To the Hermitage [Paperback]

Malcolm Bradbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

In October 1993, a novelist is invited to go to Stockholm and Russia to take part in what is enigmatically referred to as the Diderot Project. In Stockholm he is joined by various other members of the project-including an academic, a lustful opera singer, and a Swedish diplomat. On the journey to Russia more is revealed about the great Enlightenment writer Denis Diderot-the son of a knife maker in Langres, who went to Paris and compiled the Encyclopedia, a book that changed the world.

In alternating narratives, Bradbury brilliantly recreates the climate of the eighteenth century-as Diderot journeys to Russia at the behest of Catherine the Great for discussions on the nature of the late-18th-century world-as well as the twentieth century academic milieu.

"An exuberant, enchanting literary valedictory." (Washington Times)

"To the Hermitage reads like a love letter to the life of the mind from a man who, in his work as a writer, critic, academic and teacher has done much to contribute to the dizzying circulation of ideas." (The Independent on Sunday)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The late Bradbury (Eating People Is Wrong; Doctor Criminale), a noted teacher and novelist, achieves a striking and effective blend of past and present, literary sleuthing and travelogue in this, his last novel. It weaves two narratives: the first concerns an English professor who goes with a group of fellow academics to St. Petersburg on the Diderot Project (a conference devoted to the great French philosopher and contemporary of Voltaire), just as Yeltsin's countercoup in Moscow is coming to a climax. It is also the wonderfully researched and touching story of how Catherine the Great, ever eager to be thought of as a queen of enlightenment, invited Diderot to her palace, the Hermitage, for daily discussions on the nature of the late-18th-century world. A motley collection of contemporary scholars have their own reasons for their pilgrimage, which is much enlivened by academic bickering and inserted conference papers that venture into beguiling byways of history. The professor encounters an elderly librarian who has spent her life trying to organize the unruly collection of Diderot papers amid the rigors of Soviet life; in her, Bradbury has created a deeply poignant character sketch. The windup of the historical segment is no less delightful, bringing Diderot and Voltaire together and offering the piquant suggestion that the plans for a Russian constitution, which Diderot failed to interest Catherine in, became the basis for our own Constitution. The book is overextended, but it is also lively, thought provoking and, in its portrait of contemporary Russia, vividly chilling. For patient readers of a scholarly inclination and with a liking for the stranger corners of history, this will be a treat; many will unfortunately find the length and density daunting.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The late Bradbury's final novel is a clever dual narrative that compares Denis Diderot's Age of Reason to the postmodern 1990s. The first story follows the French encyclopedist as he travels from Paris to Catherine the Great's court in St. Petersburg. The acquisitive Catherine has just purchased Diderot's personal library. Now she wants to hire him as her librarian. In the second narrative, a British novelist attends an international Diderot conference held in St. Petersburg in 1993, just as the military coup against Boris Yeltsin is unfolding. When an American deconstructionist in a baseball cap refutes the very notion of an Age of Reason, the conference collapses into drunken anarchy. To the Hermitage recapitulates Bradbury's lifelong obsessions, including modern critical theory, academic politics, and Anglo-American relations. The playful postmodern style intentionally confuses historical idioms (e.g., Diderot learns that the king has "prebooked a small suite in the Bastille," should he decide to return to France). This genuinely funny book will be remembered as one of Bradbury's best. Recommended for most fiction collections. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 2001 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: 510 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585672564
• ISBN-13: 978-1585672561
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An untidy attic of a book., May 24, 2001

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: To the Hermitage (Hardcover)

Despite the reverence with which Bradbury is regarded and the fact that this was his last book, it will probably never receive a literary award. Parts of it are insightfully descriptive, thoughtful, humorous, and fun to read, but it lacks the unity (and editing!) which would make it a coherent whole, feeling more like a draft than a finished product.

