In a deliciously dark debut that combines murder mystery with literary satire, Andrew Gallix's Loren Ipsum takes aim at the pretensions of contemporary literary life with remarkable wit and precision.
A Deadly Premise in Paris
The novel opens with a morbidly intriguing premise: writers are being murdered across Paris. While an obscure terrorist group claims responsibility, their motives remain deliberately unclear, allowing Gallix to focus his attention on what really interests him – skewering the vanity fair of modern literary culture.
At the centre of this carnage stands the eponymous protagonist, Loren Ipsum, a journalist researching a monograph on reclusive English author Adam Wandle. In a clever narrative twist, Loren serves as both the book's moral compass and a shapeshifting representation of everything problematic about contemporary literary life.
Gallix describes his protagonist as having "a heart of frosted glass" and being "all blurred features and radio static." Her credentials as a Bougie London Literary Woman are meticulously detailed: her first novel Fifty Shades of Grey Matter was published by Galley Beggar in 2019, she frequents Shakespeare and Company bookshop ("she had all their totes"), and her favourite party dress is "part Mondrian, part Battenberg."
Literary Carnival and Cultural References
As the body count rises, the action shifts to Antibes, where the satire reaches carnivalesque proportions. In one particularly memorable scene, Loren attends a literary party on a yacht that clearly nods to Fellini's 8½, complete with what the novel describes as "melancholy cavalcade of posturing parvenus."
The novel teems with cultural and literary references that will delight knowledgeable readers. Marcello Mastroianni makes a cameo appearance, while whole chapters are devoted to band names like "The Old Duffers, Omnishambles, The Opening Gambits."
The cast includes walk-ons from intellectual and cultural figures ranging from Guy Debord and Gilles Deleuze to Roland Barthes and Richard Hell. Even Gallix's own publisher, author Sam Mills, makes an appearance, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
Wordplay with a Serious Edge
One of the novel's most distinctive features is its relentless wordplay. Pun-filled chapter titles include "What We Talk About When We Talk About Talk," "Quiet Days in Noisy," and "The Man Without Quality Streets." While some in-jokes might elude general readers, many hit their targets with what the review describes as "laser-guided accuracy."
Particularly clever is the character Sostène Zanzibar, "who had always tried and failed to convey the inadequacy of words with words," who develops the concept of a novel printed in disappearing ink.
Beneath the humour, Gallix tackles serious themes. The novel takes a darker turn when it addresses France's alienation of migrant communities through the fate of English writer Patrick Berkman, who moves to Montreuil but soon feels he doesn't belong, "just as they had been made to feel they did not belong in France." His subsequent dismemberment adds a chilling seriousness to the comedy.
Gallix demonstrates that comedy can be the perfect vehicle for serious commentary, using puns and word games with what the review calls a "subversive, rebarbative edge" that stays "just the right side of clever-clever."
Ultimately, Loren Ipsum stages a conversation about the uses, and potential uselessness, of literature itself. With its nimble wit and punk rock attitude, the novel feels wholly addictive and is destined, as the review concludes, to become a cult classic.
Loren Ipsum by Andrew Gallix is published by Dodo Ink (£9.99) and available through guardianbookshop.com.
