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Fiction Literary

Self-Titled

by (author) Geoffrey Brown

Publisher
Coach House Books
Initial publish date
Sep 2004
Category
Literary, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781552451441
    Publish Date
    Sep 2004
    List Price
    $16.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781770562028
    Publish Date
    Sep 2004
    List Price
    $10.95

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Description

Can a breakup break you apart?

In Self-Titled, Geoffrey Brown stares into a mirror and writes what he sees, what he thinks, what he feels. The result? A self-portrait that's at once comic and psychotic, a complex consciousness captured in crystalline prose. Memories, manias, miasmas – Brown morphs the machinery of his mind into an utterly original entity, equal parts diary, criminal confession, sex manual and mash note, as hecontemplates a breakup.

The novel splits into two parts; in 'First,' our slacker hero analyzes the minutiae of the relationship, trying to understand what he did, why it went wrong, and whether she'll come back. In 'Second' he knows she's not coming back, and he gets angry, flagellating himself with a whip of wordplay and remorse.

Self-Titled is a singular achievement with universal appeal: who hasn't squinted into a mirror and said, 'What the hell is happening here?' If Gertrude Stein's autobiography was Everybody's Autobiography, then Brown's self-portrait is everybody's self-portrait.

Guest edited for the press by Derek McCormack.

About the author

Geoffrey Brown is the author of Notice (Gutter Press, 1999). In 2003 ‘Listen,’ an excerpt from this novel, was shortlisted for the Journey Prize. He is also a photographer whose work has appeared in Vice and on the CBC Radio 3 website. His photography reviews have appeared in Flash Art.

Geoffrey Brown's profile page