The Nightingale Papers - Hardcover

David Nokes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843917033 ISBN 13: 9781843917038

Publisher: Hesperus Press Ltd, 2005

A harmless joke thrown in after one glass of wine too many triggers a series of revengeful plots, grotesque confrontations and literary hoaxes. World experts on Madoc, one of the greatest eighteenth-century poets, are gathering for a celebratory conference in Wales, in a solitary building run by a religious sect advocating chastity and purity of mind. It's a world populated by shady, repressed and unscrupulous academics, whose only means of salvation appears to be through the discovery of an unknown page from the life and works of a dead writer; but when a whole new canto from Madoc's masterpiece appears out of the blue and is presented at the conference - the heat is on. The result can only be further literary disaster. David Nokes' witty and sharp black comedy adds a new page to the long English tradition of social satire, in tones strongly reminiscent of Swift and Pope.

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Review:

'David Nokes' new novel brilliantly combines a detective story with a shameless exposure of the ambitions and occasional chicanery of academic life. A hilarious addition to the tradition of Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodge.' --Times Literary Supplement

'I imagine a distinguished intellectual writes a book like this to take a holiday from the exactingness of his profession. He quotes from Johnson's Rasselas: ''Disorders of intellect happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe.'' Has Nokes deliberately gone a bit mad to stay sane? Sound thinking. I shall read his life of Jane Austen to see if the professor allowed any signs of unseemly levity to creep in there.' --The Spectator

'Drawing on the tradition of irreverent satire popularised by eighteenth century greats Johnson and Swift, a subject that Nokes specialises in, he crafts a witty black comedy that exposes the pretensions and the competitive nature of the academy through a darkly amusing mystery story...Nokes' novel is an intelligent, enjoyable and amusing read, which gives a much needed dose of humanity, and humour, to the representation of academics in popular culture.' --King's College London ROAR Magazine

From the Publisher:

First work of literary fiction by prize-winning biographer David Nokes

David Nokes’s witty and sharp black comedy adds a new page to the long English tradition of social satire, in tones strongly reminiscent of Swift and Pope.

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