M HKA Ensembles

Book, 22 x 14.5 cm, 197 p, language: English, publisher: London & Chester Springs PA: Peter Owen Publishers, ISBN: 0-7206-0828-7.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2024/848).

Literary synopsis

Defiant Pose is a story straight from today's headlines. Its hero, or anti-hero, Terry Blake, is a contemporary Faust whose thirst for knowledge leads to brutality, sexual excess and ultimately self-destruction. Nevertheless nothing can stop the chain of events which Terry's journey through the political fringes of society has set in motion. As Terry lies stricken, anarchist insurgents take to the streets and London explodes in an orgy of violence. Stewart Home's novel is a heady brew of genre fiction and political gymnastics, fast, funny and ironic in the telling. 

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice 

Defiant Pose was written in 1989 but by the time it was published in 1991, Home was on a three year Art Strike and refusing to write new books or promote his existing ones. When he received media requests, he sent his friends along to do his interviews for him. Fellow novelist Simon Strong (A256 Multiplex Bomb Outrage etc.) proved particularly adept at passing himself off as Home. 

Novel website