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Laddar... Lemprière's Dictionary (urspr publ 1991; utgåvan 2003)av Lawrence Norfolk (Författare)
VerksinformationLemprières lexikon av Lawrence Norfolk (Author) (1991)
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Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. An interesting historical/fantasy-mystery. Some outlandish and anachronistic details may be a bit much for some, but it's all good to me. One weakness is the revelation at the book's end of the true identity of one of the main characters, which is so bizarre and thematically out of step with the rest of the novel that I don't quite know what to make of it. ( ) John Lemprière, un erudito joven de Jersey, acude a Londres en 1788, tras la muerte de su padre, para reclamar su herencia. Obsesionado por la manera en que los mitos clásicos parecen irrumpir en su vida (su padre, como Acteón, ha muerto destrozado por los perros que guardaban a la virginal hija del noble del lugar mientras se bañaba desnuda; una prostituta ha sido asesinada con una lluvia de oro fundido, en una clara referencia a la seducción de Dánae por Zeus), consulta a dos sabios doctores que le aconsejan que escriba un diccionario clásico. Nonsense and very long nonsense at that. Set in the 18th century between London and Paris, the book links the East India Company, the French Revolution and Lempriere's Classical Dictionary. However the author has developed a style which values words over meaning and erudition over storyline. Try throwing in to the mix the fact that some of the central characters are autonoma while others can fly. There are so many other books that your time would be better spent elsewhere. An extraordinary book in every sense - this one is a challenge both to read and to review. To start, how should we categorise it? It mixes so many genres - historical fiction, fantasy, classical allusions, grand conspiracy thriller, parody and even romance - a real postmodern mash-up. I first heard of Norfolk several years ago when I read A.S. Byatt's book of literary criticism On Histories and Stories, in which she extolled him as one of the cleverest young writers around. This is probably the book she had most in mind, though The Pope's Rhinoceros is equally complex and ambitious. Some of the pivotal events are real enough, the story of the East India Company, the siege of La Rochelle and the build-up to the French revolution, but the conceit of Norfolk's story is so outrageous that it can only be seen as a sort of self-parody. The two books it reminded me most of, for very different reasons, were Gravity's Rainbow and The Count of Monte Cristo. The hero (or at least the pivotal character) is John Lemprière, a young scholar from Jersey whose primary interest is studying Greek and Roman classics. His story is interleaved with a grand conspiracy - in Norfolk's version of history the East India Company is almost ruined when its first expedition in 1600 comes back with a cargo of pepper which is worthless in London because the Dutch have flooded the market, and its investors are rescued by a shadowy "cabbala" of traders from the Huguenot free port of La Rochelle who are unable to trade with the East directly. Most of the action takes place in the 1780s, when their descendants draw Lemprière into their intrigues by staging reenactments of scenes from the classics, the first of which involves the grisly murder of his father by fox-hounds. They also persuade him to start writing a dictionary of classical mythology (this is also something real, as are some of Lemprière's biographical details). The plot gets more and more complex, and veers further into the realms of fantasy, but Norfolk clearly loves the classics and has a fine command of arcane language. For all that, much of the book is quite readable and the storytelling is compulsive.
"It's hard to deny the scope of Norfolk's intellect and his ability to marshall a huge wealth of material into one deftly crafted whole." Early in Lempriere's Dictionary the hero's father searches for evidence of a phantom ship, and in so doing describes the defining moment of the antiquarian romance. "Somewhere in the morass of receipts, bills, bonds, affidavits and orders of acquisition which lay strewn about the room, there was a pattern. Somewhere within the pages of handwritten accounts, diaries, letters and notes ran a thread. But he could not find it. A single memorandum, a scrawl on a dog-eared endpaper might supply the link, the key to the pattern. It was here, buried here somewhere. Perhaps he had already seen it and missed its significance." Only the predestined hero, typically a studious sort, can find the thread, read correctly the signs and portents of these adult fairy tales. "Myriad wonders and pleasures abound in Lempriere's Dictionary. Not too surprisingly, Zygia, the last entry in Lempriere's actual classical dictionary, provides just the right hint to the ending of Lawrence Norfolk's superbly entertaining novel." "While his scheme misfires, he is a writer of talent who may yet write a better novel." "Wildly and wonderfully improbable, reveling in the countless allusions that feed its dark vision: a delight for classicists, historians, and any reader eager to be overwhelmed by a story. An exceptional achievement." Ingår i förlagsserienGoldmann (42596) Priser
"It is eighteenth century London and John Lempriere, a young scholar, is writing a dictionary of classical mythology in an attempt to exorcise the demons raised by his father's bizarre and violent death. While tending to his father's business affairs, Lempriere discovers a 150-year-old conspiracy that has kept his family from its share of the fabulously wealthy East India Company, Bust as John begins to untangle the years of mystery and deceit, people begin to die, in ways that mirror the very myths he is researching..." Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
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Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Klassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
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