Accomplished and erudite, John Banville expects the reader not only
to engage with the text but to interrogate it. Who is speaking?
When? Are they telling the truth, or is the narrator trying to
deceive the reader as he deceives other characters in the world of
the novel? The narrator here is Axel Vander, an elderly academic
lacking in compassion for others but haunted by the knowledge of
his own past. Against the background of the persecution of the Jews
in the 1940s, through the tortuosities of his psyche and Banville's
prose, we discern the outline of encounters, deaths and doomed love
affairs, faded or enhanced by memory. Men endure alienation while
women live with the wounds of absent or destructive love, and there
is a conspicuous lack of any shared perception of the world, which
is itself full of physical dangers and ethical problems. Shroud
will appeal to readers who enjoyed Ghosts, a previous novel by
Banville which shares the sense of displacement permeating this
book. Couched in terms of a mystery set amidst the uncertainties of
central Europe during the Second World War, it is ultimately a
meditation on identity. Can it be invented, can it be stolen?
Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you venture into
Banville's world, will you survive unchanged? (Kirkus UK)
Axel Vander, a celebrated academic, is living out his retirement on the west coast of America. For decades he has lived with the secret of a tragedy of which he was both perpetrator and victim. A letter arrives out of the blue hinting at knowledge of his past and his secret.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
