‘A prose both spare and lush, a commendable tension about the enterprise’.
Will Self
‘Medina’s oeuvre mistranslates that of Borges. It is Borges’s notion of mistranslation at work throughout. In the mode of Angela Carter and all those fantastic girls dallying in their bloody chambers. the trim metaphysical gestures and summarised plots contained in Medina’s work re-render the marvelousness of fairy stories. The luminescent Marina Warner would feel most at home here.’
Richard Marshall, 3:AM Magazine
‘The wisdom of Philosophical Toys should be graced.‘ Ambit
‘Susana Medina’s teasing tale leads us into a labyrinth of interlinked questions, an echo-chamber of deceptive answers. Rather like the fetishism that is its guiding thread, the novel operates an endless deferral of meaning through a series of bewitching substitutes. The quest to understand the possibly shoe-centred relationship of her parents plunges the narrator into adventures, encounters and reflections – in both senses – that encompass ghost-writing and forgery, orthopedics and vagina dentata, Buñuel and Freud, amid visits to nursing homes, the art world, S&M clubs and toyshops.
Like her narrator, Medina is a Spaniard in London whose rich yet unfathomably offbeat language voices a mix of satire, comedy and philosophy propelled by a disarmingly down-to-earth plot involving bedsits and money worries. This is ultimately a story about tenderness, for both people and the objects they live through; a novel of ideas rooted in the senses, glittering, strange and humane.’
Lorna Scott Fox
‘A tremendously restless vision which relentlessly traverses genres and styles.’
Ruben H & Monica Bergos, 3:AM Magazine
‘Her personal profile reveals a writer but most of all a writing. A singular writing, a unique voice that leads us through a labyrinth that is dark and yet under a luminous sky: the expressive naturalness, the narrative will, the humour, an audacity that rejects experimentalism and an erudite undertone that rejects pretension, all give clarity to her prose.’
Juan Antonio Masoliver Ródenas, La Vanguardia
‘A cult and thoroughbred writer.‘ Marisol Laviño, Proscritos
... Oh, so pleased to find that Philosophical Toys was chosen in Best Books 2015: Top Ten Reads,
by two different editors at
The Top Ten Reads 2015 chosen by bilingual writer Fernando Sdrigotti, undoubtedly a voice to watch out, include two favourite books of mine Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag and Imaginary Cities by Darran Anderson
A witty, funny, and sensual novel, with an unlikely balance of fetishism and philosophical rumination. Medina is one of the most remarkable contemporary writers in London. Fernando Sdrigotti
The Top Ten Reads 2015 chosen by the wunderbar Joanna Walsh include many fascinating women writers ... please read them in no particular order ... Joanna Walsh, author of Vertigo (really looking forward to reading it) also wrote one of the first reviews, an excellent one:
Exuberant, intelligent, touching, intimate and playful, Philosophical Toys is a joyful invitation to us, to love all the things
that we are … The National
Philosophical Toys remains taut, luminous, hallucinatory throughout […] Gorgeous like Ballard’s best stories are, Medina has written a novel of perverse delight but with a narcotic tenderness that heroically betrays its stiletto depravities, decidedly going along different aberrant transits than Ballard.
Richard Marshall 3:AM Magazine (Richard Marshall dreams up witty, conceptual collages!!)
Medina’s novel confidently defies categorization, and, for the most part, skilfully navigates this jostling melee of elements. Rosie Clark, a mysterious lovely critic I’d love to meet one day ... Public Books
Beautiful, oh so beautiful … long meditation on Philosophical Toys, by mesmerising philosopher Tomeo Hill,
a critic I’m also looking forward to meeting
This piece is very special … It is new now magic with added extra triple magic:
Serendipity, the V & A Museum and Philosophical Toys, The European Literature Network
Powerful and mysterious, this novel's headiness might seem daunting, but readers who take a patient approach will find a deeply rewarding and often haunting narrative emerge
‘Writing in English was an Oulipo-like experiment ...‘ This is my piece on process & research on Necessary Fiction, an interesting and very necessary initiative dreamt up by American writer Steve Himmer
Philosophical Toys championed on
Outstanding 3:AM Magazine
Goodreads (5 star) A fantastically refreshing and thought-provoking read - Medina sets herself the task of deciphering the somewhat alarmingly colourful and invasive world of post-industrial materialism, whilst ultimately affirming the importance of human love and love. Both playful and profound, Medina's novel is the best thing I have read in 2015! Beatriz Santos
The best thing to do is just stick your head in this book and go with its kaleidoscopic effects. A literary trip for sure but one that contains all of its own reference books. One of my reads of 2015 and highly recommended as a true genre-smasher Multiple Galerie
FOR MULTIMEDIA EVENTS, the novel has three off-springs:
Audio-visual in progress by award-winning photographer
& the short films ‘Leather-bound Stories’
Dir. Susana Medina & Derek Ogbourne, 26 mins
& Buñuel's Philosophical Toys, 24 mins.
PHILOSOPHICAL TOYS LAUNCH + LEATHER-BOUND STORIES SCREENING, Friday 17th July 7.30, THE FUNCTION ROOM. It’s a really interesting venue in King’s Cross, at the top of The Cock Tavern, run by Anthony Auerbach. The event was introduced by multilingual critic Lorna Scott-Fox, a good friend, and Joanna Walsh … both wanted to read an excerpt from ‘The Penis Nightmare.’ It was a truly lovely soiree ... nicely chaotic. It was the last day of ‘History of Painting Revisited and Friends’, a fascinating exhibition at The Function Room by Katrin Plavčak. I brought forward the launch just to be accompanied by the wonderful painting in the background: Is She a Lady? The painting features some of my favourite female artists and writers in a friendly, carefree manner: Hannah Höch (1889–1978), Mary Shelley (1797–1851), Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979), Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889–1943), Mary Moser (1744–1819), Anni Albers (1889–1994), Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), Maria Lassnig (1919–2014), Nina Hamnett (1890–1956) and Laura Knight (1877–1970) at the bar of The Cock Tavern in Somers Town, Mary Wollstonecraft’s local.… I was so excited to suddenly see friends & earthlings (after being trapped in the flat caring after my mum for aeons …) … we kind of forgot about laying out books to sell … busy with the cava and sushi .. books we sold though …
Toys (Are Us), The Crypt Gallery, St Pancreas, London, curated by Kosha Hussain with Chloé Dall'Olio. Susana Medina reading Philosophical Toys ... excerpt:
'The Ubiquitous Lullaby.' Opening night: 19 November 2015
A pretty comprehensive talk about Philosophical Toys, introduced by Laurence Foe at The Paddington Library. We were asked not to film the audience ... Laurence Foe wrote a piece about the event
Reading at Puppet Planet, a magical toy shop in London, run by magician
Lesley Butler who did this short video with her phone.
Reading: 'Berlin Wall' excerpt. Podcast of whole reading soon to be posted
Draft chapters ... I put here before I finished the novel ... ...
For translation & film rights, please contact
award-winning
Nicole Witt, The Literary Agency Mertin ...
buy them, and then,
proceed ... to buy the whole catalogue!!
These lovely pictures were taken by multi-disciplinary and multi-wonderful artist DEREK OGBOURNE. Just having fun at home, with the kittens ... We did a lot of Philosophical Toys + kittens silly promotional material (to be released!). Derek’s MUSEUM OF OPTOGRAPHY is one of the most fascinating installations you’re ever likely to come across. It’s like a Borgesian detective novel. In its larger format, it takes up 1000 m2 ... Derek and I have been together for 27 years! Most of my projects are documented by him. We tend to help each other with all our projects ...