Two story lines unfold on parallel tracks. Denis Diderot is at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, visiting the court of Catherine the Great and discussing philosophy with her every afternoon in the hope that she will become an enlightened leader, rather than an autocratic despot. The second, less effective story involves seven contemporary characters--a writer, a diplomat, a carpenter, an opera singer, a trade unionist, a dramatist, and a "funky professor" with "I Love Deconstruction" on his hat. This motley group, representing some of the areas in which Diderot was interested, is participating in the Diderot Project, the object of which is to find all the books and papers which once belonged to Diderot and which he sold to Catherine for his "pension and posterity." All participants regard this as a junket--a free trip.

The atmosphere of 18th century Russia and of the Age of Enlightenment is vivid, and it is easy for the reader to feel the philosophical give and take of the discussions between Diderot and Catherine. The lengthy discussions, with references to Voltaire, Rousseau, Lawrence Sterne, David Garrick, and Dr. Johnson, among others, are intriguing for the connections they make, and they are often humorous, but they are too long and heavy here, and they weigh down and eventually bury the slim plot.

As for the Diderot Project participants, they are sketchy characters, and one never really gets to understand them. And why someone would fund this supposed project when its goals seem so amorphous and the objectives in Russia so nebulous remains a permanent (and unrealistic) mystery. The fact that the group arrives just as Yeltsin dismisses the Duma and a possible coup or revolution is taking place could have been used to show some nice parallels and contrasts with the rule of Catherine and the ideas of Diderot, but the author's selection of details which would make this clear to the reader just didn't happen.

The character of Galina, a discussion of postmortemism (the idea that writers all borrow directly from previous generations, thereby living forever), and the meeting of Diderot and Thomas Jefferson (and suggestion that Diderot thereby contributed to the U.S. Constitution) are among the many wonderful features of this book, but they are hidden away in this 500-page attic of a book. Mary Whipple

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Think The Author Had Fun, August 4, 2001

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
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This review is from: To the Hermitage (Hardcover)

"To The Hermitage", by Malcolm Bradbury is the only work of his that I have read. I can say that I very much enjoyed the work, and was saddened to learn this was his last before his death. From The Preface when he states, "this is (I suppose) a story", and then he lists all the amendments he made to centuries of history from Architectural, Literary, the births of persons, and the layout of cities, he clearly seemed to be intent on having fun.

The main character sets out with a very diverse group to St. Petersburg as part of the collective named, "The Diderot Project". Ostensibly this is a scholarly event where the appropriate papers shall be shared on their voyage, and the rigorous standards of Academe will reign. Our Protagonist is unprepared with his paper and substitutes an off the cuff speech that if performed in real life would be nothing short of mesmerizing. Even written on the page it reads as though spontaneous in spite of the medium it is presented upon.

The intent of the trip is suspect almost from the start as one member of the entourage is a famous singer of opera and is almost as famously as ignorant of Mr. Diderot. Her lone claim is an influence she shares that Diderot had on pieces of Mozart's work. The balance of the group has a variety of academic credentials, however as the male members begin chasing, "Tatianas", all over the ship, the façade is dented if not torn altogether. This free and easy mingling takes place as the USSR is gaining the word former in front of it.

To the rescue is a parallel story featuring the dialogues/friendship of Diderot and Catherine The Great. Now again the reader is warned that historical figures that never met, do meet in this book because the Author feels they should have. So any dates you may know must be made flexible or forgotten. The Protagonists experiences and that of this historical version of Diderot and his travels trade the reader's attention back and forth throughout the book.

This work is a great deal of fun for the knowledge to document History is immense. To credibly alter History, add amusement, and restructure those portions as the writer chooses, is I believe, an even greater work of scholarship. For Mr. Bradbury did not write of History in the format as a novel because he lacked the truth, he did so because his knowledge allowed him to manipulate events to make his version entertaining, and in its own way credible. This really is a great piece of writing. I cannot compare it to other work this man has written, but if they are as good as this, I shall read them all.

5.0 out of 5 stars learned, literate, highly enjoyable, November 28, 2009

By 

Owen Brown - See all my reviews
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This review is from: To the Hermitage (Paperback)

This is a book to savor, read slowly, with online access to look up, review, and enrich your acquaintance with the Enlightenment and its leading lights. At times hilarious, at times tragic. Reminiscent of Sontag's The Volcano Lover. Dialogue is exquisite; hardly a wrong note.