The Underside
10/2011 · A&C Black
3,0star
1 recenziareport
E‑kniha
282
Počet strán
reportHodnotenia a recenzie nie sú overené Ďalšie informácie
Táto e‑kniha
This novel, set in Victorian London in its heyday, presents a picture, both horrific and authentic, of the 'underside' of life in the first city of the world.
It tells of Godfrey Mann, a young painter, who has access to the golden world of privilege and yet is possessed by a compelling sexual drive towards the hidden squalor and darkness below, a nostalgie de la boue that wars tumultuously both with his ideals as an artist and his love for the lion-couraged social reformer, Elizabeth. It is between Godfrey's reckless urges and Elizabeth's purity that truth must ultimately lie. And in working out this conflict of opposites, the story, though placed in an age whose fixed moral structure contrasts so forcibly with our permissiveness, has a meaning for today.
Here are 'scenes from Victorian life' that will not be quickly forgotten. There are vignettes of the elegance of the upper side, as ornately formal in its social routines as in the sheer magnificence of its horses and carriages and opulent settings. There is the underside with its appealing sexuality, violence and open putrescence. There is, above all, the mingling of the two in a brilliantly brought to life picture or the whole rich, riotous, bawdy assembly of a Victorian Derby Day. It is compulsive story-telling, handled with the cool detachment and lucidity which in other fields have brought H.R.F. Keating a wide readership.
It tells of Godfrey Mann, a young painter, who has access to the golden world of privilege and yet is possessed by a compelling sexual drive towards the hidden squalor and darkness below, a nostalgie de la boue that wars tumultuously both with his ideals as an artist and his love for the lion-couraged social reformer, Elizabeth. It is between Godfrey's reckless urges and Elizabeth's purity that truth must ultimately lie. And in working out this conflict of opposites, the story, though placed in an age whose fixed moral structure contrasts so forcibly with our permissiveness, has a meaning for today.
Here are 'scenes from Victorian life' that will not be quickly forgotten. There are vignettes of the elegance of the upper side, as ornately formal in its social routines as in the sheer magnificence of its horses and carriages and opulent settings. There is the underside with its appealing sexuality, violence and open putrescence. There is, above all, the mingling of the two in a brilliantly brought to life picture or the whole rich, riotous, bawdy assembly of a Victorian Derby Day. It is compulsive story-telling, handled with the cool detachment and lucidity which in other fields have brought H.R.F. Keating a wide readership.
Hodnotenia a recenzie
3,0
1 recenzia
O autorovi
H. R. F. Keating was born at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1926. He went to Merchant Taylors, leaving early to work in the engineering department of the BBC. After a period of service in the army, which he describes as 'totally undistinguished', he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he became a scholar in modern languages. He was also the crime books reviewer for The Times for fifteen years. His first novel about Inspector Ghote, The Perfect Murder, won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award.
Ohodnoťte túto elektronickú knihu
Povedzte nám svoj názor.
Informácie o dostupnosti
Smartfóny a tablety
Nainštalujte si aplikáciu Knihy Google Play pre Android a iPad/iPhone. Automaticky sa synchronizuje s vaším účtom a umožňuje čítať online aj offline, nech už ste kdekoľvek.
Laptopy a počítače
Audioknihy zakúpené v službe Google Play môžete počúvať prostredníctvom webového prehliadača v počítači.
Čítačky elektronických kníh a ďalšie zariadenia
Ak chcete tento obsah čítať v zariadeniach využívajúcich elektronický atrament, ako sú čítačky e‑kníh Kobo, musíte stiahnuť príslušný súbor a preniesť ho do svojho zariadenia. Pri prenose súborov do podporovaných čítačiek e‑kníh postupujte podľa podrobných pokynov v centre pomoci.
