Book Review: The Psychotic Dr. Schreber by D. Harlan Wilson

The Psychotic Dr. Schreber by D. Harlan Wilson

Paperback, 164 pages

Expected publication: September 2019 by Stalking Horse Press

In 2007 I was living in Port Angeles Washington. I was super excited to see The new Darren Aronofsky movie at the time called The Fountain. The nearest theater it was playing at was in Victoria B.C. It is the only time I went to another country just to see a movie. When the movie ended I felt a stunned silence fall over the theater. The guy behind me said, "I have no idea what I just saw but I like it."

I have read Wilson before, in 2007 I reviewed his Science Fiction send-up Dr. Identity and said "The level of creativity and invention that appears on every single page is what makes Dr. Identity a must-read. D. Harlan Wilson is a real talent that has me imaging Phillip K Dick writing for the Monty Python." Then I reviewed His next novel in 2008 Blankety Blank: A Memoir of Vulgaria. I said at the time "Blankety Blank is not exactly horror it is a darker take on Wilson’s absurdist style that is every bit as zany...Wilson also detours into hilarious mini-chapters on the subject ranging from the film careers of Patrick Swayze to the history of Ferris wheels. "

I don't know how ten years passed since I read Wilson it was not intentional. but I thank James Reich over at Stalking Horse for sending me an advanced copy of his new work. And goddamn it if The Psychotic Dr. Schreber is not the weirdest novel I have read in a lifetime of reading weird shit. Even for Wilson, the level of crazy-ness per page is off the rails.

Explaining what this book is no easy task. I believe Paul Schreber was a real person under the care of Sigmund Freud and I could have googled this but I decided knowing or not knowing didn't really matter. There are a ton of footnotes at the end so I suspect that Wilson did some really cool research into this book. I know there are probably levels of satire and humor that are going miles over my head. (I intend to have Wilson on our Dickheads podcast closer to the release we will ask him)

That said this book functions as 146 pages of insanity that may not be a coherent narrative, some of it are sessions notes, first-person diatribes and all other manner of words combined on the page. Wilson plays with words in such humorous ways it is entertaining throughout. I felt like reading this was like putting a puzzle together without the picture as a guide, some parts were pretty, some were funny and also delightfully co-founding.

This part that made me laugh:

"At some point all messiahs must confront the issue of their genitals."

and this line summed up the book for me:

"Conversely, there is more than one way to skin a consciousness and stitch together a monster"