Prism and Graded Monotony

Prism and Graded Monotony is the earlier of Dominic Ward's two JEF novels, and the more associative. The publisher's own description calls it a plurality of threads in which death and survival are the sum and myriad weird parts comprise it. The pacing reads more like a prose poem than like a plot: associative, fragmentary, shaped by recurrence rather than arc.

Its logic is the logic of a dream rather than a plot. Recurring images shift register without explanation, sex sits next to death in adjacent sentences, and the narrative refuses to settle into a single line.

Ward's other JEF novel, The Hunter, is built on a similar set of preoccupations from a steadier narrative footing; readers new to Ward sometimes find that one the easier first step, and return to this slimmer, earlier piece for the version of the same questions held in their least resolved form.