Naked Defiance: A Comedy of Menace

by Patrik Sampler

Naked Defiance is the story of a turn–of–the–century radical art group and its charismatic leader, written by one of its members, Florian Moore (probably a pseudonym), and which lands on the desk of novelist / editor Patrik Sampler, tasked with preparing Moore's manuscript for publication.

Unfolding as a report on an investigation into the death of the group's leader Ganbold Mirzoyan while in police custody, Naked Defiance is a mystery about a series of public performances staged by the eponymous group, and the increasingly disturbing disruptions that its own interventions become subjected to.

184 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2023

About the author

Patrik Sampler is the author of Naked Defiance (New Star Books, 2023) and The Ocean Container (Ninebark Press, 2017). His short form writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Millions, and The Scofield. Sampler was a contributing editor for the surrealist journal Peculiar Mormyrid, and devoted much of a postgraduate degree to the late-career work of Abe Kobo.

Reviews

[Merl Fluin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely impossible to review. Is it hilarious or tiresome? Pooterish or profound? Elegant or sprawling? Clever or merely glib? Is five stars a paean of praise or an admission of defeat? Should I delete it from my Kindle for all eternity, or go straight back to the beginning and read it all over again?

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Merl Fluin for the tip. Obviously I couldn't resist a novel about a performance art group out to subvert quotidian life and expectations, with relatively futile outcomes. (Given our recent debacle, it might be all we can do in the next few years.) Oddly entertaining, sometimes thoughtful but bewildering. I join the club of similar reactions.

[Patricia L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked Eleanor Canton's eco fiction Birnam Woods you will love Patrik Sampler’s Naked Defiance -A Comedy Of Menace.

Get a copy as soon as you can. It is seriously funny and funnily serious.

After reading this I think of all of my movements as 'actions.'


https://www.newstarbooks.com/book.php...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naked Defiance is a novel about a radical performance art group of the same name. The plot unfolds as a series of strange actions by the group, and there’s something almost Murakami-like about the nonplussed protagonist, who may be one of the group’s members or the author Patrik Sampler himself. Sampler is clearly influenced by the Situationists and the idea that the boundaries of daily life, our mundane reality, can be gently tested by collective action. If this sounds serious, he isn’t above littering his story with pop-culture jokes either. A special mention for the character names, such as Aileen O’Reilly and Ganbold Mirzoyan, which pop off the page.