A Man and His Shoes: Complexity and Satire in Richard Holeton's Figurski at Findhorn on Acid

Noted scholar Astrid Ensslin claims Holeton’s storytelling technique results in Ilinx––or vertigo––a feature of video games that has the effect of inducing “physical or metaphysical forms of dizziness, confusion, or bemusement” (Literary Gaming, 61). The novel is successful because, as Michael Tratner claims, “Holeton has managed to integrate the mechanical structure, absurd philosophical ruminations, characters defined entirely by eccentricities, and intellectual metafictional commentary into a seamless whole.”