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Pariah Genius
The latest title by literary giant Iain Sinclair follows in the footsteps of photographer John Deakin, whose chronicles of Soho life – and the world of Francis Bacon and his friends – has so influenced our perception of that generation’s work.
In this bold fictionalisation, Sinclair enters the underworld of Deakin’s life and imagination. The result is an engrossing, utterly unique portrait of a man who some felt was a fallen angel, and others, the devil himself.
In this bold fictionalisation, Sinclair enters the underworld of Deakin’s life and imagination. The result is an engrossing, utterly unique portrait of a man who some felt was a fallen angel, and others, the devil himself.
325 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 2024
3 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Iain Sinclair
120 books342 followersIain Sinclair is a British writer and film maker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.
Sinclair's education includes studies at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited Icarus, the Courtauld Institute of Art (University of London), and the London School of Film Technique (now the London Film School).
His early work was mostly poetry, much of it published by his own small press, Albion Village Press. He was (and remains) closely connected with the British avantgarde poetry scene of the 1960s and 1970s – authors such as J.H. Prynne, Douglas Oliver, Peter Ackroyd and Brian Catling are often quoted in his work and even turn up in fictionalized form as characters; later on, taking over from John Muckle, Sinclair edited the Paladin Poetry Series and, in 1996, the Picador anthology Conductors of Chaos.
His early books Lud Heat (1975) and Suicide Bridge (1979) were a mixture of essay, fiction and poetry; they were followed by White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings (1987), a novel juxtaposing the tale of a disreputable band of bookdealers on the hunt for a priceless copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and the Jack the Ripper murders (here attributed to the physician William Gull).
Sinclair was for some time perhaps best known for the novel Downriver (1991), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1992 Encore Award. It envisages the UK under the rule of the Widow, a grotesque version of Margaret Thatcher as viewed by her harshest critics, who supposedly establishes a one party state in a fifth term. The volume of essays Lights Out for the Territory gained Sinclair a wider readership by treating the material of his novels in non-fiction form. His essay 'Sorry Meniscus' (1999) ridicules the Millennium Dome. In 1997, he collaborated with Chris Petit, sculptor Steve Dilworth, and others to make The Falconer, a 56 minute semi-fictional 'documentary' film set in London and the Outer Hebrides about the British underground filmmaker Peter Whitehead. It also features Stewart Home, Kathy Acker and Howard Marks.
One of his most recent works and part of a series focused around London is the non-fiction London Orbital; the hard cover edition was published in 2002, along with a documentary film of the same name and subject. It describes a series of trips he took tracing the M25, London's outer-ring motorway, on foot. Sinclair followed this with Edge of the Orison, a psychogeographical reconstruction of the poet John Clare's walk from Dr Matthew Allen's private lunatic asylum, at Fairmead House, High Beach, in the centre of Epping Forest in Essex, to his home in Helpston, near Peterborough. Sinclair also writes about Claybury Asylum, another psychiatric hospital in Essex, in Rodinsky's Room, a collaboration with the artist Rachel Lichtenstein.
Much of Sinclair's recent work consists of an ambitious and elaborate literary recuperation of the so-called occultist psychogeography of London. Other psychogeographers who have worked on similar material include Will Self, Stewart Home and the London Psychogeographical Association. In 2008 he wrote the introduction to Wide Boys Never Work, the London Books reissue of Robert Westerby's classic London low-life novel. Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report followed in 2009.
In an interview with This Week in Science, William Gibson said that Sinclair was his favourite author.
Iain Sinclair lives in Haggerston, in the London Borough of Hackney, and has a flat in Hastings, East Sussex.
Sinclair's education includes studies at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited Icarus, the Courtauld Institute of Art (University of London), and the London School of Film Technique (now the London Film School).
His early work was mostly poetry, much of it published by his own small press, Albion Village Press. He was (and remains) closely connected with the British avantgarde poetry scene of the 1960s and 1970s – authors such as J.H. Prynne, Douglas Oliver, Peter Ackroyd and Brian Catling are often quoted in his work and even turn up in fictionalized form as characters; later on, taking over from John Muckle, Sinclair edited the Paladin Poetry Series and, in 1996, the Picador anthology Conductors of Chaos.
His early books Lud Heat (1975) and Suicide Bridge (1979) were a mixture of essay, fiction and poetry; they were followed by White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings (1987), a novel juxtaposing the tale of a disreputable band of bookdealers on the hunt for a priceless copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and the Jack the Ripper murders (here attributed to the physician William Gull).
