Leonardo's Horse [Paperback]

Ralph M. Berry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1997

On May 2, 1519 at the Clos Luc in Amboise, Leonardo is dying. He no longer cares about art or science. He wants only to answer a simple question about his life: why did he abandon his colossal equestrian statue in Milan? Meanwhile, R-, a 20th century historian writing a novel about Leonardo, meditates upon the same question in the midst of an apocalyptic traffic jam, as military helicopters fill the air with tear gas, AIDS demonstrators run amok, and a hospital evacuates its patients onto a nearby sidewalk. Berry's stupendous novel is a fitting response to the close of a century obsessed with the "end of history." This book is a big masterpiece of a kind rarely dared in the contemporary novel.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

R. M. Berry's Leonardo's Horse delivers a new take on the famous Renaissance sculptor, painter, mathematician, and scientist: Leonardo as proto-slacker, enthusiastic yet easily distracted, full of ambitious ideas and plans, yet never quite bringing them to fulfillment. Leonardo da Vinci forms one plot axis of this ambitious first novel; the other revolves around a failed academic known here simply as "R." Caught in his 1955 Buick Roadmaster during an AIDS rally gone very wrong, R recounts both his own story and that of Leonardo's death in 1519. Originally the subject of his dissertation ("The Cultural Iconography of 'Leonardo da Vinci'"), in R's hands Leonardo's story has morphed into a rollicking piece of fiction, as the Renaissance man's many disappointments mirror R's own. The author of a 1984 collection of short stories--Plane Geometry and Other Affairs of the Heart--Berry has a fine touch with contemporary details, and both present-day and Renaissance plots ably display his razor-sharp wit. Leonardo's Horse is a promising debut novel from a writer who dares to explore the complicated territory of failure.

From Library Journal

Readers who deify Leonardo da Vinci, view the Renaissance as a time of unparalleled enlightenment, or believe that those tumultuous times offer no glimpses into our own will be challenged by this novel, which is as complex as its protagonist. Leonardo, as viewed by historian-turned-novelist R___, is history's garage, his work a collection of fascinating but uncompletable projects. Berry presents Leonardo's story from his deathbed and R___'s from his position stranded on the freeway inside his 1955 Buick while authorities attack AIDS protestors with chemical weapons. Just as Leonardo had finagled various rival aristocrats to bankroll his projects, R___ and his monkey-wrencher "not wife" have created a fraudulent second life on paper to survive in a world seemingly bent on social and environmental destruction. This may sound overly abstruse, but earthiness, vivid characterizations, and dark, ironic humor (like the "Windfall Taxes Chainsaw Massacre") make this a delightful experience for sophisticated readers. Highly recommended for medium to large public and academic libraries.?Jim Dwyer, California State Univ. Lib., Chico
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: Fiction Collective 2; 1 edition (November 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573660310
• ISBN-13: 978-1573660310
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,242,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars incomprehensible, January 1, 2004

By 

M. Roskothen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leonardo's Horse (Paperback)

I am probably the only person who has ever read the entire book. I just couldn't believe that the book made no sense at all. It felt like 1978 when I tried to read Ron Hubbard's Dianetics and I gave up after 15 pages. Only this time I read the entire book.
Leonardo's Horse is one of those books you can mention on artsy parties that you have read (and enjoyed) it. Noone will ever ask you about any details.