Introduction

The Morels--Arthur, Penny, and Will--are a happy family of three living in New York City. So why would Arthur choose to publish a book that brutally rips his tightly knit family unit apart at the seams? Arthur's old schoolmate Chris, who narrates the book, is fascinated with this very question as he becomes accidentally reacquainted with Arthur. A single, aspiring filmmaker who works in a movie theater, Chris envies everything Arthur has, from his beautiful wife to his charming son to his seemingly effortless creativity. But things are not always what they seem. The Morels takes a unique look at the power of art--literature, music and film in particular--and challenges us as readers to think about some fascinating questions to which there are no easy answers. Where is the line between art and obscenity, between truth and fiction, between revolutionary thinking and brainless shock value, between craftsmanship and commerce? Is it possible to escape the past? Can you save your family by destroying it?

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Excerpt

—one—

ARTHOUSE

The editor I was to fire worked out of his one bedroom in Herald Square. He’d been the lowest bidder on our project, by far, his single stipulation that we meet him no more than once a week and he be allowed the other six to work undisturbed, a stipulation we’d had to accept—he was the only editor we could afford—until an old classmate of the director’s volunteered to cut the film for free. The director told me about it that morning over eggs and coffee at the Galaxy Diner. The inconvenience of starting over, he explained, would be minor compared to the inconvenience of filing for Chapter Eleven. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1) Was Arthur's novel beyond reproach? What separates the sacred and the profane in art? Does the end of fundamentally altering the perception of the viewer justify any means?

2) What role does Penny and the narrator’s relationship play in this story? Is her emotional infidelity justified by Arthur’s victimization of their family in pursuit of artistic ideals?

3) How does the revelation of the narrator/writer’s identity alter the way The Morels is read? Does the story become more “real” or more fictional as a result?

Weblinks

»	Author Christopher Hacker's web site
»	Publisher's Book Info

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