| Tom Bradley is one of the most exasperating, offensive, pleasurable, and brilliant writers I know. I recommend his work to anyone with spiritual fortitude and a taste for something so strange that it might well be genius. -- Denis Dutton, Arts & Letters Daily * * * * |
When Tom Bradley was a little boy he was given a gazetteer
for Christmas. As little boys will, he looked up all the
places in the world that start with the F-word. There were
two, Fukien in China and Fukuoka in Japan. Little did he
suspect that he would one day be exiled to both.
Tom is a former lounge harpist. During his pre-exilic
period, he played his own transcriptions of Bach and Debussy
in a Salt Lake City synagogue that had been transformed into
a pricey watering hole by a nephew of the Shah of Iran.
He taught British and American literature to Chinese
graduate students in the years leading up to the Tiananmen
Square massacre. He was politely invited to leave China
after burning a batch of student essays about the democracy
movement rather than surrendering them to "the leaders."
for Christmas. As little boys will, he looked up all the
places in the world that start with the F-word. There were
two, Fukien in China and Fukuoka in Japan. Little did he
suspect that he would one day be exiled to both.
Tom is a former lounge harpist. During his pre-exilic
period, he played his own transcriptions of Bach and Debussy
in a Salt Lake City synagogue that had been transformed into
a pricey watering hole by a nephew of the Shah of Iran.
He taught British and American literature to Chinese
graduate students in the years leading up to the Tiananmen
Square massacre. He was politely invited to leave China
after burning a batch of student essays about the democracy
movement rather than surrendering them to "the leaders."
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He wound up teaching conversational
skills to freshman dentistry majors in
the Japanese "imperial university" where
they used to vivisect our bomber pilots
and serve their livers raw at festive
banquets. But his writing somehow
sustains him.
"I tell you that Dr. Bradley has devoted
his existence to writing because he
intends for every center of
consciousness, everywhere, in all planes
and conditions (not just terrestrial
female Homo sapiens in breeding prime),
to love him forever, starting as soon as
possible, though he's prepared to wait
thousands of centuries after he's dead."
-- Cye Johan, Exquisite Corpse
"The contemporaries of Michelangelo found
it useful to employ the term
'terribilita' to characterize some of the
expressions of his genius, and I will
quote it here to sum up the shocking
impact of this work as a whole. I read it
in a state of fascination, admiration,
awe, anxiety, and outrage."
-- R.V. Cassill, editor of The Norton
Anthology of Fiction
skills to freshman dentistry majors in
the Japanese "imperial university" where
they used to vivisect our bomber pilots
and serve their livers raw at festive
banquets. But his writing somehow
sustains him.
"I tell you that Dr. Bradley has devoted
his existence to writing because he
intends for every center of
consciousness, everywhere, in all planes
and conditions (not just terrestrial
female Homo sapiens in breeding prime),
to love him forever, starting as soon as
possible, though he's prepared to wait
thousands of centuries after he's dead."
-- Cye Johan, Exquisite Corpse
"The contemporaries of Michelangelo found
it useful to employ the term
'terribilita' to characterize some of the
expressions of his genius, and I will
quote it here to sum up the shocking
impact of this work as a whole. I read it
in a state of fascination, admiration,
awe, anxiety, and outrage."
-- R.V. Cassill, editor of The Norton
Anthology of Fiction
drawing by David Aronson, alchemicalwedding.com