Synopsis
Catapult is the magical but true story of two men, a microscopic arts grant, and the siege weapon this volatile combination somehow produced. Bristling with idiosyncrasy, Jim and Harry are an odd couple whose story is the occasion for a sly meditation on the nature of modern masculinity. Their comic oscillations—between knowledge and innocence, for example, or science and art, each man taking his turn on the other side—amuse us even as they shed light on who and what we are. Their catapult quest is seasoned throughout by a carefully apportioned history of such devices, a reminder that where there are men there is violence. Jim Paul’s charming narration and deadpan wit light up every page, which is why critics were rapturous when it was first published in 1991.
Jim Paul’s poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere. His books include Medieval in LA, Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots, and The Old English Rune Poem, a translation with commentary. He has received Hopwood Awards in poetry and prose from the University of Michigan, a Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing from Stanford University, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He earned a doctorate in medieval English literature from the University of Michigan and taught for fifteen years on the English faculty at Hunter College. As a producer and arts administrator in New York, Paul worked with Douglas Dunn & Dancers and SummerStage and headed the House Foundation for the Arts, which represents the work of singer and composer Meredith Monk. He is executive director of the Tank Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely, Colorado.