cover image THE SECRET LIFE OF PUPPETS

THE SECRET LIFE OF PUPPETS

Victoria Nelson, . . Harvard Univ., $29.95 (350pp) ISBN 978-0-674-00630-0

Nelson's study of the divergence of religion and science and the evolution of puppets and images in popular culture (among many other things) lives up to its stated intention: to examine the "premodern assumptions" that still underpin the supposedly rational and scientific ways we view reality. To this end, Nelson (My Time in Hawaii) amasses a large, but by no means unwieldy, arsenal of historical nuggets and literary references. She begins by tracing the ancient notion of the underworld (this world of immorality was associated with the form of fantastic art called "grotesque," which originated from the word "grotto," or cave). Nelson then plots an illuminating journey through a carnival funhouse. In the chapter titled "The Strange History of the American Fantastic," she describes how the golems of Judaic legend evolved into Frankenstein and the androids of modern science-fiction cinema, and how the search for Gnostic truth was lost in the Enlightenment, leaving modern society mostly unprepared to understand anything spiritual. It's possible that Nelson spends too much time on Bruno Schulz and Kafka, but she more than makes up for it with a brilliant psychological analysis of H.P. Lovecraft and a discussion of genre fiction's critical importance. Only toward the book's end does Nelson deal with actual puppets, but it's an impressive chapter nonetheless, drawing a straight line from the stories of Pinocchio to Robocop. Unlike many similar, wide-ranging culture studies, Nelson's book arrives with no agenda, blaming no one; instead, she offers a learned, exciting ride through a phantasmagoric landscape filled with dark mysteries. (Jan. 29)