Sinclair was for some time perhaps best known for the novel Downriver (1991), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1992 Encore Award. It envisages the UK under the rule of the Widow, a grotesque version of Margaret Thatcher as viewed by her harshest critics, who supposedly establishes a one party state in a fifth term. The volume of essays Lights Out for the Territory gained Sinclair a wider readership by treating the material of his novels in non-fiction form. His essay 'Sorry Meniscus' (1999) ridicules the Millennium Dome. In 1997, he collaborated with Chris Petit, sculptor Steve Dilworth, and others to make The Falconer, a 56 minute semi-fictional 'documentary' film set in London and the Outer Hebrides about the British underground filmmaker Peter Whitehead. It also features Stewart Home, Kathy Acker and Howard Marks.
One of his most recent works and part of a series focused around London is the non-fiction London Orbital; the hard cover edition was published in 2002, along with a documentary film of the same name and subject. It describes a series of trips he took tracing the M25, London's outer-ring motorway, on foot. Sinclair followed this with Edge of the Orison, a psychogeographical reconstruction of the poet John Clare's walk from Dr Matthew Allen's private lunatic asylum, at Fairmead House, High Beach, in the centre of Epping Forest in Essex, to his home in Helpston, near Peterborough. Sinclair also writes about Claybury Asylum, another psychiatric hospital in Essex, in Rodinsky's Room, a collaboration with the artist Rachel Lichtenstein.
Much of Sinclair's recent work consists of an ambitious and elaborate literary recuperation of the so-called occultist psychogeography of London. Other psychogeographers who have worked on similar material include Will Self, Stewart Home and the London Psychogeographical Association. In 2008 he wrote the introduction to Wide Boys Never Work, the London Books reissue of Robert Westerby's classic London low-life novel. Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report followed in 2009.
In an interview with This Week in Science, William Gibson said that Sinclair was his favourite author.
Iain Sinclair lives in Haggerston, in the London Borough of Hackney, and has a flat in Hastings, East Sussex.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 3, 2024
Iain Sinclair is a member of that cohort of writers who I'll read pretty much whatever they publish no matter how unpromising the subject matter might appear to be.
In this case he's written a "novel" (it's not really that, it's almost, but not quite non-fiction) about the photographer John Deakin. Deakin provided many images requested by Francis Bacon and used as subjects for many of his paintings.
Sinclair has selected some Deakin photos to precede each chapter and then proceeds to riff on them, gradually fleshing out either the circumstances leading to the image being taken or else much background information on the people in the photo.
In this case he's written a "novel" (it's not really that, it's almost, but not quite non-fiction) about the photographer John Deakin. Deakin provided many images requested by Francis Bacon and used as subjects for many of his paintings.
Sinclair has selected some Deakin photos to precede each chapter and then proceeds to riff on them, gradually fleshing out either the circumstances leading to the image being taken or else much background information on the people in the photo.
July 11, 2024
It is not really a biography or a work of fiction but more of an appreciation for the presence of photographer John Deakin, the image maker of Soho London, or perhaps the soul of Soho. Iain Sinclair works his magic on his old neighborhood and the Francis Bacon world. It is not only these real figures but also the novels and cinema that came of 1950s Soho. Everything connects. I think that to enjoy this book, one has to be a reader like me, who is obsessed with the imagery of Soho London and all its citizens, cinema, and literature.
Read my full review here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/tosh/p/...
Read my full review here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/tosh/p/...
June 4, 2025
Totally engrossing, totally fascinating ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
June 11, 2024
Enjoyed the device of combining partially fictionalised episodes from Deakin's life with a more straightforward narrative, which conveyed the texture and atmosphere of 60's Soho and Deakin's place in the coterie surrounding Francis Bacon more successfully for me than a more conventional account. The detailed analysis of some of the photographs added to the sense of time and place.
September 14, 2024
Fascinating glimpse into the life of Deakin, but one for the connoisseur.
May 21, 2024
I am an avid reader of all things Soho. I had never read anything by Ian Sinclair and whilst I really enjoyed his writing and turns of phrase I found this book disjointed and the combination of fact and fiction didn’t work for me. Whilst biographical writing doesn’t mean that the author has to have known the subject this seemed to be written as if he did along with all the other dramatis personae such as Dan Farson and Francis Bacon. Most of the characters from this era of Soho have gained posthumous attraction or romanticism which they almost certainly didn’t deserve and Mr Deakin was probably the least deserving of them all “a vicious little drunk of such inventive malice and implacable bitchiness that it’s surprising he didn’t choke on his own venom” . As the author concludes “ Bohemia looks back with a sentimental sniff, those were the daze”
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews