| |
|  |  |
| Discussion: Ian Pears I felt the pulse of 17th century class and religious conflict in his Instance of the Fingerpost. His Holgarth like imagery seemed to fade in his "Dream." He seemed to have undertaken too much with his multiple settings and mindsets.The weakest appeared to be his lackluster presentation of Barbarian thought as Rome disolved.His Bishop appeared far too stylized and his Muse too abstract.I felt he might have gained more character drawings from Robert Graves or even Gore Vidal.His "plague years' also appeared too stereotypical. I am intrirued by his philosophic erudition but did it not appear too ostentatious?I would like to talk to and about this man and his work. >>By The Dream Of Scipio The novel "The Dream of Scipio" was outstanding. >>By LBelle While not within a country mile of "An Instance of the Fingerpost," the book is a thoughtful, if not compelling read. Pears' balancing of three lives of men who live in different eras, but who have similar problems and desires, is interesting -- once you get into it. But, his references to a vague philosophy can be irritating and even boring at times. Least well-developed is the story about Manlius. The most thought-provoking element of the book, in my view, is the ethical issue of collaboration with the Vichy government. Weighing Marcel's rationalizations about keeping order and maintaining a government in Provence against the life-and-death decisions he -- and Julien -- sometimes have to make in the name of maintaining that order makes one think about how you would act in the same circumstances. >>By BillH You are not logged in. To access all functionality, you can log in via Flork. Flork is a worldwide community of people who are interested in music, movies and books. As a Flork-User, you can participate in this and other discussions, meet new people and exchange messages with other members directly: www.flork.com |