Howard Jacobson:The Finkler Question
- Livres de poche 2016, ISBN: 9781408809105
Wordsworth Editions, Limited. Good. 4.90(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d). Paperback. 1995. 352 pages. <br>Notes From Your Bookseller The beginning of it al l. The first vampire to take to t… Plus…
Wordsworth Editions, Limited. Good. 4.90(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d). Paperback. 1995. 352 pages. <br>Notes From Your Bookseller The beginning of it al l. The first vampire to take to the page and spawn a universal th irst for more bloodsuckers. It all starts with an ill-fated real estate transaction for poor Jonathan Harker, who unearths a dange r that is more bite than bark. It's immortally entertaining and w orthy of your eyes. The punctured throat, the coffin lid slowly opening, the unholy shriek as the stake pierces the heart-these a re just a few of the chilling images Bram Stoker unleashed upon t he world with his 1897 masterpiece, Dracula. Inspired by the folk legend of nosferatu, the undead, Stoker created a timeless tale of gothic horror and romance that has enthralled and terrified re aders ever since. A true masterwork of storytelling, Dracula has transcended generation, language, and culture to become one of t he most popular novels ever written. It is a quintessential tale of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying chara cters ever born in literature: Count Dracula, a tragic, night-dwe lling specter who feeds upon the blood of the living, and whose d iabolical passions prey upon the innocent, the helpless, and the beautiful. But Dracula also stands as a bleak allegorical saga of an eternally cursed being whose nocturnal atrocities reflect the dark underside of the supremely moralistic age in which it was o riginally written - and the corrupt desires that continue to plag ue the modern human condition. Editorial Reviews DRACULA cannot be described as a domestic novel, nor its annals as those of a q uiet life. The circumstances described are from the first peculia r. A young solicitor sent for on business by a client in Transylv ania goes through some unusual experiences. He finds himself shut up in a half ruined castle with a host who is only seen at night and three beautiful females who have the misfortune of being vam pires. Their intentions, which can hardly be described as honoura ble, are to suck his blood, in order to sustain their own vitalit y. Count Dracula (the host) is also a vampire but has grown tired of his compatriots, however young and beautiful, and has a great desire for what may literally be called fresh blood. He has ther efore sent for the solicitor that through his means he may be int roduced to London society. Without understanding the Count's view s, Mr. Harker has good reason for having suspicions of his client . Wolves come at his command, and also fogs; he is also too cleve r by half at climbing. There is a splendid prospect from the cast le terrace, which Mr. Harker would have enjoyed but for his convi ction that he would never leave the place alive- . . . These scen es and situations, striking as they are, become commonplace compa red with Count Dracula's goings on in London. As Falstaff was not only witty himself but the cause of wit in other people, so a va mpire, it seems, compels those it has bitten (two little marks on the throat are its token, usually taken by faculty for the scrat ches of a broach) to become after death vampires also. Nothing ca n keep them away but garlic, which is, perhaps, why that comestib le is so popular in certain countries. One may imagine, therefore ,how the thing spread in London after the Count's arrival. The on ly chance of stopping it was to kill the Count before any of his victims died, and this was a difficult job, for though several ce nturies old, he was very young and strong, and could become a dog or a bat at pleasure. However, it is undertaken by four resolute and high-principled persons, and how it is managed forms the sub ject of the story, of which nobody can complain that it is defici ent in dramatic situations. We would not however, recommend it to nervous persons for evening reading. - 1897 London Times review Monday August 23rd Gr 5-9-For readers wanting a small shiver dow n their spines, these books will suffice. Stoker's Dracula is suc cinct and well edited. The art is stale and tame and might titill ate, but it won't produce any nightmares. The adaptation in Doria n Gray can be clunky at times but it covers the main points of th e story. The beautiful and youthful Dorian Gray is never very att ractive in the illustrations, but the decaying painting will appr opriately disgust young readers. The story in The Invisible Man i s heavily edited, and the action is crammed into a few pages, but the scenes in which the Invisible Man is on the loose are intens e. The illustrations are fairly detailed and include some graphic scenes of blood and a nearly naked Invisible Man. All three book s include information about the authors and a glossary. There are better adaptations of these novels available, but these titles p rovide slim and chilling reads that give a taste of the actual st ories for reluctant readers.-Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, Kearns Libr ary, UT - School Library Journal This illustrated adaptation of Bram Stoker's work trades the epistolary nature of the original for a condensed, third-person narration, supplemented by selectio ns from Jonathan Harker's journal entries and from John Seward's memoirs. Hitting the major plot points, like Jonathan's arrival a t Dracula's castle and Lucy's frightening transformation, Raven r etains much of the subtle terror of Jonathan's imprisonment, whil e providing Mina with more volition ( 'Tonight we end this,' adde d Mina firmly). Readers will likely be chilled by Gilbert's evoca tive ink and colored pencil images and drawn to the enigmatic Cou nt, with his long, blond hair and violet eyes. A lavish and acces sible retelling. Ages 12-up. (July) - Publishers Weekly Glennis Byron's succinct yet comprehensive introduction provides a useful overview of critical responses to Stoker's text. Even more valua ble is the inclusion of supplementary material (some of which has not, until now been readily available) that clearly places Dracu la in its historical context. - Elizabeth Miller Memorial Univers ity Valuable for both research and classroom use. All Dracula sc holars will want to own this useful, very reasonably-priced text. - Margaret L. Carter Bradley University Glennis Byron has done a superb job of collecting just the right supplementary materials to accompany the novel, including reviews by Stoker's contempora ries, biographical material, information on the social and cultur al topics that concerned Stoker and his readers, even a tourist g uide to London in the late nineteenth-century. - Carol A. Senf Ge orgia Institute of Technology No other edition so carefully asse mbles a wealth of contextual material, nor succeeds so admirably in drawing the reader into Stoker's cultural milieu. - David Glo ver University of Southampton Narrators David Horovitch, Jamie P arker, Joseph Kloska, and Alison Pettitt and cast adopt the ident ities of the well-known characters of Bram Stoker's classic: Jona than Harker, Mina, Lucy, the Count, and others. As the story is t old in a series of diary entries and letters, Dracula himself com es off as both charming and caring-until his true form is reveale d. Highlights of this production include a childlike portrait of Mina and bone-chilling portrayals of Harker and Van Helsing as th e tension of the twisted plot rises and Dracula's sinister powers and needs are revealed. Fans of the genre will be reminded just how psychically unsettling this horror story is. R.O. SYNC 2015, 2016 ALA Media Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine - APRIL 20 15 - AudioFile ., Wordsworth Editions, Limited, 1995, 2.5, Bloomsbury. Good. 7.99 x 10 x 1.85 inches. Paperback. 2010. 320 pages.Cover worn<br>He should have seen it coming. His life h ad been one mishap after another. So he should have been prepared for this one... Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish phil osopher, writer and television personality, are old school friend s. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they ve never quite lost touch with each other or with their former te acher, Libor Sevcik, a Czech always more concerned with the wider world than with exam results. Now, both Libor and Finkler are re cently widowed, and with Treslove, his chequered and unsuccessful record with women rendering him an honorary third widower, they dine at Libor s grand, central London apartment. It s a sweetly p ainful evening of reminiscence in which all three remove themselv es to a time before they had loved and lost; a time before they h ad fathered children, before the devastation of separations, befo re they had prized anything greatly enough to fear the loss of it . Better, perhaps, to go through life without knowing happiness a t all because that way you have less to mourn? Treslove finds he has tears enough for the unbearable sadness of both his friends l osses.And it s that very evening, at exactly 11:30 pm, as Treslov e, walking home, hesitates a moment outside the window of the old est violin dealer in the country, that he is attacked. And after this, his whole sense of who and what he is will slowly and inelu ctably change. The Finkler Question is a scorching story of frien dship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and of the wisdom and hu manity of maturity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this extraordina ry novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant best. Editorial Reviews About the Author The Man Booker Prize Winner 2 010, Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester, brought up in Prestw ich and was educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, and D owning College, Cambridge, where he studied under F. R. Leavis. H e lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before ret urning to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His novels include The Mighty Walzer (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Pri ze), Kalooki Nights (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize) and the highly acclaimed The Act of Love. The Finkler Question wins the 2010 Man Booker Prize. The Finkler Question is a scorching story of exclusion and belonging, justice and love, ageing, wisdom and humanity. ., Bloomsbury, 2010, 2.5<
