Jackdaw (novel): Difference between revisions

''Jackdaw'' is a novel of [[metafiction]], written by a fictional version of the author himself, who receives a commissionrequest to write a book inspired by the work of the Irish painter [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]]. During the execution of this unexpectedly challenging commission, Thompson, who is attempting to enter the mind of the artist by suppressingexploring his own personalitypsychology, first develops a sexual fixation with [[Henrietta Moraes]], one of Bacon's models, has a number of alarming encounters with the ghost of Bacon's nanny; seeks release in sexual experimentation with the help of a professional [[dominatrix]], and starts to experienceexperiences distressing fugues. Thompson, like the author himself, is a mental health worker as well as a writer of science fiction, and his obsession impacts on both his professional and his family life. While he attempts to keep up a pretence of normality for the sake of his family, a bizarre alien flesh-sculpture appears and grows in Thompson's attic study, reflecting both his own deteriorating state of mind and his possession by Bacon's influence.

Themes of the book include: theYoruba passionreligious needed to create artpractice;<ref Yorubaname=":2" magic; and/> the "blurred lines between creativity and madness,"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jackdaw by Tade Thompson |url=https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/11feabed-f685-439b-b531-74ad231e8b3f |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=app.thestorygraph.com}}</ref> as well as "the thinness of the boundary between art and artist, subject and object."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Jackdaw by Tade Thompson from @CHEERIOPublish – The British Fantasy Society |url=https://britishfantasysociety.org/jackdaw-by-tade-thompson-from-cheeriopublish/ |access-date=2024-09-23 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

''Jackdaw'' was longlisted for a 2022 [[BSFA Award|British Science Fiction Award]] in the Best Novel category<ref>{{Cite web |title=The African Writers and Artists Longlisted for the 2022 British Science Fiction Awards |url=https://brittlepaper.com/2023/01/the-african-writers-and-artists-longlisted-for-the-2022-british-science-fiction-awards/ |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=brittlepaper.com}}</ref>

[[Lisa Tuttle]], writing for ''[[The Guardian|The Guardian,]],'' describes ''Jackdaw'' as: "A wild, darkly comic nightmare set on the borderlines of creativity, imagination and madness."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tuttle |first=Lisa |date=2022-10-07 |title=The best recent science fiction and fantasy – reviews roundup |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/07/the-best-recent-science-fiction-and-fantasy-reviews-roundup |access-date=2024-09-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> ''[[Daily Mail|The Daily Mail]]'' says: "The sheer unpredictability of the narrative is sustained by the easy-reading clarity of Thompson’s voice, wholly disarming as it toys gleefully with the book’s autobiographical overlap."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cummins |first=Anthony |date=2022-10-13 |title=LITERARY FICTION |url=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-11313069/LITERARY-FICTION.html |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=Mail Online}}</ref> The ''[[Financial Times]]'' says: "''Jackdaw'' is an original and compelling account of a writer so desperate not to short-change his subject that he descends into a cycle of degradation and madness."<ref>{{Cite web |titlename=Financial Times |url=https"://www.ft.com/content/942b6873-278b-4006-8818-40bda8dc51fe1" |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=www.ft.com}}</ref>