By the author of "Sunday Whiteman", this novel of intellectual obsession and passion concerns two groups of people who are united in their investigation into the "great experiment of nature" in a Norfolk village, but divided by a century of time.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In Lindsay Clarke's second novel, which won a Whitbread Prize in 1989, alchemy infuses the language and imagery of a tale that unfolds as two separate stories. In the first sequence, a poet named Alex Darken falls into an abusive, yet obsessive triangle with an alcoholic elderly poet and a beautiful, troubled psychic. Together they pursue the alchemical and personal secrets of the spirited Louisa Agnew, the central character of the second story. Louisa is a woman devoted to a self-centered father whose fascination with the hermetic arts forces her to confront her own dark side and her feelings for a tormented minister. As the characters struggle for wholeness of spirit, they each uncover their hidden potential for passion and violence.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
British author Clarke adroitly interweaves two parallel stories in this long, richly atmospheric novel in which the ancient science of alchemy plays a critical role. In alternating chapters we become acquainted with two triangular relationships, one occuring in the present, the other a century earlier. Alex Darken, a blocked poet, comes to a village in Norfolk where he meets once-famous poet Edward Nesbit and his young lover, Laura, a student of parapsychology. The two are researching the lives of Sir Henry Agnew, an elderly metaphysical poet, and his learned daughter Louisa, whose treatise The Chymical Wedding meets the same sad end as her relationship with married rector Edwin Frere. The tragic fates of the 19th-century trio are gradually spelled out as the modern characters find their lives taking a similar turn. The air of mystery pervading the novel, its leisurely pace and mystical theme may remind readers of the works of John Knowles. As the narrative progresses, however, the descriptions of alchemic rituals become a bit tedious, the telling overwrought, the symbolism a bit too facile. For much of its length, however, this is an involving narrative, and readers may forgive its faults for the imaginative story it tells.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enchanting, bewitching, heady brew; highest recommendation,
By
This review is from: The Chymical Wedding (Paperback)
It was a brief comment (surprisingly, a review of a different book) that caused me to seek Lindsay Clarke's *The Chymical Wedding;* so, during a recent trip to England, I haunted the bookstores. My wife grew frustrated ("This is a vacation!") and I grew frustrated ("Where is this danged book?!") but frustration became success, and then pleasure.Based solely on the (English edition's) cover art and blurbs, I thought this novel would include some measure of the fantastic, of magic. There is magic, but it is in author Lindsay Clarke's prose - limpid, lambent, poetic - and in his wonderful, bewitching tale. Clarke's conflation of poetry, magic, alchemy, relationships (strong and closely bound; failed and lacking the ties that bind), and time (as expressed via the parallel stories, and the demi-bridge between them that aging and reclusive Edward Nesbit manifests) simply fascinates the reader. Protagonist Alex Darken (clever name!) intrigues: the success he enjoys as poet is insufficient to overcome his failings as teacher, as husband, as person. His maladroit handling of his life leads him to `take a retreat,' the better to reassess the shambles. Once ensconced in Pigthle (the name of the rented cottage), he goes out for a walk and espies Edward and Laura, and then meets the town locals; there went his planned retreat from life... I dare you to click on the link above and read the sample pages; I dare you to stop reading. I clicked the link, and found myself once again enchanted, bewitched, and down from the shelf came the novel to savor once again its heady brew. Highest recommendation.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best novels this reviewer (!) has ever read,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Chymical Wedding (Mass Market Paperback)
If, as I was, you were put off by the synopsis of The Chymical Wedding, don't be. Normally I never read a book with the word "obsessive" in the blurb, and for those of you who don't either, I'd like to set the record straight. Lindsay Clarke's The Chymical Wedding is one of the best novels I have ever read. It may contain obessions, dark sides, self-centred fathers and tormented ministers but the mood of the novel is completely at odds with this description. It sits light to life. It's capable of encompassing all the vagaries of human existence in the way that the best nineteenth century novels did (I'm thinking particularly of Middlemarch). It deals with some very dark topics, true, but it's wistful, rather than tormented, and in a way that is very English. Of course it tells a story -- two stories, which are woven together compellingly. The characters in the present have to try to unravel what happened to people in the same place a hundred years ago. (If you liked Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, or are a fan of Penelope Lively, then you'll like this bit.) The Chymical Wedding has some pertinent things to say about the difficulties of being a man (or indeed human) in the late twentieth century. It looks at some aspects of the occult without the credulousness of the New Age movement, and finds them to occupy a very necessary, and long-forgotten place in our culture. They have been neglected to the detriment of our collective mental health. But, best of all, it has an effect at a very deep level. It tugs at you, as life tugs at Alex Darken, makes you sit up and take notice. The whole book is suffused with a greenish, golden light, which will stay with you long after you put it down.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
By far the best of many recent present/historical romances.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Chymical Wedding (Paperback)
Simply put, this is a wonderful book -- a thrilling intellectual romance whose complexity is used to reveal that when all is (literally) said and done, what lasts is what is simple and true. Readers of John Fowles, Umberto Eco, Toni Morrison, and even Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke will enjoy "The Chymical Wedding" immensely. Profoundly moving and deserving of a very wide audience.
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