{"product_id":"jesus-christ-kinski-from-the-prize-winning-author-of-the-gallows-pole-and-cuddy-9781526663429","title":"Jesus Christ Kinski: From the prize-winning author of THE GALLOWS POLE and CUDDY","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA bold and brilliant short work by the author of the Goldsmiths Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eCuddy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA bold and brilliant short work by the author of the Goldsmiths Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eCuddy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**LONGLISTED FOR THE JAN MICHALSKI PRIZE 2026**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Myers’ intense, double-edged fiction reminds us again of how exciting the novel can be’ \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Makes most contemporary fiction look bloodless by comparison’ \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Like nothing else you’ll read this year’ \u003c\/b\u003eJan Carson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Highly original, bold, inventive … A stunning rendering’\u003c\/b\u003e independent.co.uk\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘A hair-raising performance’ \u003c\/b\u003eKit Fan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Brilliant, strange and electrifying\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e’ \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNovember, 1971. Berlin, Germany. Opening night.  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKlaus Kinski, Germany’s most controversial actor, steps into the spotlight to a crowd of thousands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter years of making movies abroad, he has returned to the stage for a much-publicized one-man performance about Jesus Christ. As the crowd turn on him and violence is threatened, it is also very nearly his last. After this week, he will never perform on stage again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExactly fifty years later, a hypochondriac writer, housebound by winter snowstorms, becomes  fixated with video footage of Kinski at his most manic.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this forensic analysis, he strays into the darker corners of modern culture, and finally begins to understand the compulsive urge that drives artists to the edge of sanity in their pursuit of perfection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel about a film about a performance about Jesus. It is a daring act of literary ventriloquism, a meditation on censorship, creativity, loneliness – and just how far our tolerance is tested by bad people who make great art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Benjamin Myers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘One of our finest, and most deftly imaginative, writers’ \u003ci\u003ei news \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Radical and gorgeous’ Max Porter\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘A writer of extraordinary and incandescent talent’ Alex Preston\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781526663429\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 21.8(H)x13.8(L)x2.6(W)319\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 319\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Myers was born in Durham in 1976. He is the author of eleven books, including \u003ci\u003eCuddy\u003c\/i\u003e, which was awarded the 2023 Goldsmiths Prize; \u003ci\u003eThe Offing\u003c\/i\u003e, which was an international bestseller and selected for the Radio 2 Book Club; \u003ci\u003eThe Gallows Pole\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction and was adapted for a BBC series by Shane Meadows with A24. He has also published non-fiction, poetry and crime novels and his journalism has appeared in publications including the \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTLS,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eCaught by the River \u003c\/i\u003eand many more. He lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e benjaminmyerswriter.com \/ @BenMyers1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski\u003c\/i\u003e is extraordinary. It is an assault. It is an affront to decency. It is Klaus Kinski, right there on the page. It is hateful. And I loved reading it. It takes real daring to take on such a subject and real skill to carry it off with so much humanity.  The talent of Benjamin Myers is something to behold. -- SAM JORDISON\u003cbr\u003eSpellbinding … the bold, inventive structure of \u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski \u003c\/i\u003egives Myers the room to reflect on stagecraft, censorship, mental health, loneliness, cancel culture – and what we do with great art made by horrible people * INDEPENDENT, The best books of 2025 *\u003cbr\u003eKlaus Kinski was one of the world’s most controversial (and physically dangerous) actors. Myers’s novel, born of a real-life lockdown obsession, retells, via a demented monologue, the time Kinski decided to play Jesus Christ on stage in front of an audience of rebellious German youths * Telegraph, The greatest books of 2025 *\u003cbr\u003eA tour de force of literary ventriloquism … His intense, double-edged fiction reminds us again of how exciting – in the right hands – the novel can be * OBSERVER *\u003cbr\u003eThe book’s achievement lies in the throbbing life force of Kinski himself. His is a dark star, close to collapse. It offers no guiding light but continues to burn five decades on * NEW STATESMAN *\u003cbr\u003eDisturbingly enjoyable * LITERARY REVIEW *\u003cbr\u003eA daring experimentation ... The funniest comic novel I've read in ages -- SAM LEITH * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eA compelling autofictional account which exerts a strange charm … Plunges us into Kinski’s fevered mind … A riot of salty vituperation * GUARDIAN *\u003cbr\u003eBrilliant ... The bravura stylistic flourishes, the wild imagination, the conjuring of a damaged and maddening psyche – this book is strange and electrifying ...  