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The Moralist
The Moralist
Not since Lolita has a book so boldly explored intergenerational eros. Rod Downey’s
provocative new novel The Moralist is a literary nuclear device that explodes at ground zero of
our most deeply held beliefs.
The plot is torn from the headlines of the child abuse witch-hunt gripping America today. It
tells the story of a 50-year-old man and his 13-year-old student. As a communications "spin
doctor," Red Rover advises boy-love activists how to survive in an environment of hostile press
and fire-breathing hysterics. As he pursues the boy, he becomes increasingly outraged by the
injustices that demonize a love that for Red is the very definition of beauty.
Red’s own moral development and improbable life story serve as a springboard for a radical
ethical and aesthetic perspective that corrodes conventional notions of moral principle.
For all its anger and profundity, the touch of THE MORALIST is light and humorous. In an
epigrammatic, ironic style, Downey dances through sophisticated thickets of ethical philosophy
and literary allusion with a wink and a grin. But make no mistake; THE MORALIST is in
deadly earnest.
Whether you love Red Rover or hate him, one thing’s for sure: You’ll not forget him.
"…this voice needs to be heard in these new dark ages for civil liberties." —Frontiers
Newsmagazine
"Read it if you dare. THE MORALIST is brilliant and outrageous. It is about things that matter:
art, philosophy, politics, science, religion. Above all, it is a love story, and one like no other. But
be warned: Your settled notions of right and proper conduct could be blown sky high by this
controversial oeuvre." —Tom O’Carroll, author, Pedophilia: The Radical Case.
THE MORALIST by Rod Downey
392 pages, paper #19.95 U.S., $26.00 CAN.
ISBN: 1-887650-40-7
Order from FACTOR PRESS, P.O. Box 222, Salisbury MD 21803
(410) 334-6111 factorpress@earthlink.net
http://www.ipce.info/newsletters/e_17/moralist.htm [6/5/2005 8:29:31 PM]