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How much agency does one truly have against systems designed to negate personhood?
In an isolated institution for so-called mental defectives, Joseph Tanat and his fellow inmates hope and scheme for a return to the outside world. As Joseph awaits his case review and potential release, rivalries are formed as all fight over the memory of a former resident who some say escaped and others say was isolated and horribly disfigured in mysterious circumstances.
Grappling with paranoia and a misguided trust in the institution and its values, Joseph is threatened with becoming both victim and participant in a system built on cruelty. The Hollow of Evening explores how deeply institutions are inscribed on the self, and raises questions about the nature and limits of human agency.
In an isolated institution for so-called mental defectives, Joseph Tanat and his fellow inmates hope and scheme for a return to the outside world. As Joseph awaits his case review and potential release, rivalries are formed as all fight over the memory of a former resident who some say escaped and others say was isolated and horribly disfigured in mysterious circumstances.
Grappling with paranoia and a misguided trust in the institution and its values, Joseph is threatened with becoming both victim and participant in a system built on cruelty. The Hollow of Evening explores how deeply institutions are inscribed on the self, and raises questions about the nature and limits of human agency.
Price: $19.99
Pages: 216
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Imprint: Rare Machines
Publication Date:
09 March 2027
Trim Size: 7.00 X 5.00 in
ISBN: 9781459758162
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
FICTION / Neurodiversity, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, FICTION / Gothic, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Psychological, Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems
Ian MacClayn has told a lucid, courageous, illuminating story that forces the reader to grapple with thorny ethical questions about what society brands as mental illness, and is at times a troubled search for one's own identity.
The major discovery of The Hollow of Evening is the quality of Ian MacClayn's prose, which reminds me of the perfection of John Hawkes's writing. Its sound is that of a cello, and it plays here on the unlikely stage of a mental health institution, where it casts scenes of pain into an autumnal chiaroscuro that renders them sublime and ineffable.
The major discovery of The Hollow of Evening is the quality of Ian MacClayn's prose, which reminds me of the perfection of John Hawkes's writing. Its sound is that of a cello, and it plays here on the unlikely stage of a mental health institution, where it casts scenes of pain into an autumnal chiaroscuro that renders them sublime and ineffable.
Ian MacClayn resides in Alberta on Treaty 7 Territory, where he has worked in disability support and with survivors of institutionalization. His writing has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, The Dodge, Your Impossible Voice, and Minor Literature[s]. In 2019, he was a finalist for the PEN Canada New Voices Award. The Hollow of Evening is his first novel.