THE DISMAL SCIENCE

"Quietly wrenching, sharply drawn and completely un-put-downable. With The Dismal Science, Peter Mountford asserts himself as our generation's most significant business-world ombudsman, a deft and unflinching exponent of the human side of a polarizing world few of us actually understand." - Tea Obreht, author of The Tiger's Wife THE DISMAL SCIENCE, the new novel by Peter Mountford, author of the highly acclaimed debut novel, A Young Man's Guide To Late Capitalism, which won the 2012 Washington State Book Award in Fiction. THE DISMAL SCIENCE, which will be published by Tin House Books in 2014, tells the story of Vincenzo D'Orsi, a middle-aged vice-president at the World Bank who publicly quits his job -- causing a scandal -- over a seemingly minor argument with a colleague. After abandoning his career, Vincenzo, a recent widower, struggles to rebuild his identity. But just when he seems to be righting his course, he once again abruptly and inexplicably sabotages himself. And that's when the unusual nature of his strategy begins to become clear. Although the central drama is political (international aid to Bolivia is a major plot element, and Paul Wolfowitz is an active character in early part of the story) the book is ultimately a meditation on the fragile nature of identity: the terrifying speed with which a person's sense of self can be annihilated. The book also explores the limits of rationality in human existence. It is at once a study of a character attempting to apply his rationality to the muddle of life, and a book about how that same ostensible “reason,” and the mathematics of finance in particular, operates (with similarly dubious results) in our world. Highly relevant, wouldn't you say? David Shields writes: "Peter Mountford's elegantly written second novel, The Dismal Science, an advance on his superb first novel, is an extremely impressive imagining by a relatively young writer into a relatively old man's life. It also is a brilliant extrapolation of the economist's "dismal science" into a metaphor for the difficult fate of any living, breathing, dying human being.” In the last year, Peter's work on THE DISMAL SCIENCE has won grants from 4Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, and The Elizabeth George Foundation. The Corporation of Yaddo awarded him their 2010 Wallace Fellowship for a Distinguished Writer so that he could work on the book. "The Dismal Science is exuberant art, a deep, moving comedy about grief, guilt and the heart's geopolitics. Mountford writes with soul and style and makes the plight of his protagonist count." -Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask and The Fun Parts