Edition: U.S. / Global  Books in Brief: FICTION;Perfecting the
Art of Psychosis  Published: April 14, 1996  In his clever and
incisive novel, NAMING THE JUNGLE (New Press, $18.95), the
French writer Antoine Volodine follows the remembered and
invented lives of Fabian Golpiez, a man "rich in cowardice," as
he struggles to get by in the post-revolutionary society of
Puesto Libertad, a prototypical Latin American city surrounded
by jungle and mystery. Since his survival strategy involves
feigning mental illness, Fabian must undergo a unique therapy at
the not-too-gentle hands of Dr. Gonalves, a combination shaman
and psychiatrist who practices in the requisitioned office of a
"disappeared" dentist. Sitting in the dental chair, surrounded
by drills and other implements of the trade, the patient spins
out tales that are part memory and part contrivance, all
designed to maintain his status as "a psychotic with severe and
intractable disabilities." It is not easy work, for the doctor
demands quality stories: "These