More …
I see The Man Who Was Thursday and Ficciones already, two of my faves - I’ll add some more classics:
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The Master and Margarita by Bugalikov;
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Invisible Cities and If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler both by Calvino.
Along those lines is Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe, first (and best) of a series of novels about a proto-Roman soldier in ancient Greece at the end of the Persian wars, who has the same affliction. Wolfe is very fond of unreliable narrators, and this is no exception – the narrator isn’t always translating everything properly to begin with, and then deliberately obfuscates his own story and leaves things out so he does not have to remember them. Good stuff.
Surprised no one has mentioned the author Haruki Murakami.
Some titles include Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Kafka on the Shore .
I highly recommend these books and I would suggest that they would probably be what the OP is looking for–protagonists entering bizarre and surreal situations and generally getting taken for a ride by a twisted fate.
I always thought that Latro made the wrong choice at the end Soldier of Arete, but that’s just me. Upon checking Amazon to be reminded of the second book’s name, I see that there is a third one: Soldier of Sidon. I might have to hunt that one down.
RR
In the same vein as Eraserhead, try Gvozdi (Nails). It’s about a KGB hitman who starts hearing things and decides to quell the sounds by driving nails into his head. It’s extremely short at just barely over an hour and the acting isn’t that great (although there’s not much dialogue anyway), but the stunning visuals and entire whacky concept make up for it.
Borges is immediately who I thought of with this thread. I recommend 'Book of Sand."
Did you guys know that Carl Sagan’s son Nick is a fiction writer? Try his novel Idlewild for a well-done “which way is up?” reading experience. Don’t read about it on wiki first. It gives too much away.
novel: Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer
The one absolute mindfuck on this list.
manga: Ogre Slayer by Kei Kusunoki
Not that much a mindfuck, but it’s pretty odd. Not FLCL odd, though. You might be bored. however, I see it as a way to ease into the genre of Mononoke, which is a freakin’ Klimt painting.
anime: Mononoke? Maybe. But for a movie, try Twilight of the Cockroaches.
Actually, I take it back, none of those are what you’re looking for. Well, maybe Dinosaur Beach.
But they already mentioned Illuminatus! & Fight Club…
Oh, wait, this might work: *Masks of the Illuminati *by Robert Anton Wilson. Changed my life.
This is the correct answer
I strongly second that. I was utterly blown away by the pacing and ending.
A couple of surreal movies;
*The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.*Not a movie you’ll forget in a hurry. Helen Mirren - before she played several queens of England.
In the more whimsical range, Neil Gaiman’s Mirrormask.
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (or the film by David Cronenberg which is more about writing the book than it is an adaptation of the book).
Flow, My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick (in fact, much of Dick’s work falls firmly in the mindfuck category).
Jacob’s Ladder is a film a lot of people have trouble with. (Amazon Women on the Moon is a lighthearted mindfuck in spots.)
Crimes of Passion is a bit of a messed up film (and features a very sexy Kathleen Turner).
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead tweaks Shakespeare affectionately.
Salome’s Last Dance slips seamlessly between Oscar Wilde’s play and Oscar Wilde watching the play.
If you can find the very rare Two Moon July (a compilation of performances of various artists including Laurie Anderson and David Byrne, among others), its worth checking out. As is It’s Clean It Just Looks Dirty, Vol. 2 which features some of the same people.
The PBS version (and not the wretchedly awful A&E remake) of The Lathe of Heaven causes people problems.
Possibly Perdido Street Station would qualify: the novel left me feeling unbalanced throughout.
Joyce Carol Oates’s novel Zombie is IMO a masterpiece of serial killer fiction, inasmuch as it’s a first-person account from a deeply imbalanced killer, and it’s (for me at least) totally convincing.
Finally, Blood Meridian has some wild, surreal, and horrifying scenes in it, and is absolutely worth reading.
Daniel
I immediately thought of* House of Leaves.* I just want to note that you don’t have to read every single solitary word. There’s a section - you’ll know it when you see it - that you only need to read enough to see what the upshot is. IIRC, some Doper mentioned in House of Leaves discussion that they were really mad that they felt obligated to read all of that, and it didn’t really signify anything you couldn’t get from the first dozen or so words. Also, I believe it’s written sideways, which makes reading it all the more challenging.
Loved the House of Pancakes comic!
heh, nice touch on the highlights.
Probably too obvious to post, but anyway -
For movies, almost anything directed by Ken Russell (“Tommy”). For TV, the original “Prisoner.” starring Patrick McGoohan, and of course many of the old “Twilight Zones” and “Outer Limits.”
“A Clockwork Orange” both book and movie.
Many of Bergman’s movies.
Warren Zevon’s early music.
Damn it.
The first thing I thought was, I’ll post about The Illuminatus Trilogy.
First response. I should have known this crew would be hip to it.
Then I went though the whole first page and was shocked that no one had mentioned Naked Lunch. Right at the top of Page 2.
I’ve read that book twice, and I don’t have a friggin’ clue what it’s about.
So, I’ll offer a light-weight response … A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. It’s a very tongue-in-cheek story with a particularly Buffy-esque bent to it. It starts out seemingly normal, then slides into weird paranormal stuff, but with some wit and wry commentary to it. The ending is just bananas.
It’s a fun read though.
John Fowles - The Magus
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