The Idiot's Gospel
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
"The Idiot's Gospel" is a book about people with mental and emotional disabilities.
This is a breathtaking story of mental illness leading to the development of an incredible and unique talent. The story is based on contrast: description of cruel, painful, hurtful life conditions contrasts with the hope, beauty & healing power of art, sprouting as an aromatic lotus flower from the filthy stinking slime of life circumstances.
The narrator is a mentally retarded person. The bulk of the story takes place at a church where he works for room and board, and at an insane asylum.
The world is described through the heightened sensitivity of his mentally ill consciousness. He has a unique talent, he is a story teller.
The Priests use him for their own enjoyment; they make him smoke hashish to unleash his brain hallucinations.
Doctors are experimenting with him to study disease and to explore his talent.
Mentally ill people calm and find hope when listening to his stories.
However, what really unlocks his talent are human pain, perversion and the madness of the world.
For him, life consists of churches and asylums. Sometimes both.
The book is based on the contrast between scenes of brutal naturalism and captivating stories told with a strange sense of humor.
There is an interwoven play with basic ideas and concept of psychology, philosophy and religion.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks® and the ThriftBooks® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
