The Bridge

A reissue of Banks's 1986 Kafkaesque modern classic

The man who wakes up in the extraordinary world of a bridge has amnesia, and his doctor doesn't seem to want to cure him. Does it matter? Exploring the bridge occupies most of his days. But at night there are his dreams. Dreams in which desperate men drive sealed carriages across barren mountains to a bizarre rendezvous; an illiterate barbarian storms an enchanted tower under a stream of verbal abuse; and broken men walk forever over bridges without end, taunted by visions of a doomed sexuality. Lying in bed unconscious after an accident wouldn't be much fun, most would think, but it depends who and what you've left behind. Which is the stranger reality, day or night? Frequently hilarious and consistently disturbing, this is a novel of outrageous contrasts, constructed chaos, and elegant absurdities.