MEMORIES OF AMNESIA

by Lawrence Shainberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 1988

The oxymoronic title sets the pace: an involuted, self-reflective, paradox-laden comedy about a neurosurgeon playing solitaire with his own brain. By the author of Brain Surgeon: An Intimate View of His World (1979). In the midst of performing neurosurgery on an epileptic, Dr. Isaac Drogin suddenly begins to escape his own ""neurological bondage""--he forgets his patient's name, sings involuntarily, surges with exaltation, and takes great pleasure in his own brain's rebellion. But is this erratic behavior a result of brain damage, or is it war by his ""true self"" against the tyranny of the gray cells? Or perhaps just willful perversity? Drogin lapses into incessant self-analysis as he puzzles out his seizures with tedious insights like ""since people with this condition are as often satisfied when they ought to be disappointed as disappointed when they ought to be satisfied, whatever I did would disappoint me except that with which I had no reason to be satisfied."" Also joining in this tiresome mental ronde are a karate-chopping wife; her silly sensei; a security guard; a fellow neurosurgeon; and Drogin's dead parents, who carry on a heated argument in his brain. The plot is just about nonexistent (but then it's all in the mind anyway): Drogin performs surgery, goes home, has sex, returns to the hospital, and culminates his masturbatory brain-play with an operation on his own brain that triggers a semi-mystical conclusion. A clever and overblown exercise in mirrored mind musings.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Paris Review Ed./British American--dist. by Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION