The Procedure - Hardcover

Mulisch, Harry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670910244 ISBN 13: 9780670910243

Publisher: Viking, 2001

Synopsis

In the late-sixteenth century, Rabbi Jehudah Low, in order to guarantee the safety of the Jews in Prague, attempts to create a Golem by following a procedure that is outlined in a third-century Cabalist text. He succeeds, but not exactly in the way he had planned.
Four hundred years later, Victor Werker, a Dutch biologist, causes an international uproar when he creates in his laboratory a complex organic clay crystal that can reproduce and has a metabolism. He has, in effect, manufactured a primitive organism out of inorganic materials. Much of his story is told through the letters he writes, via his estranged wife, to his stillborn daughter Aurora; after his unsettling discovery, he roams the world from California to Venice, Cairo, and Jerusalem, pursued by his own inner and outer demons.

About this title

Review:

"Sharply imagined, vivid, and often funny." --The Washington Post

"Immensely challenging, eminently readable and astonishingly good. Mulisch is a first-rate writer who grabs your attention ... a dazzlingly original highbrow read" --Mail on Sunday

"A deftly created tale [that] tackles nothing less than the mystery of life itself. What gives this novel its fascinating brilliance is Mulisch's skill as a storyteller" --The Times (London)

"Entertaining, moving and invigorating" --Sunday Times (London)

"Wonderful observations, much humour, highly ambitious ... the wild daring of a very exciting mind" --Independent

About the Author:

Harry Mulisch is the author of numerous novels, including LAST CALL, THE DISCOVERY OF HEAVEN and THE ASSAULT. The last of these was made into an Oscar-winning film. Harry Mulisch has also written essays, poetry, short stories, plays and philosophical works. He lives in Holland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0670910244
• ISBN 13: 9780670910243
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240