Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath

About this book

An artist abandons his paintings and sculptures, retreats from the world and begins recording thoughts more alarming than anything on his walls. Fantazius Mallare's notebook becomes a portrait of a mind turning against ordinary reality.

Ben Hecht tells the story through a framing narrative and the increasingly elaborate prose of the artist's notebook. Wallace Smith's dark drawings give physical form to his obsessions. As the writing becomes more feverish, the notebook begins to feel like a record of a mind losing its hold on the ordinary world.