries? Will he be able to handle the leap from linguist to sybarite?

I will not reveal anything beyond the exact mid-portion of the plot. Enjoy this fable yourself, especially as an Amazon scanner of reviews. Yet, one hint: at the apex of his powers, a lissome publicist warns Theo, at number one on the New York Times list. "'Go easy on the hubris, lover,' she cooed." (105)

(P.S. Christian Griepenkerl [1838-1912] painted "The Theft of Fire.")

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Copy Rights, February 26, 2009

By 

C. Ebeling "ctlpareader" (PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fire Gospel (Myths, The) (Hardcover)

"The Fire Gospel" is a tour de force that succeeds on more than one level. The volume is part of Canongate's series of short novels with mythological themes by established writers. For his part, Michael Faber manages to satirize contemporary culture and academics through an adventure based on early Christian history and turn it into a rereading of the Prometheus myth.

While in war-torn Iraq seeking artifacts for a Toronto institute, bored academic Theo Griepenkril survives a suicide bomber attack on the museum he is visiting. He escapes with an accidental find of Aramaic scrolls that have spilled from a statue destroyed in the attack. His discovery is of a fifth unknown gospel by Malchus, a kvetching eye witness to the crucifixion, that puts a spin on the Biblical version. His goal is purely cynical, to produce a highly profitable translation that will enrich his reputation, not to mention his pockets. The wooing of publishers and ultimately disappointing negotiations make for great satire surpassed only by what happens next: the publicity tour and the dead-on hilarious rendering of Amazon.com reviews (c'mon, we all need a sense of humor about ourselves). Reminiscent of the reception of "The Da Vinci Code," Theo's book attracts a passionate religious response, one that inspires a critic to call it "The Fire Gospel."

Brush up on the Prometheus story to guess what happens next, or just read this book (a night's entertainment, perhaps two) for a refresher of the consequences of stealing something big and taking it public. This book is slight, and Theo not the most sympathetic man on earth, but this is too well done to quibble.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quick but rather pointless read, February 4, 2009

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire Gospel (Myths) (Hardcover)

First Sentence: The museum curator swung open another antique door and, as if on cue, a lion's head fell off its body.

Theo Griepenkerl, an expert in Aramaic, is visiting a war-looted museum in Iraq, when a bomb explodes leaving him alone in the museum. While looking for safety, he passes a newly damaged artifact and finds it housed nine papyrus scrolls.
These two thousand year old scrolls were written by Malchus, and eyewitness to Jesus' betrayal by Judas and the crucifixion. Theo translates the scrolls and turns them into a book, thinking only of the money he'll receive but not the reaction to the text.

This book is one of a collection of novelettes written by various authors each loosely based on a myth; in this case being Prometheus. The humor is wonderful and did, at times, make me laugh out loud. There is a chapter where Theo is reading the Amazon reviews of his books, which were very representational of real reviews; everything from the sublime to the absurd.

There is little character development. The story jumps from one scene to the next with little cohesion, introducing but never developing characters. The premise was interesting but it could have been so much more than it was. The group most outraged at the contents of the book, which contradicts the existing gospels, is not the one I've have expected or that really made sense to me.

It is a quick read and interesting, but rather pointless except as an exercise in creating a story loosely based upon a myth.