Frank, a young artist, arrives in the city hoping to unravel the mystery of his parents' disappearance. He begins working as a washer of robes at a hotel for itinerant judges. There he meets and falls in love with Prudence, a forensic photographer whose pictures reveal the secrets of the dead.
When Prudence disappears, Frank sets out in search of her, a quest that leads him into the shadowy world of a revolutionary salon, then to prison, and finally to discover the city's strange secrets and the secrets of his own heart.
A haunting novel, The Artist of the Missing is a stunning debut, both a richly imagined evocation of another world and a piercing examination of the mystery of love, and beautifully illustrated by the acclaimed artist Stephen Alcorn.
A visionary novel about love, loss, imagination, and despair.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The world of The Artist of the Missing is self-contained and operates according to its own skewed, metaphysical principles. There's a university so old that the statues of benefactors crowd its lawn elbow to elbow. Mannequins speak, and police go about the business of investigating homicides with eerie indifference. Posters of the missing appear on nearly every surface, their faces fading reminders of loved ones nobody expects ever to see again. Frank pushes forward with his lonely quest to uncover the city's horrible secrets, and the story follows him, lagging behind once in awhile to take in the gorgeous scenery. As if that weren't enough, illustrator Stephen Alcorn's cubist drawings beautifully compliment the text.
There's little sense that Frank is real beyond the fairytale hero's guise he inhabits. But that doesn't seem to matter, given the tilt and pitch of Lafarge's elegant, evocative prose. Characters in these kinds of stories are pawns played in a grand game of literary wizardry. These are fictional cities that have been trod before, by Borges, García Márquez, and a bevy of European fantasists from Bruno Schulz to Danilo Kis. Here Lafarge quickly sets up shop and passes easily for a native. A startling, promising debut, The Artist of the Missing succeeds in mapping out the shape-shifting terrain of human loss. --Ryan Boudinot
Paul La Farge lives in San Francisco. The Artist of the Missing is his first novel.
Stephen Alcorn studied printmaking in Italy and illustrated the Modern Library series. He is the 1998 recipient of the Carter G. Woodson Book Award.
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Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. Alcorn, Stephen (illustrator). First Edition. A haunting novel, The Artist of the Missing is a stunning debut from Paul La Farge, both a richly imagined evocation of another world and a piercing examination of the mystery of love--beautifully illustrated by the acclaimed artist Stephen Alcorn.Frank, a young artist, arrives in the city hoping to unravel the mystery of his parents' disappearance. He begins working as a washer of robes at a hotel for itinerant judges. There he meets and falls in love with Prudence, a forensic photographer whose pictures reveal the secrets of the dead.When Prudence disappears, Frank sets out in search of her, a quest that leads him into the shadowy world of a revolutionary salon, then to prison, and finally to discover the city's strange secrets and the secrets of his own heart.A visionary novel about love, loss, imagination, and despair. Seller Inventory # DADAX0374525803
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