The Horses’ Mouth

The charming and larcenous Gulley Jimson has an insatiable genius for creation and a no less remarkable appetite for destruction. Is he a great artist? a has-been? or an exhausted, drunken ne’er-do-well?

Originally published in 1944, The Horse’s Mouth is acclaimed Irish author Joyce Cary’s third instalment in his First Trilogy and sequel to Herself Surprised (1941) and To Be A Pilgrim (1942). It follows the adventures of Gulley Jimson, an artist who would exploit his friends and acquaintances to earn a quid. Similar to the first two books in the First Trilogy, events are told in the first-person narration and thus from the central character’s point of view. Cary’s novel also uses Gulley’s unique perspective to comment on the social and political events of the time, making Gulley Jimson one of the best-known characters in 20th-century fiction.