This is a biography/literary novel concerning Elgar who leaves Liverpool to go on a round-trip voyage across the Atlantic to Brazil and up the River Amazon. The author is a Newdigate Prize-winner and has written "Playing With Water" and "View From Mount Dog". This is his first novel.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In this delightful novel, which won a Whitbread Prize in 1989, James Hamilton-Paterson joins celebrated British composer Edward Elgar on a cruise on the Amazon River and imagines what artists of the time may have pondered. "Oh Edward what a stupid doltish ass you've been to waste your life on the idea that art--in its small way--can make the least difference to things," he imagines Elgar as commenting. The book isn't merely a collection of questioning ruminations; the cruise is filled with a variety of comical and interesting passengers and crew members.
From Publishers Weekly
This brillant winner of England's Whitbread Prize fictionalizes a documented but uncharacteristic Amazon cruise taken by celebrated British composer Edward Elgar.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Skip first 13 pages,
By CXC (North Beach) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gerontius (Paperback)
The initial section of this book has nothing to do with the plot and is very portentious and incomprehensible. Both I and my wife found it off-puting. However, starting on page 13, this is a superb, beautiful, and thought-provoking novel that I recommend unhesitatingly.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gerontius,
By Bernard Hughes (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gerontius (Paperback)
Wistful, poignant and beautifully written, this is a touching and elegaic novel. Blending fact with imaginary events, Hamilton Paterson takes an extraordinary, but true, event from Elgar's life and constructs around it a simple but fabulous narrative about a man at a creative crisis. Thoroughly enjoyable.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nuance and compassion in imaginary Elgar biography,
By A Customer
This review is from: Gerontius (Hardcover)
Music lovers as well as those who enjoy fine writing will find Hamilton-Paterson's imaginary account of a voyage up the Amazon by Edward Elgar not only entertaining and thought-provoking, but also ultimately very revealing of the contradictions and conflicts in Elgar's character. Hamilton-Paterson's research has been as thorough as his sympathy for his protagonist is obviously deep. This novel won the Whitbread prize for best first fiction
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
