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Petit, Christopher Robinson ISBN 13: 9780224035521

Robinson - Softcover

 
9780224035521: Robinson
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Set in London, this novel tells the story of Robinson, and it is a story of moral seduction. The narrator is drawn into Robinson's web, starts to drink too much, abandons his wife and job and eventually starts working for Robinson, first running a second-hand bookshop and second as an editor for Robinsons's increasingly bizarre and pornographic films. The book becomes increasingly intense - the weather worsens, London collapses, the moral uncertainties grow - and the images grow and proliferate- the sea, storms, death by drowning. At one level a traditional novel of character - Robinson and Cookie, time - the present and place - London, it is also a story of moral degeneration, voyeurism and sexual collusion.

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Review:
Chris Petit's novel Robinson triumphs as a portrayal of a life spiralling out of control and of the bleak anonymity of the city of London. His narrator, bored and indifferent to domesticity and the dead rituals of office life, meets the enigmatic Robinson and falls under his curious charm.

It is interesting, though not essential to the enjoyment of the novel, to know a little of the history of Robinson the literary character. He seems to first turn up in 1932 in Louis-Ferdinand Céline's masterpiece, Journey to the End of the Night. He then goes underground for a while before emerging over a decade later in the strange and electrifying poems of Weldon Kees. Another disappearance, along with Kees's own, a gap of a further 30 years or so, and Robinson emerges in the poetry of Simon Armitage.

Petit has used the slowly emerging Robinson mythos to good advantage, adding and building on it, creating a novel that h as much in common with the tone of Céline and the Kees poems; here also is a novel that journeys through the night. Robinson is beguiling, mysterious, strangely familiar, charming, deceitful, dangerous, tragic and wilful. Petit's narrator slowly allows himself to be sucked into Robinson's seedy world, permitting Robinson's will to manipulate his own. He becomes a willing sidekick to Robinson's increasingly dangerous and depraved enterprises.

Petit intended the novel to be set in the near future and certain parts of the later stages of the novel read like Briti sh news summaries from the autumn of 2000. It is a credit to Petit's keen eye for all that is monstrous and messy in British society that this is so. It is also slightly worrying, for one is left with the nasty feeling that some of the other dark events he has imagined might also lurk up and intrude on our daily lives. --Iain Robinson

About the Author:
Christopher Petit is a writer and filmmaker. Born in 1949, he was sent to school in Yorkshire where he received a Roman Catholic education. He currently reviews thrillers for The Times. His first film, Radio On (1979) was co-produced by Wim Wenders, and he has made three other feature films. His television work ranges from essays with writers Ian Sinclair and J. G Ballard to BBC documentaries on air stewardesses and the British weather. This is his first novel.

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  • PublisherJonathan Cape Ltd
  • Publication date1993
  • ISBN 10 0224035525
  • ISBN 13 9780224035521
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages208
  • Rating

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781862074637: Robinson

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1862074631 ISBN 13:  9781862074637
Publisher: Granta Books, 2001
Softcover

  • 9780670849253: Robinson

    Viking, 1994
    Hardcover

  • 9780099308911: Robinson

    Vintage, 1994
    Softcover

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