The Glossolalia

“The Glossolalia is loaded with brilliant images and wordplay, evoking writers like Beckett, Joyce, Artaud, and Ionesco. While Silke is skilled in creating fictive scenes rich in setting detail and clever dialogue, his ultimate goal is metafictional, and the narrative is repeatedly undercut by absurd yet oddly exact theoretical observations. . . . His first book is accessible and entertaining, playfully scrambling aesthetic conventions while asking important questions about artistic integrity and verbal representation.”


—Stephen-Paul Martin, author of The Ace of Lightning





“Is there a way to catch up with the world racing ahead of us, or has it already turned a corner with us on board but no window seat? Here is a knowing writer refreshing the conversation.”


—Aram Saroyan, author of Artists in Trouble





“What fun to read The Glossolalia, Stephen Silke’s imaginative new novella with its clever dialogue and a cast of colorful characters. . . . Godot Gargon’s many articulation exercises are great fun, too (I practiced saying them out loud, between laughs). But this book has heart at its heart, and it touched mine.”


—Judy Reeves, author of A Writer’s Book of Days





“The Glossolalia reads like a novelization of Wes Anderson’s adaptation of a Kingsley Amis novel. It balances the satirical and the sincere with a skill that’s practiced but not obvious. I love me some Hollywood novels, and Silke doesn’t disappoint. I laughed and sympathized and empathized, but mostly I was entertained—by the characters and by the brisk experimentation of Silke’s writing. Oh, and one more thing: just read the damn thing already.”


—Tex Gresham, author of Heck, Texas