newspapers, magazines, websites, and television broadcasts. The mass media constantly affects people's thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. Throughout the novel, Carter asks the reader to define what is real versus what is an illusion. Hoffman's machines keep "projecting representations on the world". In the modern world, "technology makes the reign of the images possible" (Suleiman 111) and Carter is wary of images for they can be mere illusions. Literary significance and reception Jeff VanderMeer has described The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman as "the finest surrealist novel of the past 30 years. It perfectly captures the ideas and ideals of surrealist beauty". In the New York Times, William Hjortsberg recommended Carter's novel, noting its attention to detail and maintaining that while reading "We soon forget that the terrain she observes with such care is the interior of her own imagination, for the world she describes becomes as real as any naturalist's report." However, he criticised Carter's wordiness and her overuse of abstraction, simile, and metaphors. Cultural references The post-punk band Acrobats of Desire took their name from the carnival troupe in the novel. Publication history 1972, United States, Penguin Group References Bibliography Suleiman, Susan Rubin. "The Fate of the Surrealist Imagination in the Society of the Spectacle." Flesh and The Mirror. Ed. Lorna Sage. London: Virago Press, 1994. 98–116. 1972 British novels 1972 fantasy novels Novels by Angela Carter British magic realism novels Picaresque novels Rupert Hart-Davis books