The Jamais Vu Papers

In this fresh, experimental novel, a psychotherapist, Hector Glasco, attempts to cure Hilary, a jaded movie queen, of her ``perpetual sense of deja vu.'' Following the advice of a colleague who believes ``direct encounter with a common metaphor'' can create ``a state of jamais vu,'' Glasco slips Hilary a drug, ``the chemical equivalent of a metaphor.'' With a new outlook on life, Hilary vanishes from Glasco's office. The terrified doctor searches in poetry books for metaphoric clues to Hilary's disappearance and is catapulted into an extra-dimensional world where anything one fantasizes about becomes real--travels in time and space, dreams. Cleverly plotted and seminally integrating illustrations and text, this story introduces intriguing characters such as Llixgrijb, who symbolizes a creative force in the universe, and raises challenging questions about reality and fantasy and art. Is this book ``the creation of an insidious new art form?'' the authors ask. ``And what on earth is this new art form to be called? . . . Hoax verite, perhaps?'' The authors are a husband-and-wife team whose work has appeared in the Utne Reader and The Reality Club 2. (Feb.)