Music,In A Foreign Language (Original Fiction in Paperback) [Paperback]

Andrew Crumey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Original Fiction in Paperback | Publication Date: June 30, 2011

"Two people meet on a train: the young man is imagining a novel, and imagining the life of the young woman. A waiter rushes out to find a girl he fancied who hasn't paid her bill, only to find a diary in which their fictitious flirtation is anatomised. But the story actually begins with a man taking a leak after making love to his wife. He has the inklings of a novel, but thoughts will keep intruding, with all their seductive possibilities. The man on the train is living in an England that has decided, with characteristic diffidence and lack of fuss, that it no longer wants to live under a totalitarian regime which has lasted for 40 years. I say totalitarian, but think more of Brazil, a world of terribly genial tyranny, where officialdom tries so hard to be accommodating. And Duncan has another story, one prompted by the memory of his father's car crashing down a slope. As with all good postmodernist novels, the endless digressions are more soothing than jarring." Murrough O'Brien in The Independent on Sunday The strikingly inventive structure of this novel allows the author to explore the similarities between fictions and history. At any point, there are infinite possibilities for the way the story, a life, or the history of the world might progress. The whole work is enjoyably unpredictable, and poses profound questions about the issues of motivation, choice and morality." The Sunday Times "A writer more interested in inheriting the mantle of Perec and Kundera than Amis and Drabble. Like much of the most interesting British fiction around at the moment, Music, in a Foreign Language is being published in paperback by a small independent publishing house, giving hope that a tentative but long overdue counter-attack is being mounted on the indelible conservatism of the modern English novel.With this novel he has begun his own small stand against cultural mediocrity, and to set himself up, like his hero, as ' a refugee from drabness. From tinned peas, and rain.'" Jonathan Coe in The Guardian

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You can't accuse Andrew Crumey of playing it safe with his first novel. It's sprawling, intricate, moody, crazed, philosophical, and oddly introspective. Despite a wealth of plot lines--among them the confused lineage of Duncan Waters, the love affairs of physicist Charles King, and a story of beautiful strangers on a train--the book also finds time to develop a discussion of Italian surrealist writer Alfredo Galli, who may or may not have created many of the plot lines attributed to the narrator. Ultimately, Music in a Foreign Language becomes a work of metafiction as it attempts to unravel the mystery of what exactly a novel is. A challenging and entertaining read. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Crumey's thought-provoking but somewhat too ambitious debut stages love and betrayal in a subtly rendered British police state peopled by authoritarian bureaucrats and bobbies. Two story lines are unevenly linked by the musings of an introverted authorial figure, an exile from this prison state, writing his first novel (this one) while reflecting on his marriage. One plot focuses on Charles King, a physicist (like Crumey), and his friend, Cambridge historian Robert Waters, who has been chosen to write an official history of this alternate English revolution. Unfortunately, the official vetting turns up an incriminating political pamphlet, "Flood," that Robert and Charles anonymously wrote years ago during a sort of Prague spring. The investigation in turn threatens to expose the routine betrayals of Charles's caddish lovelife (and his current liaison with Jenny, a London secretary) and the secret of Robert's repressed (and illegal) homosexuality, which he sought to hide through marriage. Interleaved with these events, which turn out to be flashbacks, is the contemporary story of Robert's son, Duncan, a constantly redrafted narrative in which Duncan mulls over his father's sudden death and his chance meeting with an Italian tourist while he is reading a book by metaphysician Alfredo Galli. This arch pastiche of Calvino does not quite work, and discursions on history, physics and music hamper the story. Crumey is more successful in skillfully enmeshing ordinary relationships in a subtly constructed totalitarian world.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Dedalus Limited; First Edition edition (June 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1873982119
• ISBN-13: 978-1873982112
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,442,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not for lightweights, December 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Music, in a Foreign Language (Paperback)

A beautiful piece of craftsmanship, this book will satisfy both brain hemispheres of the intellectual reading public. The technique is amusing and resonates harmonically throughout the book. I found myself playing the game of guessing how the next chapter would begin BEFORE I turned the page. The philosophical premises are thoroughly stimulating and if you have what it takes to stay out there in the ethersphere for the duration, you will be surprised at the conclusion. Crumey is the kind of intellectual provocateur that will keep your synapses humming happily for weeks after you close the book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music in a nested storyline, May 31, 2003

By 

J. Jeude "JJNJ" (NJ (USA)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Music, in a Foreign Language (Paperback)

I ran across this book while desperately seeking something to read at my favorite lunchcounter-used book store (Easton, Pennsylvania). Having just finished singing in Latin in a choir, the title caught my attention.

The story kept my attention sharply focused with its plot device of nesting layer upon layer, character upon character, yet ultimately resolving the plot threads. I confess to having used a numbering scheme to note whether the story was a character's line, or the storyline of a character in a book the character was reading, and so on. I'm delighted to see Crumey has continued to write, and will certainly be seeking these out as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Master of Language, August 10, 2001

By 

Joseph Formaggio (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music, in a Foreign Language (Paperback)

Andrew Crumey's book, Music in a Foreign Language, is by far one of my favorite books of all time. His manipulation of language and plot draws the reader into his intricate fictional world. The structure of his novel is wonderfully complex; each story nested within the other, forming a non-linear narrative that is a pleasure to read. If you are a fan of intricate, complex works of genius, do not let this work go unread. Crumey's other works are also excellent, but they do not compare with this masterpiece.