The Evolution of Inanimate Objects
The Life and Collected Works of Thomas Darwin (1857–1879)
A Novel by Harry Karlinsky
Canadian Edition, Insomniac Press
UK Edition, The Friday Project, HarperCollins UK
Synopsis
While conducting historical research at Ontario’s London Asylum, psychiatrist Harry Karlinsky encounters a familiar surname in the admission register: Thomas Darwin of Down, England. Involuntarily committed in 1879 as “dangerous to others,” this Thomas died alone, far from home. Could he have been related to Charles Darwin—and if so, how did he come to end his life in a North American asylum?
Told through a rich collage of letters, memoir excerpts, photographs, and illustrations, The Evolution of Inanimate Objects reconstructs the tragically brief life of Thomas Darwin, the last of eleven children born to Charles Darwin. From his early years at Down House and schooling, through his scholarly writings—collected here for the first time—to his final confinement, the novel unfolds as a meticulously documented literary archive.
In this subtle and inventive factitious biography, Karlinsky offers a Nabokovian parody of Darwinian theory gone awry. Through writings that are sometimes doctored, sometimes invented, the novel sustains an uneasy ambiguity: is Thomas Darwin a figure of pure invention, or a forgotten life reclaimed from the dusty registers of the London Asylum? Decisively fictional yet insistently scholarly, The Evolution of Inanimate Objects is both an intellectual game and a meditation on authorship, history, and scientific legacy.
Longlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize
Selected Reviews
Vancouver Sun
“Poignant. Erudite. Understated. It is a first novel signaling the arrival of a serious and inventive new writer.” Read review
The Globe and Mail
“A delightfully imaginative book.” Read review
Literary Review of Canada
“Karlinsky’s first novel is a great read.” Read review
Scotsman on Sunday
“More memorable than any door-stopping wodge of prose presenting itself as a diagnosis of the state of the nation.” Read review
Globe and Mail
“This jeu d’esprit has the feel of a real case study. “ Read review
Selected Praise
“The Evolution of Inanimate Objects invites us to surrender, for a few hours, the distinction between biography and fiction, reason and delusion, the organic and the contrived–and what sly fun ensues!”
Joan Thomas, author of Curiosity and Reading by Lightning
“An incredible work of the imagination. A revolutionary novel.”
Lee Henderson, author of The Man Game and The Broken Record Technique.
“Karlinsky’s retelling of Darwinian family history is ingeniously wry and original. Prepare to be moved, amused and duped when you enter this quasi Victorian World.”
Essie Fox, Author of The Somnambulist.
“Just when you think there’s nothing new to be done with the novel, along comes a book that pushes the form in a fresh direction. Harry Karlinsky’s extraordinary book slyly and playfully blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction, asking where one begins and the other ends. The Evolution of Inanimate Objects is the work of a genuinely original imagination, a complete pleasure and like no other book you have ever read.”
John Harding, author of Florence & Giles
“A radical novel that, among other things, vividly recreates Dr. R.M. Bucke, one of Canadian history’s true eccentrics.”
George Fetherling, author and editor of more than 50 books, including Walt Whitman’s Secret