Dogma: A Novel
In this follow-up to Spurious (2011), W. and his faithful companion, Lars, head off to America for a philosophical lecture tour. The tour doesn’t quite go according to plan, leaving only two choices: give up, or throw together a new philosophical system, an intellectual movement that will capture the minds and hearts of Americans. They call it Dogma, a deceptively simple system of few rules. This is a clever novel, with plenty of wit and cockeyed perspectives, but it’s not for everyone. The stream-of-consciousness style can be a bit tricky, with paragraphs that don’t seem to flow into each other and thoughts that seem to come out of left field, and then go back there again, without being tied to anything going on in the narrative. The book only achieves full coherence after you’ve finished it, when all of its parts have finally come together and the intent becomes clear. A challenging book, but one that rewards the reader in the end. --David Pitt