Mat Johnson was born and raised in Philadelphia, and has lived most of his life elsewhere. He is the author of several novels and graphic novels including "Drop, Hunting in Harlem, " and "Incognegro." Johnson is a faculty member at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program and lives in Texas with his wife and children.
"BLISTERINGLY FUNNY...a full-fledged and fiendishly inventive
inversion of Poe's ["Pym"], a series of bizarre encounters I can't
bring myself to spoil, each one more deliciously pointed than the
last." - Laura Miller, "Salon"
"SCREAMINGLY FUNNY...there's no shortage of thought and scholarship
and experience underpinning "Pym, " but Johnson doesn't let any of
it bog him down. On the contrary, reading Pym is like opening A BIG
CAN OF WHOOP-ASS and then marveling -- gleefully -- at all the
mayhem that ensues." - Maggie Galehouse, "Houston Chronicle "
"RELENTLESSLY ENTERTAINING...It's no easy task to balance social
satire against life-threatening adventure, the allegory against the
gory, but Johnson's hand is steady and his ability to play against
Poe's text masterly. The book is polyphonous and incisive, an
uproarious and hard-driving journey." - "New York Times Book Review
"
"RIOTOUS...Jaynes never learns much about the white pathology and
mindset, but Mr. Johnson knows plenty about the character types he
skewers." - "Wall Street Journal"
"LOONY, disrespectful, and sharp, Johnson's ""Pym"" is a welcome
riff on the surrealistic shudder-fest that is Poe's original...I'll
stop there, but Johnson's inventiveness never does." - NPR's "Fresh
Air"
"Mat Johnson's new novel is nothing short of fantastic, in every
sense. I fell in love with the voice, the tone and the world of
"Pym." This is an adventure novel, a work of historical and social
commentary, a rumination on identity. The only problem I could find
with this novel is that I didn't write it. It's a beautiful piece
of work."
--Percival Everett, author of "I Am Not Sidney Poitier"
"Mat Johnson has come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and
he's all out of bubble. gum. "Pym" is an adventure, a satire, and a
bracing political debate all rolled into one brilliant novel. Edgar
Allen Poe has inspired many authors but Mat Johnson has the
inspired audacity to both honoru
"Mat Johnson's new novel is nothing short of fantastic, in every
sense. I fell in love with the voice, the tone and the world of
"Pym." This is an adventure novel, a work of historical and social
commentary, a rumination on identity. The only problem I could find
with this novel is that I didn't write it. It's a beautiful piece
of work."
--Percival Everett, author of "I Am Not Sidney Poitier"
"Mat Johnson has come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and
he's all out of bubble. gum. "Pym" is an adventure, a satire, and a
bracing political debate all rolled into one brilliant novel. Edgar
Allen Poe has inspired many authors but Mat Johnson has the
inspired audacity to both honor "and" discredit the man, often in
the same sentence. I imagine Poe choking on half the things Johnson
writes in this novel, and tipping his tiny hat in admiration to the
rest."
--Victor LaValle, author of "Big Machine"
"PYM reframes far more than Poe - it reframes "everything
"American, from
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