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Tideland

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Tideland
AuthorMitch Cullin
LanguageEnglish
PublisherDufour Editions
Publication date
August 28, 2000
Publication placeUSA
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages192
ISBNISBN 0-8023-1335-3 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byBranches 2000 
Followed byThe Cosmology of Bing 2001 

Tideland is the third published book by author Mitch Cullin, and is the third installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age novel Whompyjawed[1] and the novel-in-verse Branches.[2]

The story is a first-person narrative told by the young Jeliza-Rose, detailing the summer she spent alone at an isolated, rundown farmhouse in Texas called What Rocks. With only the heads of old Barbie dolls to keep her company, Jeliza-Rose embarks on a series of highly imagined and increasingly surreal adventures in the tall grass surrounding the farmhouse.[3]

Tideland was first published in the United States in 2000 by Dufour Editions.[4] While destined to maintain a cult status, the book received major notices upon publication, including a review from New York Times Book Review[5][6] which wrote that the novel was "brilliant and beautiful." Some have favourably compared the book to earlier Southern Gothic American literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird and A Rose for Emily,[6] while others, including Terry Gilliam and film producer Jeremy Thomas, have called the book a modern hybrid of Psycho and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[7] A subsequent United Kingdom paperback edition followed in 2003 from Weidenfeld & Nicolson, with Gilliam's infamous blurb on the cover: "Fucking wonderful!"[8] Other editions have since been published in the Netherlands,[9] Japan[10], France,[11] Greece, Italy,[12] Poland,[13] Russia,[14] and Korea.[15]

In 1999, Cullin sent a pre-publication galley to Gilliam for a cover blurb, but Gilliam so liked what he read that he optioned the book with an eye to direct.[16] The controversial film version was produced by Gabriella Martinelli and Jeremy Thomas for Capri Films and Recorded Picture Company, and was directed by Gilliam and shot in Canada in 2004. Cullin was given a brief cameo in the movie, contributed lyrics to the soundtrack,[17] and the name "M. Cullin" appears on the mailbox at the farmhouse where much of the film takes place.[18] The script adaptation was written by Gilliam and screenwriter Tony Grisoni.[19]

The writer/animator David Firth was influenced by Tideland when creating his cult series Salad Fingers.[20]

Footnotes

See also