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The Priest A Gothic Romance Thomas M Disch Books

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The Priest A Gothic Romance Thomas M Disch Books

While the cover of The Priest proclaims the book to be "A Gothic Romance", take my word for it that it is in reality far from that. It is a tale of very taboo subjects, such as gays in the Priesthood, abortion rights, and Catholic doctrine. If you are easily offended, back slowly away from this book and leave the room.

Rest assured, Disch actually attacks none of these subjects, simply offers up a well-written piece of fiction with many muses intertwined with the tale. Remember that it is a piece of fiction.

Father Patrick Bryce is not a good man, having already been chastised by the Church for being caught abusing a young boy. Father Bryce is a pedophile, and an unrepentant one, though he is back at work in Saint Bernardine church along with Father Cogling, a strictly old-fashioned Priest with an unkind heart.

Above all, the church wants no scandals, and so when a man named Clay shows up with evidence of Father Bryce's sins, he submits to the blackmail rather than fight it. But Clay doesn't want money, he wants Bryce to get a tattoo of the devil on his chest, and read a book called A Prolegomenon To Receptivist Science by cult leader A.D. Boscage, while Bishop Massey expects him to lead the controversial anti-abortion rallies for the sake of the Church.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Silvanus de Roquefort, the Bishop of Rodez in the small village of Montpellier-le-Vieux, back in the middle ages, around the thirteenth century. Silvanus is a vain man, and devoted to the Church only insomuch as it benefits his station and well being.

When Patrick and Silvanus begin to switch mind and body, in a process the cult leader Boscage calls "Transmentation", things really start to fly loose and fall apart.

There are many other interesting characters interwoven into the plot, like Gerherdt Ober and his sister Hedwig, religious fanatics who run the Birth-Right Center where girls are locked in cells and forced to bear their children. Bing Anker, a former victim of Father Bryce who stirs his friend Father Mabbley into action, and a young girl named Alison who gets caught up in the storm brewing at Birth-Right.

The Priest is a complex novel, full of sin and degradation and mysticism, but what's waiting for you in the end is a plot twist of rare and satisfying dimensions, tucked neatly into a action packed race against time and some brutal revelations. If you have read Disch before, you'll love The Priest. If you haven't, you may want to start with a tamer piece like 334 or The Genocides. Enjoy!


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The Priest A Gothic Romance Thomas M Disch Books Reviews

Hard to believe that this man wrote the little toaster books. But if you've read some of his other works, like THE M.D. and THE BUSINESSMAN, then THE PRIEST won't surprise you.

The novel focuses on one Father Pat Bryce, a pedophile, who even after completing a rehab program, still has the desires he was trying to come to terms with. Only now, Father Pat has more problems a former victim is blackmailing him, wanting him to confront all of his victims and apologize; another former tryst makes him read the ramblings of an off the wall author and get a strange tattoo; and his own bishop is blackmailing him to become the advocate for a Birth-Right program which imprisons unwed mothers and prevent them from aborting their child. Add to this, a strange dream (?) in which Father Pat is a thirteenth century bishop during the period of the Inquisition.

Credit Disch for some unusual dialogue and situations, but overall the novel spirals into some kind of psychobabblish nonsense, and Disch ties everything up without a clear explanation for what we've read. Disch paints a pretty dismal picture of the Catholic Church; and it's all black and white, the only grey coming in the form of one priest, Father Mab, who seems to be okay, but even he leaves the priesthood by the end of the novel. The turnaround of Greg Romero, one of the young girl's boyfriends, also seems out of context with what we've learned previously about him.

Although imaginative and ultimately an entertaining read, one has to accept Disch's rantings about the Catholic faith and view this "Gothic romance" for what it is --- a horror novel.
Disch is one of the best writers I've ever read, period. He's witty, sharp and vivid, and has a flow that never feels monotonous. He also manages to weave a fairly complex structure in a way that hangs together well and keeps a sustained narrative that doesn't feel patched together- the transitions work well where I feel they might not in the hands of a lesser writer.

Also, I think his humor balances the horror well, and being both raised Catholic and a native Minnesotan, I really appreciated all the references. And I do think it's fair to paint the Catholic Church darkly; the Inquisition/hallucination scenes are especially pointed. They may be surreal but they do have a sort of truth to them, when one considers the history of torture there. And I did really enjoy the revenge angle quite a bit!

There are a few creepy passages that may not be for squeamish folks (I'm pretty squeamish) but it doesn't feel like mindless, violent backbrain stimulus. I think he's trying to trace the history of a pathology, in a sense.

Anyhow, I think this is the best I've read from him (although I haven't read his very earlier work)-- such as The MD & The Businessman.
In Disch's book, The Priest, an anti-abortion child molesting Roman Catholic priest is blackmailed into having a large image of the devil tatooed on his chest. As he lays back in the tatoo artist's chair, he changes personalities with a 10th century homicidal maniac Roman Catholic priest. The 10th century priest thinks that he has died and that the two nude tatoo artists are devils torturing him in hell. The story gets more and more crazy from that point on. Anger toward the anti-abortion movement with the Roman Catholic church seems to be the motivating factor behind this book, but I found that the book was full of odd-ball humor and dark dry wit. If you are a Roman Catholic, you will probably find this book very offensive. This is a shame because Disch actually writes very skillfully. I think he is underestimated as a writer. Underneath all the anger is thoughtful social commentary, bitter irony, and masterful use of the English language.
While the cover of The Priest proclaims the book to be "A Gothic Romance", take my word for it that it is in reality far from that. It is a tale of very taboo subjects, such as gays in the Priesthood, abortion rights, and Catholic doctrine. If you are easily offended, back slowly away from this book and leave the room.

Rest assured, Disch actually attacks none of these subjects, simply offers up a well-written piece of fiction with many muses intertwined with the tale. Remember that it is a piece of fiction.

Father Patrick Bryce is not a good man, having already been chastised by the Church for being caught abusing a young boy. Father Bryce is a pedophile, and an unrepentant one, though he is back at work in Saint Bernardine church along with Father Cogling, a strictly old-fashioned Priest with an unkind heart.

Above all, the church wants no scandals, and so when a man named Clay shows up with evidence of Father Bryce's sins, he submits to the blackmail rather than fight it. But Clay doesn't want money, he wants Bryce to get a tattoo of the devil on his chest, and read a book called A Prolegomenon To Receptivist Science by cult leader A.D. Boscage, while Bishop Massey expects him to lead the controversial anti-abortion rallies for the sake of the Church.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Silvanus de Roquefort, the Bishop of Rodez in the small village of Montpellier-le-Vieux, back in the middle ages, around the thirteenth century. Silvanus is a vain man, and devoted to the Church only insomuch as it benefits his station and well being.

When Patrick and Silvanus begin to switch mind and body, in a process the cult leader Boscage calls "Transmentation", things really start to fly loose and fall apart.

There are many other interesting characters interwoven into the plot, like Gerherdt Ober and his sister Hedwig, religious fanatics who run the Birth-Right Center where girls are locked in cells and forced to bear their children. Bing Anker, a former victim of Father Bryce who stirs his friend Father Mabbley into action, and a young girl named Alison who gets caught up in the storm brewing at Birth-Right.

The Priest is a complex novel, full of sin and degradation and mysticism, but what's waiting for you in the end is a plot twist of rare and satisfying dimensions, tucked neatly into a action packed race against time and some brutal revelations. If you have read Disch before, you'll love The Priest. If you haven't, you may want to start with a tamer piece like 334 or The Genocides. Enjoy!