Somebody Nobody Anybody: When the Cows Come Home

Alan Blum’s concerns are dramatized in the surreal narrative ofhis novel Somebody Nobody Anybody: When the Cows ComeHome. He inverts the genre of magical realism that injects fictionand fantasy into a realistic tale as a way of showing how life needsmagic, by showing alternatively that magic needs a dose of the Realto deal with life. A beleaguered professor decides to study hatred bydoing research on the Anti-Hate unit of the Toronto Police Force.After becoming entangled in the cliches governing public opinionabout what is inoffensive rather than meaningful the professor ishimself accused and tried for a hate crime.