M HKA Ensembles

Book, 17.8 x 10.7 cm, 167 p, language: English, publisher: ATTACK! Books, London, ISBN: 1 84068 035 0.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2024/849).

Literary synopsis *Whips and Furs: My Life as a Bon Vivant, Gambler and Love Rat* is a truly hilarious account of the life of Jesus H Christ. Narrated in the first person, and supposedly uncovered and edited by the unstinting wind-up artist, Stewart Home, *Whips and Furs* purports to be the 'real' account of how the Bible came to be. Irreverant and irreligous, it is rather surprising that Home hasn't found his way onto the church's 'most wanted' list. The book sees Jesus, assistant to his brother-in-law, the renowned camel-dealer, Judas Iscariot, incompetently traversing the towns and being repeatedly swindled by a mysterious con-man and his female cohort. A detourned 'historical' novel with the structure based on the faked fifth volume of *My Life and Loves* by Frank Harris. The content is lifted and adapted to the required historical setting from two out-of-copyright sources: *An African Millionaire* by Grant Allen and *The Lustful Turk by Anonymous*. Just as Alex Trocchi -who faked the final volume of *My Life and Loves*- satirised Frank Harris in his text, so Stewart Home has used this work to burlesque *Anonymous* in particular. [Novel website](http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/sp/whips.htm)