Inez - Softcover

Fuentes, Carlos

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747568162 ISBN 13: 9780747568162

Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2004

Synopsis

In this magical story of love and art, life and death, Carlos Fuentes entwines two narratives: one tells of the passion of orchestra conductor Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara for red-haired Mexican diva, Inez Prada; the other of the first encounter in human history between a man and a woman. Berlioz's music for The Damnation of Faust brings Atlan-Ferrara and Inez together, and continues to resound on every page of this haunting work. At the same time, the emergent love of neh-el and ah-nel - the original lovers - reminds us of the Faustian pact of love and death. The link between these two stories is a beautiful crystal seal that belongs to Atlan-Ferrara, who is obsessed by its meaning. Maybe this ancient and seductive object gives its bearer the ability to read unknown languages and hear music of impossible beauty...

About this title

Review

‘A worthy addition to Fuentes' varied but persistently exciting oeuvre’ -- Publishers Weekly

‘It is astonishing that in such a short novel Fuentes can pack such complex reflections’ -- Library Journal

‘Passionate ... a paean to music and musical genius, to romantic love ... Fuentes is at his inventive best’ -- Newsday

From the Back Cover

From one of the world's greatest writers, this magical new novel weaves together the stories of two couples, two eras, and two grand passions.
Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara, a fabled orchestral conductor, and Inez Prada, a red-haired Mexican diva, are brought together in passion by Berlioz's music for The Damnation of Faust. Meanwhile, the mysterious tale of Neh-el and Ah-nel-the first lovers in human history-unfolds, seductively echoing the Faustian pact of love and death. Linking these narratives is a beautiful crystal seal that belongs to Atlan-Ferrara, its meaning an obsession and its power an enigma. Like the light refracted through the seal, these stories radiate into prehistory and infinity, revealing Carlos Fuentes at the height of his magical and realist powers. Inez, profound and beautiful, confirms his standing as one of the world's preeminent novelists.
"Fuentes is masterful. . . . The effect is a grand, passionate, poetically written book that plays out on the page much as the opera it centers on would play out on the stage."-Orlando Sentinel
"[Inez] is prismatic, structurally risky, at times dangerously melodramatic, overtly Faustian. It offers proof of Fuentes' still hungry and inventive mind."-The Baltimore Sun
Carlos Fuentes is the author of more than a dozen novels as well as several works of nonfiction, and has received many awards, including the Cervantes Prize. Born in Panama, he divides his time between Mexico City and London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0747568162
• ISBN 13: 9780747568162
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160