The Abyss (Black Swan S.) - Softcover

Yourcenar, Marguerite

Softcover

ISBN 10: 055299118X ISBN 13: 9780552991186

Publisher: Black Swan, 1985

Synopsis

A Black Swan book 055299118X Translated from the French by Grace Frick. A meditation on the nature and condition of mankind, set in the C16, 'a century which leapt the abyss between medieval and modern systems of thinking' Marguerite Youcenar creates a work of great richness and tension.

About this title

Review:

"Marguerite Yourcenar instantly assumes command of our imagination in her novel "The Abyss." Almost before we know it, the author establishes a scene (a road in northern France) and time (the second quarter of the sixteenth century), and engages us in the fate of two cousins. The younger, sixteen-year-old Henry Maximilian, has set out to become a soldier and poet; the elder, twenty-two-year-old Zeno, has left a seminary to make himself an alchemist-philosopher. The book reads as if an old map--decorated with walled cities, boats on rivers, castles, people, and animals--had come alive . . . As rich as a tapestry."--Naomi Bliven, "The New Yorker"
"A brilliant tapestry of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, as sharply detailed as a Brueghel."--Michael Kernan, "The Washington Post"

Marguerite Yourcenar instantly assumes command of our imagination in her novel "The Abyss." Almost before we know it, the author establishes a scene (a road in northern France) and time (the second quarter of the sixteenth century), and engages us in the fate of two cousins. The younger, sixteen-year-old Henry Maximilian, has set out to become a soldier and poet; the elder, twenty-two-year-old Zeno, has left a seminary to make himself an alchemist-philosopher. The book reads as if an old map--decorated with walled cities, boats on rivers, castles, people, and animals--had come alive . . . As rich as a tapestry. "Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker"

A brilliant tapestry of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, as sharply detailed as a Brueghel. "Michael Kernan, The Washington Post""

"Marguerite Yourcenar instantly assumes command of our imagination in her novel The Abyss. Almost before we know it, the author establishes a scene (a road in northern France) and time (the second quarter of the sixteenth century), and engages us in the fate of two cousins. The younger, sixteen-year-old Henry Maximilian, has set out to become a soldier and poet; the elder, twenty-two-year-old Zeno, has left a seminary to make himself an alchemist-philosopher. The book reads as if an old map--decorated with walled cities, boats on rivers, castles, people, and animals--had come alive . . . As rich as a tapestry." --Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker

"A brilliant tapestry of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, as sharply detailed as a Brueghel." --Michael Kernan, The Washington Post

About the Author:

Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-87) wrote stories, plays, poems, and novels, notably Memoirs of Hadrian. She was the first woman to be elected to the Academie Francaise.

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 055299118X
• ISBN 13: 9780552991186
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336