The Rumphulus
by Joseph G. Peterson
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Pub Date Sep 15 2020 | Archive Date Sep 15 2020
University of Iowa Press | University Of Iowa Press
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Description
Romulus was the founder of Rome; and those tossed outside the city-gate are not Romulus’s children but the cast-offs living in hovels, the Rumphulus. However, this isn’t ancient Rome, but rather the nature preserve of a contemporary American suburb. The outcasts don’t understand why they’ve been relegated to the
woods. Nor do they know if they will ever summon the courage to cross the roads that act as a physical and psychological barrier to their reentry into conventional society. Daily they negotiate the harsh conditions of the wild and the dangerous presence of one another while they contemplate their exiles. That is until society
comes for one of them.
The Rumphulus have grown their beards long, and when they can no longer stand life they howl like wolves; only they are not wolves but the stranded city outcasts who howl in pain.
Advance Praise
Previous praise for Joesph G. Peterson's novels:
“One of the Windy City’s best-kept secrets.”—Kirkus Reviews
"For me, Joe Peterson’s voice is a fresh pair of feet on the very dusty road of contemporary American literature.”—Dan Fante, author, Fante: A Family’s Legacy of Writing, Drinking, and Surviving
“It’s the eye for detail that makes Peterson’s story, set during a Chicago heat wave, burn more brightly than other attempts at modern noir. . . . Reminiscent of both Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. . . . A great read.”—Chicago Sun-Times
“A quite outstanding piece of writing. . . . It is a tribute to Peterson’s considerable skills as a writer that he is able to weave important philosophical themes into a gripping piece of prose.”—Stephen Grant, author, Spanish Light
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781609387303 |
| PRICE | $15.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 104 |
Links
Featured Reviews
Words, Images, & Worlds (, Reviewer
Erudite without being elusive. Humorous without being over-the-top. Always literary, always enjoyable. I greatly enjoyed this satiric and smart book. Highly recommended!
Lark !, Reviewer
Reading The Rumphulus is like falling into a river, and on the way downstream you find yourself sometimes meandering along, and at other times pulled forward by a slipstream, and at still other times caught in a repeating whirlpool of language and scene. The prose is repetitive, almost incantatory. Reading The Rumphulus was a singular experience, but if I were to place it in literary context I'd say the novel has a stream-of-consciousness feeling the reminded me of Gertrude Stein, plus an intellectual and formal structure reminiscent of Steven Dixon, plus a bleak fatalism that reminds me of Kafka. Thematically the novel is about men who have completely lost their usefulness in society, and know that about themselves...and honestly I found this aspect of the novel extremely refreshing, as I can't recall reading another novel by a man where men were so completely put in their place. Thanks you Joseph G. Peterson and University of Iowa Press for the opportunity to read this unique novel.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
David F. Walker; Marcus Kwame Anderson
Comics, Graphic Novels, Manga, General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction
