Mobius Dick

Mobius Dick is a dazzlingly inventive story that blends techno-thriller, historical fantasy, philosophy and farce, with a cast of characters that includes composers. scientists, geniuses and madmen. Beneath its gripping plot Mobius Dick traces the history of an idea. Just how real is reality? 'as fiction it is sold plutonium, and unflaggingly enjoyable' The Sunday Times 'I have a weakness for Andrew Crumey's novels. I call it a weakness because I've noticed that, when reading them in waiting rooms or on trains, people look up angrily whenever I laugh. There's much to laugh at in Mobius Dick. Like a magical conjuror, Crumey keeps all manner of subjects - chaos and coincidence, quantum mechanics, psychoanalysis, technology, telepathy and much else - whirling amazingly in the air'. Michael Holroyd in The New Statesmen's Books of the Year 'In Mobius Dick, the narrative becomes a series of coincidences that we interpret as we wish, and all things are real only insofar as we want to see them that way. Under the skin of this teasing lurks a concern for the reputation of artists, and the role of chance in building the career of great musicians and writers. If Brahms had been ugly, would he have stayed playing the piano in a brothel? If Buddenbrooks had sold poorly, would Thomas Mann ever have been heard of at all? Andrew Crumey's work has been highly praised and not widely enough read for too long. In all the possible futures that exist for this intelligent, witty and accomplished writer, a wider readership should be more than just a matter of chance'.