Fiction: ‘Major Arcana' by John Pistelli

Wall Street Journal

23-04-2025

The serial novel has not had a significant role in American publishing for nearly a century, but lately there have been stirrings of a revival. Creative artists, along with journalists and pundits, have begun to migrate to subscription-based media platforms, most notably Substack. One writer testing the possibilities of the movement is John Pistelli, a literature instructor and critic who, beginning in 2023, serialized his novel 'Major Arcana' on his Substack, 'Grand Hotel Abyss.' The book attracted the attention of the small press Belt Publishing, which has released it in a more traditional format.
Fittingly, 'Major Arcana' is a saga of social and artistic subversion, specifically focused on the world of comic books (which is additionally apt, since comics are one of the few venues where serialization persists). The novel chronicles the life of a provocateur named Simon Magnus, who in his 20s became famous for violent and nihilistic recastings of popular superhero franchises. Later in life, retired from comics but still the object of a cult following, Simon makes waves as a university professor by advocating for 'the abolition of the pronoun,' sowing chaos in gender theory and language just as he had disrupted the graphic arts.
The book opens with the public suicide of a student who may have been influenced by Simon's work and teachings. But the bulk of the novel is narrated in somewhat exposition-heavy flashbacks to Simon's imaginative heyday creating depraved storylines for Batman and Superman (to sidestep intellectual-property issues, Mr. Pistelli calls these characters Ratman and Overman). As the likeness of his name to the biblical sorcerer Simon Magus foretells, Simon Magnus infuses his work with 'secrets of occult perception.' He consults a tarot deck to assemble his fractured narratives. He claims Faustian creative prerogatives: 'To make art at all is to set yourself outside life, above life, superior to life, against life.'
Mr. Pistelli explores the consequences of such hubris, but his real interest lies in the daring and ambition of myth-making. 'Major Arcana' has the characteristics of a superhero—or, rather, antihero—epic. It's grandiose and declamatory, as well as bloated and pretentious. The author favors in-your-face stylistic affects, the most inescapable being the decision to honor Simon's rejection of pronouns whenever he's the subject of the text, leading to such indigestible sentences as, ''I am here to lend moral support,' Simon Magnus said the day Simon Magnus arrived with Simon Magnus's bags and boxes.'