The Horse’s Mouth

novel by Cary

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Article History

The Horse’s Mouth, comic novel by Joyce Cary, published in 1944. It was the third volume of a trilogy, which also included Herself Surprised (1941) and To Be a Pilgrim (1942), and was a best seller.

The book’s protagonist, Gulley Jimson, is an iconoclastic artist who is consumed with the creative process and rejects the predictable and conventional in art. He does not hesitate to use other people to achieve his ends, involving Sara Monday, his former model and lover (and the protagonist of Herself Surprised), in art theft. After accidentally killing Sara, Jimson works feverishly in a vain attempt to finish a final masterwork before the police arrive to arrest him. He falls, suffers a stroke, and laughs at his fate.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.