Free City

By Eric Darton

Book Overview

An inventor living at the beginning of the Enlightenment keeps journals reflecting on everything from his inventive lovemaking to his discovery of the first binary code, caffeine stimulation, the insanity defense, and the memory of birds.

First published in 1996 to international acclaim, Eric Darton's Free City is the fictional journal of L., a seventeenth-century inventor caught in a precarious love triangle, even as his beloved northern European port town teeters on the brink of catastrophe.

In a tale laced with bawdy humor and elements of the fantastical, L. must balance the demands of his patron--a rapacious entrepreneur--against those of his sorceress lover. As L. attempts to avert calamity, he finds himself joined by the most unlikely of allies.

Weaving together historical, political and absurdist elements, Free City resonates more profoundly today than ever.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1628973579
• ISBN13: 9781628973570
• Release Date: October 2020
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Perfect Little Purple Book

I read Free City two years ago, and I've recently reread it simply because I wanted to experience the beauty of Eric Darton's language and ideas once again. The altruism of the unnamed inventor (I think of him as Leonardo) versus the open, selfish greed of his benefactor, Roberto, makes for a brain-twisting, delightful allegory of good and evil. How far will the inventor go to thwart Roberto's lust for power? And is Adela a witch? And, if so, is she a good witch or a bad witch? And what of the duck? Why was HE blessed with speech when his brethren can only quack? Mmmm? Makes one wonder. Which is why I love this book. If you want to exercise those sluggish brain cells, read this book. Also, to the publisher: I can understand why this book is sold-out. What I don't understand is why you haven't reissued it yet!

Outrageous

It is outrageous that FREE CITY is not in print. The world needs it. There is no other book like it; not only is it hilarious and entertaining, it warps the way one understands our world. Track it down; you will not be disappointed.

A new medieval mystery: fun, suspenseful & thought-provoking

FREE CITY is a brilliant book. Darton weaves mysticism, science, superstition, and commerce into a mystery that's tragic, funny, and oddly optimistic. His characters are complicated and sympathetic -- even Friedrich, a fowl I found too preposterous at first and then wound up really liking. Darton's medieval inventor writes: "I am hopeful -- though the ingredients commingled within are not uniformly wholesome -- that the reader may draw something of nutritive value from this roiling stewpot." I was thoroughly nourished.

This book stimulates the mind and expands the senses.

Free City stimulates the mind and frees the senses, thereby expanding them. Reading, as someone once said, is thinking with another man's [sic] mind. Eric's mind is a great one to think with.