"Henry's second novel, written, like his first, under a pen name, had done well. " Yann Martel's astonishing new novel begins with a successful writer attempting to publish his latest book, made up of a novel and an essay. Henry plans for it to be a "flip book" that the reader can start at either end, reading the novel or the essay first, because both pieces are equally concerned with representations of the Holocaust. His aim is to give the most horrifying of tragedies "a new choice of stories," in order that it be ...
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"Henry's second novel, written, like his first, under a pen name, had done well. " Yann Martel's astonishing new novel begins with a successful writer attempting to publish his latest book, made up of a novel and an essay. Henry plans for it to be a "flip book" that the reader can start at either end, reading the novel or the essay first, because both pieces are equally concerned with representations of the Holocaust. His aim is to give the most horrifying of tragedies "a new choice of stories," in order that it be remembered anew and in more than one way. But no one is sympathetic to his provocative idea. "What is your book about?" his editor repeatedly asks. "Should it be placed in the fiction section of a bookstore or with the non-fiction books?" a bookseller asks. "And where will the barcode go?" To them, Henry's book is an unpublishable disaster. Faced with severe and categorical rejection, Henry gives up hope. He abandons writing, moves with his wife to a foreign city, joins a community theatre, becomes a waiter in a "chocolateria." But then he receives a package containing a scene from a play, photocopies from a short story by Flaubert - about a man who hunts animals down relentlessly - and a short note: "I need your help." Intrigued, Henry tracks down his correspondent, and finds himself in a strange part of the city, walking past a stuffed okapi into a taxidermist's workshop. The taxidermist - also named Henry - says he has been working on his play, A 20th-Century Shirt, for most of his life, but now he needs Henry's help to describe his characters: the play's protagonists are a stuffed donkey and a howler monkey named Beatrice and Virgil, respectively, and Henry's successful book was in part about animals. He wants help to finish his play and, we may suspect, free himself from it. And though his new acquaintance is austere, abrupt and almost unearthly, Henry the writer is drawn more and more deeply into Henry the taxidermist's uncompromising world. The same goes for the reader. The more we read of the play within the novel, the more we find out about the lives of Beatrice and Virgil - in a series of initially funny, and then increasingly harrowing dialogues - the more troubling their story becomes. As we are drawn deeper into their disturbing moral fable, the relationship between the two faltering writers named Henry becomes more and more complex until it can only be resolved in an explosive, unexpected catastrophe. Though""Beatrice & Virgil""is initially as wry and engaging as anything Yann Martel has written, this book gradually grows into something more, a shattering and ultimately transfixing work that asks searching questions about the nature of our understanding of history, the meaning of suffering and the value of art. Together it""is a pioneeringly original and profoundly moving accomplishment, one that meets Kafka's description of what a book should be: the axe for the frozen sea within us.
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Seller's Description:
Good. jacket. First Edition. Hardcover with DJ. 1st Edition, 1st Printing. Full number line. Boards and spine tight. Dust Jacket has shelf/edge wear. Minor wear to page edges. No apparent marks throughout this book. Tracking available on most domestic orders.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. Book 0307398773 First edition, First Printing. Signed by the author on the title page. Not inscribed, price clipped or otherwise marked. Securely wrapped, dust jacket in protective cover and shipped in a box. Full # line starting with a 1.
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Seller's Description:
Near Fine in near fine jacket. Stated First Impression. Signed by author on title page, without inscription. "Signed by Author" sticker on front of dust jacket. Tight binding. No chips, tears, creases on pages. Dust jacket is NOT price-clipped. SIze: 8vo (8" to 9"). 197 pp.
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Very Good. Size: 5x0x8; Alfred A. Knopf; New York, 2010. Hardcover. First Edition. Signed by author directly on title page. A Near Fine, decorative boards with tan illustration on front and rear board and tan lettering on spine, binding firm, interior and extremities tidy, minimal handling marks, in a Near Fine, trace handling/scuff marks to panels, mild edge/corner wear, Mylar protected, Dust wrapper. A nice, clean and unmarked copy. 8vo[octavo or approx. 6 x 9 inches], 197pp. We pack securely and ship daily with delivery confirmation on every book. The picture on the listing page is of the actual book for sale (the glare in the photograph is from the Mylar). Additional Scan(s) are available for any item, please inquire.
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