Shroud
by Banville, John
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0375411305
- ISBN 13
- 9780375411304
- Seller
-
Chico, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
John Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His first book, Long Lankin , was published in 1970. His other books are Nightspawn , Birchwood , Doctor Copernicus , Kepler , The Newton Letter , Mefisto , The Book of Evidence (which was shortlisted for the 1989 Booker Prize), Ghosts , Athena , The Untouchable , and Eclipse . He lives in Dublin.
Reviews
Warning: here be SPOILERS....Another fine example of Banville's eloquent prose being used to tell a twisted, deceitful story concerning notions of the Self and reality. Axel Vander, the snobbish, literate, ageing narrator, has fled the sunny coast of California (where he is a celebrated academic modelled in part after Paul De Man) and returned to the Old World; specifically Turin, to meet and confront a young research student who has unwittingly uncovered a great lie at the heart of Vander's life: that as a youth in Holland he wrote anti-semitic articles in a right-wing journal. But there are deeper secrets than that, not the least of which is that he isn't Axel Vander at all, but a Jewish friend of Vander's who appropriated his name after hearing that Vander had been killed in the early part of the war. Now old and dying, Vander begins an impossible love-affair with his young un-masker. The setting, of course, is significant as the Shroud of Turin is both an object of worship and a fake. As usual with Banville, the prose is exquisite to the point where excessive praise seems superfluous. The plot is of less interest than the delicious descriptive language, and the setting allows Banville to explore the meaning of "meaning", fakery, etc, along with his requisite dose of sex, unhappy ghosts, haunting memories, lies, tenderness and torture. Brilliant. I waited a long time to get around to reading this novel, and I wasn't disappointed.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Quercus Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 000605
- Title
- Shroud
- Author
- Banville, John
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Edition
- First American Edition.
- ISBN 10
- 0375411305
- ISBN 13
- 9780375411304
- Publisher
- Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2003
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern Literature (Irish Authors);
Terms of Sale
Quercus Rare Books
We accept checks and money orders in US Dollars. Credit card orders are accepted through Biblio. California residents add appropriate sales tax. Items are returnable for any reason within ten days of receipt (please email or call first before returning item).
About the Seller
Quercus Rare Books
About Quercus Rare Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...