The Toy Collector
Encyclopedia
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by James Gunn, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2000. It is the story of a hospital orderly who steals drugs from the hospital which he sells to help keep his toy collection habit alive.
Although the work is fictional, the name of the protagonist is James Gunn, and Gunn admits many of the situations in the novel are from his actual life. While admitting that the majority of the novel's events are not strictly factual, Gunn maintains that the book is "true." It is "honest," he says, implying that stories that don't correspond to actual events are capable of achieving a truth just as valid than an assertion of objective fact.
The novel flashes back and forth between the character Gunn's drug-addled, sexually abusive adult life, and his life among his childhood friends. Furthermore, we see the lives of Gunn's childhood toys—from Rom, Spaceknight to the Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price is a company that produces toys for infants and children, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. Fisher-Price has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel since 1993.-History:...
Little People
Little People
Little People is a toy brand for preschoolers, originally produced by Fisher-Price in the 1960s as the Play Family. The current product line consists of playsets, mini-sets and accessories, books, CDs, and DVDs focusing on various configurations of five characters named Eddie, Sarah Lynn, Maggie,...
, who seem to have lives and thoughts of their own outside Gunn's world. This mix of fact and fiction and reality and fantasy makes the novel popular among many who like postmodern fiction
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
. Because of the black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
of the book, and the extreme, graphic situations it presents, and the small group of devotees who sing its praises, it is a cult novel
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
popular among those who enjoy transgressional fiction.
Though Gunn started as a novelist, he became much more successful as a screenwriter of films like 2004's Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)
Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 horror film directed by Zack Snyder in his directorial debut. It is a remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name and stars Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Jake Weber. The film depict a handful of human survivors living in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin shopping mall...
and the writer-director of Slither. Although Gunn works in the film industry he has turned down numerous offers for the film rights of the novel, stating that he's uncomfortable with it becoming something other than a book.
Editions
- ISBN 1-58234-081-1 (hardcoverHardcoverA hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
, 2000) - ISBN 1-58234-149-4 (paperbackPaperbackPaperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
, 2001) - ISBN 3-442-45221-X (German edition, 2004)
External links
- JamesGunn.com - James Gunn's Official Site