Head in Flames Author:Lance Olsen Head in Flames is an astonishing collage novel composed of chips of sensation, observation, memory, and quotation shaped into a series of narraticules told by three alternating voices, each inhabiting a different font and aesthetic / political / existential space. The first belongs to Vincent van Gogh on the day he shot himself in Auvers-sur-Oi... more »se in July 1890. The second to Theo van Gogh (Vincent s brother s great grandson) on the day he was assassinated in Amsterdam in November 2004. The third to Mohammed Bouyeri, Theo s murderer, outraged by the filmmaker s collaboration with controversial politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali on a 10-minute experimental short critiquing Muslim subjugation and abuse of women. The aggregate: a restless, haunting exploration of art s purpose, religion s increasingly dominant role as engine of politics and passion, the complexities of foreignness and assimilation, and the limits of tolerance.« less