As every schoolboy knows, you can fit the whole of England on the Isle of Wight. In Julian Barnes's new novel, the grotesque, visionary tycoon Sir Jack Pitman takes the saying literally and does exactly that. He constructs on the island 'The Project', a vast heritage centre containing everything 'English', from Buck House to Stonehenge, from Manchester United to the White Cliffs of Dover. The project is monstrous, risky and vastly successful. Indeed it gradually begins to rival 'Old' England and threatens to supersede it.
'Both ambitious and serious -- real if you like. Dive at those dump-bins.' Andrew Marr, Observer
'A brilliant, Swiftian fantasy.' Economist
'There is no more intelligent writer on the literary scene. In this novel he is also moving. He has written nothing more poignant and enticing.' John Carey, Sunday Times
'The novel has memorable characters and sentences, but its main impact will be through its penetrating ideas.' John Lanchester, Daily Telegraph
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In one section of this short novel the theme-park Dr Johnson talks entirely in direct quotations from his distinguished 18th-century counterpart, before being judged insufficiently convincing. The real, we understand, is less compelling than the fake. There are so many cultural allusions per page that the head of even the most enthusiastic English culture snob will spin. --Lisa Jardine
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Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0330373447-2-1