John Keillor

Music Without God John Keillor

Music Without God: Inside the Critic, explores the author's soul. It's part musical memoir, part philosophical dialogue and part fiction, constructed as a mirrored diptych.

In the first half, musical memoirs are paired with individual reactions from two earlier incarnations of the author, who bicker about each story's meaning. In the second half, those same earlier incarnations challenge him to write an original story, arguing the direction of the narrative, each trying to shape it.

Though experimental in construction, the prose is straightforward. In the story sections are prominent characters who will appear in Stalin Gorilla, to which this is a prequel.