The Porcupine's Quill
Celebrating forty years on the Main Street
of Erin Village, Wellington County
BOOKS IN PRINT
A Comedy of Eros by Virgil Burnett
A novella that is too ambitious for a short story yet falls short of a novel, A Comedy of Eros is a tale of intrigue and romance in which nothing is quite as it appears to be.
Jaekin, an artist, falls in with a secretive young woman who appears inexplicably in his drawing class. After a covert period of intimacy, a sinister figure from the girl’s past appears. An abduction, a chase abroad, and violence ensue before Jaekin’s adventure draws to a close.
1985—Alcuin Award for Excellence in Book Design,
Winner
Review quote
‘The tone of the novel is like an act of love: the slow and sensuous build-up, followed by an almost unbearable tension and ending in an explosive climax and lingering denouement.’
—London Free Press
Review quote
‘... But like the thumbnail sketches that illustrate the story, this novella alludes to wider dimensions. The real depths of the book are best appreciated with a dictionary of mythology close at hand. The pun in the title suggests Eros is both love and a principle of order in Burnett’s classic universe and his story will be built around the great themes of love, suffering and struggle.’
‘Burnett’s smooth prose abounds in small mythological clues: The dog in an apartment building is Cerberus, a model crouches in a sphinx-like position and the hammers on old duelling pistols are as unique as satyrs. Each paragraph acts more like a drawing than prose. Art, dreams and drawings are a way to explain the world Burnett suggests. The Comedy of Eros is a short book, and so it does not provide a full mythological banquet. But an attentive reader will find it a gournet brunch.’
—Geoff Hancock, Toronto Star
Review quote
‘As always, Burnett’s writing is extremely polished. Though spare, it is amazingly rich in allusion and synbol without ever being pedantic. The black-and-white sketches that appear throughout the text provide a fine visual counterpoint to it. Since the work is, among other things, unabashedly erotic, secondary school libraries might well find it an inappropriate acquisition. On the other hand, I recommend it most readily for adult collections.’
—Canadian Materials
Virgil Burnett is an author-illustrator whose work has been widely published on this continent and in Europe. His recent projects include illustrations for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (The Folio Society: London, England) and work on a third novel. He was a member of the Fine Arts faculty of the University of Waterloo, and now spends part of each year working and travelling abroad. Other illustrated fictions by Burnett include Skiamachia and Towers at the Edge of a World.
The Porcupine's Quill would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. The financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) is also gratefully acknowledged.
