Jake Chapman: The Marriage of Reason & Squalor

In his fiction debut, the notorious British artist Jake Chapman satirizes the standard paperback romance novel in his own inimitable way, slashing the genre down to bare bones and creating a disfigured version from the remains. The Marriage of Reason & Squalor is a corollary to the visual work for which Jake Chapman, in collaboration with his brother Dinos, is best known. The novel opens when our heroine, Chlamydia Love, is gifted a desert island by her fiancee, but develops a fascination with its rightful owner, the devilishly unattractive writer Helmut Mandragorass, instead. A battle begins over the ownership of the island and, ultimately, Chlamydia's love. Included as an insert is Mandragorass' opus Come Hell or High Water, along with a number of actual rejection letters sent to Mandragorass/Chapman from publishers who perhaps should have known better. Also featured are 20 limited edition color prints by Chapman--in the guise of Chlamydia Love