Theory of War
Theory of War won the Costa/Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Prix de Meilleur Livre Étranger
‘A modern work of genius . . . one of the most remarkable and accomplished fictions to come from these islands’ Spectator
‘Triumphant, shattering . . . passionate’ Mail on Sunday
‘Stunning . . . scorching . . . lyrical and bloody’ Observer
‘As vivid as anything in Jack London; the spare and illusion-stripped language of the book lifts it above any search for meaning until we can apprehend human life for what it is – an ecstasy made up of beauty, pain, cruelty and splendour’ Sunday Times
‘Gripping . . . harrowing . . . told with exceptional skill . . . a comment on notions of freedom everywhere’ Independent on Sunday
‘A measured and precise tautness within a stunning literary dynamic’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Enormously impressive . . . you’ll never forget it’ Guardian
Joan Brady was born in California and danced with the New York City Ballet in her early twenties. She is the author of Theory of War, winner of the Costa/Whitbread Book of the Year Award, Death Comes for Peter Pan, longlisted for the Orange Prize, an autobiography, The Unmaking of a Dancer, and the novels, The Émigré, Bleedout and Venom. She lives in Oxford.
First published in Great Britain by Andre Deutsch, 1993
First published as an ebook by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2012
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Copyright © Joan Brady
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
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® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Ebook ISBN 978-1-84983-526-8
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
For Alexander Brady
and his children
and his children’s children
Contents
ONE
Tuesday
RECONNAISSANCE
TWO
Wednesday morning
REVOLUTION
THREE
Wednesday noon
DÉTENTE
FOUR
Wednesday afternoon and evening
REARMAMENT
FIVE
Thursday
WAR
| [Disability is] an allegory of all life in society. – Robert F. Murphy, The Body Silent Same thing’s true of slavery, of course, but with slavery the metaphor’s so much a part of the language, nobody pays attention to it anymore. – Nathaniel Carrick, MD (taped interview) |
ONE
Tuesday
RECONNAISSANCE
1
How stupid the young are. When I was twenty-two I enrolled in philosophy at Columbia University. I wanted to find truth. I hired helpers to wheel me to it. My professors said, ‘Truth exists. It’s real and absolute. But the only place it has any meaning is in questions like “Is it going to rain tomorrow?” Wait until tomorrow and see. Then – hey, presto – you’ve got the truth.’ Well, what the hell good is that to me? I live down here, deep down in this wheelchair. I need more.