Adam Thirlwell’s prodigious output includes Kapow!, a typographically tricksy novella set during the Arab spring; Multiples: 12 Stories in 18 Languages by 61 Authors, in which he coaxed A-list writers around the world into translating one another for kicks; and a short-lived sex column in Esquire, which recounted dilemma-laden scenarios in the archly erudite style he patented – from a blueprint provided by Milan Kundera – in his 2003 debut, Politics, a threesome tale published when he was 25.
His new book isn’t easy to get a handle on. Seemingly set in pre-revolutionary France – the specifics are hazy – it follows Celine, a socialite targeted by a pornographic smear campaign of slut-shaming pamphlets. With a friend (and later, lover) named Marta, she organises a fightback with a playwright and police chief, among others, in a circle gathered at a series of parties fuelled by “takeout” from a restaurant nearby. Later, Celine travels not only to America but the moon, where she meets an alien named Harper – and did I mention Celine fights Napoleon?
