Richly imagined and recounted in vivid prose of extraordinary
beauty, this book is a stunning illustration of Ransmayr's talent
for imbuing a captivating tale with intense metaphorical, indeed
metaphysical force. The world's most powerful man, Qianlong,
emperor of China, invites the famous eighteenth-century clockmaker
Alister Cox to his court in Beijing. There, in the heart of the
Forbidden City, the Englishman and his assistants are to build
machines that mark the passing of time as a child or a condemned
man might experience it and that capture the many shades of
happiness, suffering, love, and loss that come with that passing.
Mystified by the rituals of a rigidly hierarchical society
dominated by an unimaginably wealthy, god-like ruler, Cox musters
all his expertise and ingenuity to satisfy the emperor's desires.
Finally, Qianlong, also known by the moniker Lord of Time, requests
the construction of a clock capable of measuring eternity-a
perpetuum mobile. Seizing this chance to realize a long-held dream
and honor the memory of his late beloved daughter, yet conscious of
the impossibility of his task, Cox sets to work. As the court is
suspended in a never-ending summer, festering with evil gossip
about the monster these foreigners are creating, the Englishmen
wonder if they will ever escape from their gilded cage. More than a
meeting of two men, one isolated by power, the other by grief, this
is an exploration of mortality and a virtuoso demonstration that
storytelling alone can truly conquer time.
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