It is no exaggeration to say that Alan Burns is currently one of the most original and innovative British novelists. He is a highly experimental writer whose works have been variously described as "surrealistic" and "infrarealistic," and who invites comparison with American novelists such as John Hawkes, Robert Coover, and Donald Barthelme. Relying on an aleatoric method, Burns strives to create accidental juxtapositions, and, as he has described it, "the kaleidoscopic, dialectical effect."

Burns was born in London into a middle-class family to Harold and Anne Marks Burns and educated at the Merchant Taylors' School. When he was thirteen his mother died, as did his older brother two years later; both deaths profoundly affected him both emotionally and artistically. Burns has described the impact of these separations by writing, "The consuming nature of this experience showed itself not only in the disconnected form but also in the content...