Prince - Softcover

Michael, Ib

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312273258 ISBN 13: 9780312273255

Publisher: Picador, 2001

Synopsis

For lovers of Howard Norman's The Bird Artist, Prince is an evocative, richly imagined novel about a defining season in the life of a young outcast. In 1912 at a provinical Danish seaside hotel, twelve-year-old Malte, a charity case from the city, revels in the freedom of summer. Largely a solitary boy, Malte spends his days on the beach, transfixed by the sea. When a coffin containing a young sailor drifts ashore, Malte is soon absorbed in the sailor's tragic love story and dramatic death, and their fates become dangerously intertwined.

About this title

Review:

Author of more than 20 books, Ib Michael is one of Denmark's most celebrated writers; Prince, impressively translated by Barbara Haveland, is the first of his works to appear in English. Its enigmatic subtitle--a novel of icebergs and amber--sets the tone of leisurely enchantment which runs throughout this story of childhood. There is a (more or less) straightforward narrative of the 12-year-old boy, Malte, who is spending the summer of 1912 in a small coastal village, developing his relationships with its eccentric inhabitants as well as land- and seascape: "He spends his days on the sands...He finds sticks and fits them with pennants of seaweed. He catches crabs and pops them into jelly jars". At the same time, Michael's writing is fabulous, drawing on the resources of fairy tale and magic. The chapter headings to this book give a sense of its epic, and fantastic, quality--"In Which Male Rides the Wind", "In Which the Fox Flies and the Spirit Splits in Two", "In Which a Pact is Sealed for Malte's Soul"--as well as the supernatural element of the narrative which appears to be told by a spirit: "I do not belong to any higher order; we have been called demons, the undead, devils, and the damned. Or angels, guardian spirits, and messengers of the gods". Or a lonely boy's imaginary companion? Above all, this narrator is mutable, symbolic, all-encompassing; the seductiveness of his voice is key to the success, or otherwise, of this unconventional and strangely charged book. --Vicky Lebeau

Review:

"[Prince] stirs one's awe at the mystery of life and consciousness and reminds the adult reader of the wonderland that the world can be when viewed through younger eyes." --Bruce Bawer, The New York Times Book Review

"Although there is a fierce logic to both [Michael's] physical and his ethereal Denmark, there is also a dreamy openness to his gentle ghost story that continues to haunt long after Malte's summer is done." --Jonathan Levi, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Stunning...a tale of love that survives death, and of magical discoveries made in childhood." --Deloris Tarzan Ament, The Seattle Times

"Evocative...Michael's book has a lovely, tinkling quaintness, like a boardwalk calliope, and haunting images of the sea as both a liberator and captor of souls." --Donna Rifkind, Baltimore Sun

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0312273258
• ISBN 13: 9780312273255
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320