The Hanged Man

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By (author): Don Bapst

When an art history student begins uncovering the origins of the earliest known Tarot deck, he finds himself on a terrifying journey which takes him from the safety of the museums and libraries of pre-9/11 New York to the most hidden reaches of West Africa, where a mystery as dark and ancient as the cards themselves awaits his discovery.

AUTHOR

Don Bapst

Born in Chicago, Don Bapst has lived in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Ouagadougou, Montreal, Toronto, and Los Angeles. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College, where he studied with Allen Ginsberg, and his work has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including Exquisite Corpse, The Columbia Poetry Review, Evergreen Chronicles and blue magazine. A French translation of his novel danger@liaisons.com was published in 2010 (Editions Popfiction), and he has translated two novels and a collection of short stories into English from the French, including Gabrielle Wittkop’s Necrophiliac. His theatrical work has been staged in Chicago, New York, Montreal and Toronto. Also a filmmaker, Bapst’s short films have been screened in Toronto, Montreal, and Cannes.

Reviews

Sometimes, there’s a fine line between strongly held belief and irrational obsession. The Hanged Man, by Don Bapst, is a novel about mad obsession and mysterious forces. It takes as its starting point the origins and perceived power of tarot cards. The main character, Glen Harrison, is a student of art history with an interest in the tarot. In particular, he’s fascinated by the cards of the famed Visconti-Sforza deck, a spectacular set of art objects, lavishly decorated trifles for members of the Italian nobility. Dating from the mid-15th century, most of the remaining cards are now held in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City. The book is illustrated with cards from the Visconti-Sforza deck introducing each chapter, complete with readings based on the cards. Throughout the novel, Harrison increasingly finds himself in strange and stranger situations. In this intriguing and tense novel, though, much of that strangeness is Harrison’s own creation.