The Black Flame Of Paradise is the first novel by Chicago artist Zachary Cahill. The book is a preposition for a new model of religious life grounded in artistic and personal relations to the divine. The Black Flame of Paradise is an epistolary novel addressed to the citizens of the fictional country, the USSA. Written in a mode that is at once autobiographical and religious, the book examines notions of heaven and the afterlife primarily through a narrative about the loss of the artist’s mother to Alzheimer’s disease. A central concept running throughout the text is the phrase “life without consanguinity,” a plea for re-conceiving society beyond the logic of blood relations. The novel also features a preface by renowned philosopher Catherine Malabou.

“Over the past decade Zachary Cahill has explored ideas of nation-building and religion through his fictional country, the USSA. The Black Flame Of Paradise brings this project to the dimension of writing with a poignant and timely debut novel. At once critical and exuberant, Cahill deftly weaves together personal narrative and social commentary into relevant and illuminating images and structures.” - Sara Ganz Blythe, RISD Museum.

“The Black Flame Of Paradise is a non-religious experience of religion… its fire is dazzling. Beyond all redemption and all actual and authentic memories, there is room for generosity, hope, and beauty.” - Catherine Malabou, Kingston University

Published by Mousse, 2018.
ISBN 978-88-6749-339-5
8 × 6 in. (20 × 15 cm)