Mangled Hands, by Johnny Stanton
by admin on May.04, 2009, under books
Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, image from Cindy E. Lamberts via Amazon
Read Mangled Hands by Johnny Stanton, published by Sun and Moon Press.
Now what I was planning on doing was to read a new novel every week or two, bring you new up and coming authors and their new work. However, that has proven impractical as there are few literary novels printed and the ones I’ve been reading are pretty mundane. I’d like to bring you awesomeness on a regular basis, and I am not going to get involved in writing about decent or okay novels because there’s no point in doing that. Instead I will now be bringing to you novels you may have never heard of, or maybe glanced over–the stuff that deserves to be on your summer reading list but isn’t…yet.
And so I bring to you a novel that is probably the most obscure novel I had ever read. I bought it in a used-book shop in D.C. The publisher, Sun and Moon Press, published experimental literature for over 25 years, but closed shop in 2002. If you check out Amazon you can find this novel for sale. On goodreads.com, which lists ratings for every book you could ever dream of, I was only the second person to rate it–on a site with at least hundreds of thousands of avid readers as members.
I bring to your attention this novel because it is perhaps the strangest, most visceral and mind-warping thing I’ve ever read. Forget the slipshod dyspepsia of Naked Lunch–if you’ve read that (rather, were somehow able to complete it) you get a taste of what the insane style in which William S. Burroughs wrote was trying to accomplish that Johnny Stanton somehow perfected. With a laser-sharp focus, and every sentence carrying with it a leaden gravity profuse with mysterious intonations, he brings you into the world of an adolescent Huron Indian, Tarcisius Tandihetsi, who, while traveling with his two fathers (his father,Eustace, and a French priest, Blackrobe) and others in his tribe, are kidnapped by the Poison Snake People and the Killer Yellow Dogs(the tribe’s greatest enemies) and made to endure great torture for days on end.
The story follows the travels of Tarcisius into enemy territory, while he and his fathers, although sustaining ridiculous amounts of punishment that would have killed anybody ten times over, somehow survive time after time to see even greater punishment and danger. As its voice, magic and spirituality impregnate nearly every event or description.
You’ll love this book because it’s creepy and crazy and the most original thing you’ll ever read. While reading this you’ll think at least two to three times per page: “Where the hell does this guy come up with this stuff?” Seriously. If you open the book to any page and pick out a sentence it is likely to be something that would make you scratch your head and wonder …you just wonder. I’m going to do it now–totally random sentence: ”Antler Face was furiously digging his antlers into the ground and at the same time kicking the air.” (Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, pg. 162) See? Or: ”Finally Curly Head put my nose between his slimy legs, and the nails on his tail cut my face.” (Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, pg.66) There are also certain words you’ll never think of the same way after this novel, such as feathers, manhood, slime, hair, invisible, to name a few.
If you like crazy lit even remotely I say check this out now. You’re brain will hate you for it, but your mind will expand like Tarcisius’s manhood. ”I,Tarcisius Tandihetsi, say so.” (Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, pgs. 12, 18, 23, 30, 39, 46, 55, 62, 71, 79, 88, 96, 107, 117, 126, 138, 148, 162, 192, 219, 244, 274, 297, 320)
6 Comments for this entry
3 Trackbacks / Pingbacks for this entry
-
Topics about Last-words | Mangled Hands, by Johnny Stanton
May 4th, 2009 on 11:52 am[...] Brave New Works placed an observative post today on Mangled Hands, by Johnny StantonHere’s a quick excerpt Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, image from Cindy E. Lamberts via Amazon Read Mangled Hands by Johnny Stanton , published by Sun and Moon Press . Now what I was planning on doing was to read a new novel every week or two, bring you new up and coming authors and their new work. However, that has proven impractical as there are few literary novels printed and the ones I’ve been reading are pretty mundane. I’d like to bring you awesomeness on a regular basis, and I am not going [...]
-
Topics about Indian » Mangled Hands, by Johnny Stanton
May 4th, 2009 on 11:45 pm[...] Brave New Works created an interesting post today on Mangled Hands, by Johnny StantonHere’s a short outline Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, image from Cindy E. Lamberts via Amazon Read Mangled Hands by Johnny Stanton , published by Sun and Moon Press . Now what I was planning on doing was to read a new novel every week or two, bring you new up and coming authors and their new work. However, that has proven impractical as there are few literary novels printed and the ones I’ve been reading are pretty mundane. I’d like to bring you awesomeness on a regular basis, and I am not going [...]
-
Topics about Apocalypse » Archive » Mangled Hands, by Johnny Stanton
May 5th, 2009 on 6:23 am[...] Brave New Works put an intriguing blog post on Mangled Hands, by Johnny StantonHere’s a quick excerpt Mangled Hands, Johnny Stanton, image from Cindy E. Lamberts via Amazon Read Mangled Hands by Johnny Stanton , published by Sun and Moon Press . Now what I was planning on doing was to read a new novel every week or two, bring you new up and coming authors and their new work. However, that has proven impractical as there are few literary novels printed and the ones I’ve been reading are pretty mundane. I’d like to bring you awesomeness on a regular basis, and I am not going [...]
July 21st, 2009 on 12:45 pm
Ha, Johnny is my dad. I can’t believe that someone recently reviewed Mangled Hands…what a thrill for me!
July 23rd, 2009 on 11:41 am
Hey, Tara
Your father is an incredible writer and I try to spread the word about his work to everybody I can. It must have been pretty cool growing up with somebody with so much originality. Tell your father I said he’s awesome!
Thanks for stopping by!
December 30th, 2009 on 5:44 pm
I am currently reading a book called mangled hands written by neil boyton in 1926 it seems like the same book since both are the story of Tarcisius Tandihetsi written in first person about the same events and both constantly end with “I Tarcisius Tandihetsi say so.” Is this the best example of plagiarism or is there an explanation for this. The original book was published by benzinger bros.
December 30th, 2009 on 9:01 pm
Hey, thanks for stopping by and discussing the book. I looked into it, and I think the flap copy to Johnny Stanton’s “Mangled Hands” answers this little mystery. It reads as follows:
Applying the “cut-up” and “fold-in” techniques of William Burroughs and of his friend Ted Berrigan, Stanton “retells”-in his own fantastical style-the tales collected by his local parish priest, Neil Boynton, S.J.
It went on a little further to discuss his closeness with Neil Boynton and how the book was a “testament…to his readings of the Martyrs.”
I hope this clears things up a bit. But thanks so much for bringing to my attention this book, I really look forward to checking it out; I had no idea that the Neil Boyton’s stories were in book form. I hope you read Johnny Stanton’s novel, though, it should be a very different experience.
April 14th, 2010 on 5:44 pm
I read this book as an elementary student in the mid 1960’s. It was authored in 1926 by a Jesuit, Neil Boyton and published by Benziger Brothers.
What’s going on here?
April 15th, 2010 on 6:03 am
Hi, thanks for visiting!
This book was written by Johnny Stanton, and is apparently directly influenced by the version originally penned by Neil Boynton. Turns out the two authors were very close friends and the newer version was written as a sort of tribute. You might consider checking out this version for a crazy twist to what you’ve already read.