Glen Duncan is the author of seven previous novels. He was chosen
by both
Arena and
The Times Literary Supplement
as one of Britain's best young novelists. He lives in London.
1. Werewolves have a long literary lineage, in folk tales and
works of fiction, and they loom large in popular culture. In what
ways does The Last Werewolf remain faithful to the genre
and at the same time bring something new to it? In what ways is it
innovative?
2. Once a month, Jake murders and eats an innocent human being
(or mostly innocent-hedge fund manger is borderline). And yet he is
a tremendously likable character. How does Duncan make him so
appealing despite his being a monster?
3. Why is Jake so disillusioned with life as the novel begins?
Why is he willing to let himself be killed? What makes him want to
live again?
4. Jacqueline Delon tells Jake: "Werewolves are not a subject
for academe...but you know what the professors would be
saying if they were. 'Monsters die out when the collective
imagination no longer needs them. Species death like this is
nothing more than a shift in the aggregate psychic agenda." Why
would human beings need to create monsters? What psychic function
do monsters such as werewolves and vampires serve? Is Delon correct
in concluding that "The beast is redundant. It's been us all
along"?
5. Why does Jake murder and devour his wife and their unborn
child as his first kill? How does he punish himself for that
crime?
6. Throughout his narrative, Jake references Shakespeare,
Charlotte Bronte, Matthew Arnold, Nabakov, Susan Sontag, Ovid, and
many other writers. What does his literary sophistication and
general worldliness add to his character?
7. Is "the Hunger" as Jake calls it-the irresistible need to
kill and eat a live human being-a metaphor? Does it have some
larger meaning, or is it simply what werewolves are condemned to
do?
8. What makes Glenn Duncan's prose style so distinctive and
engaging? What are some of the novel's most arresting passages or
scenes?
9. Why does Jake keep a journal? What function does telling his
story serve for him? Is Jacqueline Delon right when she says: "What
is this-what are these journals-if not the compulsion to tell the
truth of what you are? And what is the compulsion to tell the truth
if not a moral compulsion?" Is Jake, in the end, a moral being?
10. Why do Ellis, Poulsom, and the vampires all want Jake to
live? Why does Grainer want him dead?
11. The Last Werewolf is a tremendously sensual novel.
After making love in a Manhattan hotel, Jake and Talulla lie on the
bed, "warm as a pot of sunlit honey." What are some of the novel's
most erotically charged passages? What are some other examples of
the sensuousness of Duncan's prose?
12. Why would variations on the ironic statement, You live
because you have to. There is no God and this is his only
Commandment appear like a refrain throughout the novel? What
is Jake's attitude toward God and irony?
13. The Last Werewolf is a supernatural thriller, a
witty and often biting cultural commentary, a confession narrative,
and a love story. What does the love story, Jake's relationship
with Talulla, add to the novel? Why is it important, both in terms
of the plot and in terms of Jake's emotional development? How does
being with Tululla change him?
14. In talking about Quinn's journal and why he tried to find
it, Jake tells Talulla: "It's the same old shit. The desire to know
whence we came in the hope it'll shed light on why we're here and
where we're going. The desire for life to mean something more than
random subatomic babble." Why might a werewolf be especially
concerned with the origin and meaning of his life? Does Jake really
feel it's foolish to want answers to those questions?
15. What is the irony of America's Next Top Model
playing in background as Jake and Tululla devour music producer
Drew Hillard? Where else does Jake make references to pop culture?
In what ways does the novel present a critique of pop culture while
at the same time participating in it?
Meet Jake. A bit on the elderly side (he turns 201 in March), but
otherwise in the pink of health. The nonstop sex and exercise he's
still getting probably contribute to that, as does his diet:
unusual amounts of flesh and blood (at least some from friends and
relatives). Jake, of course, is a werewolf, and with the death of
his colleague he has now become the only one of his kind. This
depresses Jake to the point that he's been contemplating suicide.
Yet there are powerful forces who for very different reasons
want--and have the power--to keep Jake alive.
Here is a powerful new version of the werewolf legend--mesmerizing
and undeniably sexy, and with moments of violence so elegantly
wrought they dazzle rather than repel. But perhaps its most
remarkable achievement is to make the reader feel sympathy for a
man who can only be described as a monster--and in doing so, remind
us what it means to be human.
One of the most original, audacious, and terrifying novels in
years.
