Jocasta: Wife and Mother - Hardcover

Brian W. Aldiss

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0954827708 ISBN 13: 9780954827700

Publisher: The Rose Press, 2004

Synopsis

JOCASTA is acclaimed author Brian Aldiss' brilliant reworking of Sophocles classic Theban plays: OEDIPUS REX and ANTIGONE.

The tragedy of Oedipus is precipitated by his unwitting marriage to his mother, Jocasta. Brian Aldiss's psychological novel re-examines the entire Oedipus drama from Jocasta's point of view. At first, the minor vexations in her comfortable family life include having a Sphinx roaming the Theban palace, and dealing with her old grandmother, Semele, a relic of the Bronze Age who still practices magic. Gradually, however, the falsity of Jocasta’s position becomes apparent. The oracle of the gods proves inescapable. Nemesis follows.

In Jocasta, Brian Aldiss brings vividly to life the ancient world of dreaming Thebes: a world of sun-drenched landscapes, golden dust, sphynxes, Furies, hermaphroditic philosophers, ghostly apparitions and ambivalent gods. Jocasta is also a strikingly effective contemplation of an older world order where the human mind is still struggling to understand itself and the nature of the world around it; for in Jocasta’s world the human mind is on the cusp of completing its emergence from the slumber of precivilisation to that of modernity.

Aldiss sheds a fresh, occasionally humorous, light on this dark story of rare vintage. Intriguingly, the storytellers become involved in the stories they have dreamed up, resulting in a stunningly original intermingling of the modern and ancient worlds.

Jocasta is Brian Aldiss's new novel is original, irreverant and quite unlike anything else Aldiss has written.

About this title

Review:

Aldiss plays with words and ideas very successfully and in unexpected ways. He still has the ability to surprise. -- SF Crowsnest February 2005

This is a beautifully produced limited edition.It is a lovely object to handle. -- SF Crowsnest February 2005

From the Publisher:

JOCASTA is a rich tapestry of imagination, humour, philosophical speculation, love and tragedy.

 Beautifully bound with high quality bindings and gold stamping
 Superb Gustav Moreau full colour endpapers
 Original internal artwork
 Oversize hardback measuring 10.5" by 6" with 312pp
 Limited to 750 individually numbered copies with facsimile author signature

About this edition

• Publisher: The Rose Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0954827708
• ISBN 13: 9780954827700
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 311