Anthony Marais

Anthony Marais (born 1966, Hollywood, California)^[1] is an American writer, musician, and academic. His writing focuses on culture, alchemy and the tendency of people to follow delusions.^[1]

Career

Marais was graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in anthropology, then continued his education in Canada at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, focusing on Polynesian archaeology, where we earned a master's deagree in archaeology with a thesis on fortifications in Tonga.^[2][1]

Marais studied language and art history in Paris and since 1995 has lived in Germany, during which time he began publishing novels and working as a screenwriter. He currently teaches English composition and creative writing at the Anglo-American University in Prague.^[2][1]

During the 1980s Marais co-founded the Los Angeles pop music group The Squids. He played bass guitar for Chamorro artist Maria Yatar in 1991, and in 2008, he co-founded the corporate-punk group The Karmakazees.

Publications

Novels and screenplays

• Marais, Anthony (2006). The Cure. Newport Beach, California: Balneum Books. ISBN 0-9774792-0-X.  The Cure describes a man's mental journey. Fleeing unusual troubles, the protagonist arrives in Wiesbaden, Germany. Here he develops an obsession with the town’s healing springs leading to a surreal journey into the occult.^[3]

• Marais, Anthony; Marszewski, Jarek (2007). Plateau. Balneum Books. ISBN 978-0977479245.  Plateau, a screenplay co-written with Jarek Marszewski, is the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who finds a dying man along the roadside near her small town. Into this situation stumbles a local womanizer and drunk. This unlikely pair find themselves helping one another against their will and ultimately secure their survival on the plateau.^[4] In 2009 the screenplay was optioned by OPUS Film of Poland.

• Marais, Anthony (2012). Insured Risk. Newport Beach, California: Balneum Books. ^[5] Insured Risk is a novel about a Californian family dealing with the revealed homosexuality of the husband/father in conjunction with his diagnosis of a fatal disease. While swindling insurance companies the protagonist develops the delusion that he is recovering, inciting his agent to hire a contract killer.

Other writings

• Marais, Anthony (2000). The Xenophobe's Guide to the Californians. Xenophobe's Guides. London: Oval Books. ISBN 1-902825-20-9.  The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Californians is a "frank, irreverant, and funny"^[6] guide to understanding the Californians which shows the quirks of personality that set them apart from the rest of the Americans.^[7]

• Marais, Anthony (2008). Delusionism. Newport Beach, California: Balneum Books. ISBN 978-0-9774792-1-4.  Delusionism is a collection of essays which take an irreverent look at life philosophy – in particular, the nature/nurture debate and art theory. Marais emphasizes the importance of the group in survival, claims that culture is born of delusion, and advocates a return to romanticism in art.

• Marais, Anthony; Frankfurt Writers Group (2009). A Place Between Worlds. Schwalbach, Germany: Fairmount Publishing. ISBN 978-3-940280-04-6.  A collection of essays, fiction, and poetry, bound by the city and the shared experience of emigration – impressions dealing with the adventure, loss, and the enrichment of cultural change.^[8]

• Marais, Anthony; The Frankfurt Writer's Group (2012). Loose Change. Limerick, Ireland: RealTime Publishing. ISBN 978-1849611794.  The short stories and reflections in this compilation are all loosely connected with change, whether geographical or emotional.^[9]

• Marais, Anthony (2013). People from Hollywood, Los Angeles. General Books LLC. ISBN 978-1-23080-680-8. 

References

External links

• Anthony Marais' web site
• LitPark Interview with Anthony Marais