J. Manfred Weichsel

Savage Headhunters by J. Manfred Weichsel may be his most horrible book yet. Given that previous books have involved cross-breeding humans and chimpanzees, angels lusting after human women, and the sexual perversity of Hollywood, this is quite an accomplishment.

The target of Weichsel's satire in Savage Headhunters is war. In particular, the war referred to by many Americans as the "last good war".

The Second World War looms large in the myths that Americans use to justify their place in the world order, and thus is a ripe target for Weichsel's brand of Menippean satire.

The genesis of Weichsel's book is a collection of photographs of American soldiers displaying the skulls of their fallen Japanese enemies. These were published in prominent outlets such as Life Magazine. Weichsel turned these photos into scenes in his book. The narrative of the book might seem too outlandish to believe, if not for these photos.

Weichsel's special gift is to make us see these things with new eyes, because it is too easy to become complacent to the horrors of war.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is vile and revolting, but not nearly as vile and revolting as the world that we live in. But if Weichsel can remind you that is true, then his purpose will have been served.

More: https://www.benespen.com/savage-headhunters-book-review/… (plus d'informations)

J. Manfred Weichsel has returned with another unbelievable, ridiculous, and over the top satire. Some of Weichsel’s work, like Jungle Jitters, takes its inspiration from contemporary events. For this book, Weichsel reached back to the Book of Enoch, a bit of Jewish apocalyptic that was likely composed during the time when the Greek successors of Alexander the Great ruled over much of the Middle East.

Even though I haven’t read the Book of Enoch, it is familiar enough, because it has been mined for material by many, many authors of mythic fiction, for example Tim Powers or Neil Gaiman. For the most part, these authors have repurposed the angels or the nephilim featured in the Book of Enoch for their own purposes. Not Weichsel, who has taken it upon himself to retell the Book of Enoch in an entirely modern form.

That’s ambitious, but Weichsel uses his signature style of grotesquerie to translate this earnest religious text into something we moderns can understand.

At first, Not For From Eden seems like many other contemporary works, irreverent and edgy. Yet there is a great deal more here than meets the eye. For example, the opening lines of the book sound like the kind of thing an Internet atheist writes to mock the rubes, describing God as an old man with a long white beard, who in subsequent passages is by turns doddering, neglectful, and vengeful. Yet, when you look at the book as whole, what you find is that the only character in the book who was never surprised and had all of his plans come to fruition is the caricature of a deity.

Ours is not an age that would be able see the acts of God in a straight up act of Providence. However, we just might recognize ourselves in an uncomfortable Gestalt after reading this, and start to wonder about other things.

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J. Manfred Weichsel is back with another disturbingly funny satire, The Calydonian Boar Hunt. Emphasis on the disturbing. Absolutely no one comes out of this looking good, and it is not for the faint-hearted.

Yet, as disquieting as Weichsel’s work is, I argue that he is performing a valuable public service. Weichsel makes foundational myths present to a contemporary reader in a striking and vivid manner, reminding us why these myths continue to be worth understanding thousands of years later.

Part of the reason that a myth like The Calydonian Boar Hunt is still relevant to us is that new and crazy things are sometimes not new at all, although they remain crazy. Weichsel hews closely to the structure of the historical myth, but then works in contemporary issues like COVID lockdowns, male feminists who think with their penises, and irrational misandry. Some of the humor is so on point that it might be incomprehensible in fifty years but more famous authors than Weichsel have indulged in that.

I am grateful that someone is willing to say the Emperor has no clothes, although I understand those who feel uncomfortable at the detailed description of his pasty and pock-marked flesh. That being said, I wouldn’t give this book to children. But I would recommend it to adults who are ready to have their complacency challenged.

More: https://www.benespen.com/2022-7-3-calydonian-boar-hunt-review/… (plus d'informations)

J. Manfred Weichsel has written another brutally funny satire. This brief 13,800 word book would serve as an excellent introductory piece if you were curious about Weichsel’s signature style. It retains a disturbing likeness with the world we all know, but is utterly outlandish and outré. Unlike much of his previous work, the sexual provocations are kept to a minimum [although not absent!}, which is why I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see what a modern take on Menippean satire looks like.

More: https://www.benespen.com/2022-10-2-planet-of-the-wage-slaves-by-j-manfred-weichs...… (plus d'informations)