Feb 20
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Benjamin Comments: The French translation of, “The Destruction of the Temple.” Barry N. Malzberg’s deconstruction of the JFK assassination through the kaleidoscope of SF and worthy Good Show Sir contender!
Published 1974
You might remember this from here.
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Tagged with: Barry N. Malzberg • blood • cross • crucifix • dude • fire • flag • French • I'm melting! • J'ai Lu books • metropolitan apocalypse • muscles • my head aplode • neo-jesus • once you see it • Philip Caza • political figure • scrolls • USA! USA! • weird pecs
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(9.27 out of 10)
(9.21 out of 10)
February 20th, 2014 at 9:56 am
What impresses me most is how Malzberg resembles Salvador Dali on the back cover.
I dunno… the cover is lurid, but striking. It has something to say (in a Surrealist way). And it’s original as hell. The fonts suck, though.
And that “J’ai Lu” logo in the top corner makes you think of crackers…
February 20th, 2014 at 10:32 am
It’s OK, Mr President, we’re just going to nail you to the cross. Don’t worry about that man with the rifle – or stair rods – in the School Book Depository, nor that other vague figure on the grassy knoll. They couldn’t possibly hit you at this dist-
February 20th, 2014 at 10:43 am
The destruction of good taste as well. At least Jesus F. Kennedy was working out before he was crucified, it’s all about the image, right?
February 20th, 2014 at 11:38 am
Too soon!
February 20th, 2014 at 12:01 pm
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and his only begotten son’s coif, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting riblets.
February 20th, 2014 at 12:48 pm
But the cover IS in good taste! It doesn’t show JFK’s real, pot-bellied, arthritic body.
February 20th, 2014 at 1:15 pm
So, let me get this straight.
Dr. Frankenstein created a monster from the re-animated corpse of John F. Kennedy, then this daring duo time-travelled back to the time of Christ. Having performed his waking the dead trick one too many times, things got a bit hot so he framed the monster. Monster got crucified, monster rose from the dead.
After this occurrence both the monster and the Evil Dr. Frankenstein were forced, as penance, to wander the earth and tell their tale to all who would listen.
“He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us
He made and loveth all.”
One such enlightened wedding guest was Barry N. Marlzeburg (it may have been a bah mitzvah), who thankfully recorded the tale.
Incidentally, despite the clocks melting all around him, Monster JFK became president again which seriously messed with his timeline and assured his death remained unsolved. he also became Monster Jesus again, followed eventually by President(again) and so on and so forth until there were so many many versions of Jesus and Christianity and the grassy knoll was overcrowded with hundreds of snipers desperately pretending not to notice each other.
February 20th, 2014 at 2:24 pm
Honestly, I prefer Ripped Kennedy Jesus to the Peptobismal-slathered monstrosity of the English-language cover:
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2013/02/the-destruction-of-the-temple/
February 20th, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Holy nipples on your bat-suit, Batman!! It’s Ron Jeremy!
February 20th, 2014 at 9:35 pm
I thought from the title this would be an exposé of the Grassy Knoll shooter (talk about bad taste—sorry).
February 20th, 2014 at 9:45 pm
the author stole kennedy’s eyebrows in an unholy ceremony and added them to his own. behold the fiercesome conspiratorious monobrow maximus and know true despair.
August 27th, 2015 at 3:05 am
So it’s either JFK As Jesus, or Abstract Still Life With Joker Heads Against Pink.
I honestly can’t say I prefer either.
October 10th, 2015 at 1:58 pm
@Bibliomancer: Jesus Fucking Krist, I know Too Soon and he’s neither of them.
Umm.. why isn’t there any blood on his hair?
December 24th, 2015 at 10:56 pm
RE: Barry’s resemblance to Ron Jeremy: Malzberg wrote smutty books of the non-sf kind.
March 30th, 2018 at 1:51 pm
Is that you Thomas Friedman?
March 30th, 2018 at 2:01 pm
I’m going to pretend some poor bastard had to compare the text of every single copy to the original and then hand stamp TEXTE INTEGRAL on the back cover.
March 30th, 2018 at 2:04 pm
Hairy N. Malzberg?
March 30th, 2018 at 5:55 pm
So JFK was a Lemurian?
That should have disqualified him from running.
March 30th, 2018 at 6:08 pm
@Tor—It almost did. Remember when he had to give that speech pledging his loyalty would be to the Constitution, not the Lemurian Patriarch?
March 30th, 2018 at 8:39 pm
Other than the riblets all over Jesus Fitzgerald Kennedy, this is a whole lot better than the original. Which I wouldn’t expect from J’ai Lu. Maybe the torso looked more natural originally and le artiste M. Caza was told to make it uglier so as not to give a better impression than the original. Or not to look better than the author photo on the back.
I’d forgotten or repressed the memory of that Pepto paperback till I clicked on the link. The Lupoff quote that introduced it is a proto-GSS comment.
There’s a later fairly bad cover:
https://www.amazon.ca/Destruction-Temple-Barry-N-Malzberg/dp/0450024156
I see Barry’s novels have been on here many a time, getting high ratings. Thank goodness in maturity, he got a better author photo:
http://locusmag.com/2010/10/barry-n-malzberg-a-measure-of-peace/
March 31st, 2018 at 12:29 am
@B. Chiclitz in 19: GSS!
April 1st, 2018 at 4:51 am
I imagine that, out of frame, Barry sits astride a mighty unicorn steed.
April 3rd, 2018 at 1:48 am
@JuanPaul: Bareback, from Barry’s expression.