When Myers’s Kinski – vituperative, committed, possessed – grabs us by the neck and spits in our faces, deep down we know it’s what we deserve ... One of our brightest young novelists * DAILY TELEGRAPH *\u003cbr\u003eA rollercoaster ride ... Strap in and jump on the mad actor’s back, but, for fuck’s sake, don’t let go * THE CRACK *\u003cbr\u003eA molotov cocktail of a novel ... An experiment to find the line between art and madness, genius and monster; and a confession about authorial obsession ... It provided me with the most fun I’ve had as a literary critic in years. * HERALD *\u003cbr\u003eA furious, erratic voice, speaking to itself in lonely lines ... The words of a genius, delivered by the mouth of a drunk. Sometimes they look like poetry, sometimes they verge on prose. Sometimes the letters go completely astray and come out like chunks of vomit on the page. Past and present collide, inner and outer monologue muddle, but no one escapes Kinski’s ire * FINANCIAL TIMES *\u003cbr\u003eAn experimental and distinguished novel ... An idiosyncratic and destabilising performance that matches Kinski’s own * SPECTATOR *\u003cbr\u003eHighly original, bold, inventive … Myers captures the dark and forceful energy of Kinski and his startlingly aggressive and vicious mind … A stunning rendering * independent.co.uk, Book of the Month *\u003cbr\u003eExciting, shocking, funny and fascinating … Experimental in form but highly readable. Hugely entertaining … The only question is where Myers will take us next … His best book yet * NEW WORLD *\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin Myers is truly one of the most exciting writers we have, and \u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski\u003c\/i\u003e cements his reputation as an innovative and versatile author, able to write an astonishing range of styles while remaining utterly compelling and surprising. Here is Myers at his experimental and provocative best, raising questions of literary censorship, commercialism and the separation of one’s appreciation of an artist’s life and work * FOYLES, Top Ten Reads for October *\u003cbr\u003eA bravura conceit written with messianic intensity, Kinski coming over like a cross between Hitler and Iggy Pop … Myers is one of the UK’s finest authors, his restless mind never settling on one style or genre, and his latest – a which I read in one sitting – asks questions about the creative process and “the art” vs the artist * THE CRACK *\u003cbr\u003eMakes most contemporary fiction look bloodless by comparison * DAILY MAIL *\u003cbr\u003eAbsolutely feral. Brilliant writing. Best contemporary novel I have read in an age. Completely original -- DAVID KEENAN\u003cbr\u003eA vivid demonstration of the way in which extreme conditions conjure up unexpected subjects, hovering outside the room, tapping on the window pane, wanting to be let in * TLS *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski \u003c\/i\u003eis a kaleidoscopic portrait of an unraveling mind. Unflinching, audacious and brutally beautiful, like nothing else you'll read this year -- JAN CARSON\u003cbr\u003eA record of Benjamin Myers’ obsessive infatuation with a terrible man striving to embody a holy one, \u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski\u003c\/i\u003e is a vivid, singular, unexpected novel from a writer who always surprises and never disappoints -- JOHN HIGGS\u003cbr\u003eAs wild and tempestuous and unapologetic as Klaus Kinski, Benjamin Myers’s\u003ci\u003e Jesus Christ Kinski\u003c\/i\u003e is a rollercoaster character study of one of our most loved and hated cultural icons. Myers taps into the fire and fury in Kinski’s art and soul, his workaholic, egocentric and testosterone-driven life, while reveals his vulnerabilities and artistic intransigence. This is a hair-raising performance written and directed by one of the most outrageously imaginative writers of our time -- KIT FAN\u003cbr\u003eRabid with life-force and intrinsically confrontational, \u003ci\u003eJesus Christ Kinski \u003c\/i\u003ebrings us perilously close to the bars of the cage, the better to behold the monstrous enigma of a man both repellant and magnetic, unforgettable and unforgivable. Benjamin Myers’ timely novel at once asks us how we are to reckon with society’s brilliant-bad, and considers how each of us must accommodate the raging demons that threaten to devour us -- ROB DOYLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Benjamin Myers: \u003c\/b\u003e'Dizzyingly inventive * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eA visionary epic * Guardian, Books of the Year 2023 *\u003cbr\u003eIt's hard to think of many people who can write with such attentiveness, tenderness and force about the importance of human connection and the redemptive power of art -- Wendy Erskine\u003cbr\u003eOne of the most interesting, restless writers of his generation * Daily Mail *","brand":"Benjamin Myers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47827915997401,"sku":"9781526663429","price":59.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781526663429.jpg?v=1771422725","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/jesus-christ-kinski-from-the-prize-winning-author-of-the-gallows-pole-and-cuddy-9781526663429","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}