- Paperback: 1 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classic; New edition edition (May 1 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0140188991
- ISBN-13: 978-0140188998
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 431 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #692,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Burgess's ambitious study of 20th-century history centers on the stormy relationship between an effete, popular novelist and a Faustian priest.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
This novel traces 81 years in the life of a homosexual writer and lapsed Catholic called Frank Toomey, who spends a lifetime unsuccessfully trying to reconcile his sexual urges with his faith.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Burgess Power Personified,
By Plom de Nume "Rob" (Wolverhampton, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Earthly Powers (Paperback)
...First thing for me, though, is that the book combines the intellectual rewards of "serious" lit' with the more popular joys of any "thumping good read"! Critical analysis can be (and probably has been) made in great depth, if you're so inclined, from the thematics of the plot to close exegesis of the imagery, the syntax, the sound, the intricacies and subtleties of the prose: polymath Burgess is certainly up to any level of detailed appreciation, being more than capable in that area himself. But this is so much more than just a "clever-clever" exercise. Burgess rejoices in language as the virtuoso rejoices in musicianship: that is, he makes brilliance and insight accessible, entertaining and enlightening with the same effortless, but technically expert and hard-won, ease as Mozart or Shakespeare.So there's that erudite, piquant, moving, hilarious voice to recommend Earthly Powers, just for starters. Then consider the story: well, it's about Good and Evil in the Twentieth Century, right? OK, it's about the Devil and his possession, at some time or other, of just about anyone who ever tried to do right, let alone the weak and downright villainous. Satan is even shown to act - and occasionally speak, if you pay attention - through the "author" himself . This narrator, Kenneth Toomey, is what Earthly Powers is "about" on the simplest level: his outrageous cultural, religious, literary and sexual adventures amongst the movers and shakers, fictitious and real, of the modern age. The Toomey persona is clearly close to Burgess in many ways - he's witty, self-deprecating, eloquent, tortured, magnanimous, irascible. Very "real," then; but also brilliantly imagined - witness more than one glib critic being fooled into writing of Burgess as "homosexual" (wrong) on the strength of this most convincing of personae. Earthly Powers is exciting and entertaining in so many ways, from sheer quality of authorship through to scope of plot and impact of incident. Lovely characters, too. It has true and important things to say about human behaviour; profound messages about love, respect and inhumanity. Please read it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Faith, duty, home,
By A Customer
This review is from: Earthly Powers (Paperback)
I rate this Burgess' best novel, having bought it at least three times! It's a big, heavy book, so I take it to the beach it, read it, and bin it before leaving, to save luggage weight. Then I realise I need to reread it...Burgess' narrator namedrops his way shamelessly through the twentieth century as he tells the story of his own life and the intertwined fortunes of his brother-in-law, Carlo Campanati, a Catholic priest whose dearest ambition is to "make Pope". It's a huge sweep of history and human times to cover, but Burgess centres it around faith, duty, and home, and makes it look easy. One warning: he is *very* erudite, so you'll need a dictionary at times. I reckon I have a good vocabulary, but I had no idea what a "venerean strabismus" was. It's up there with "Brideshead Revisited" as a "foodie" book too. One of the beaches I read this on was in Goa, and I was gagging for the Italian meatballs and "cold, black wine" which I couldn't get over there! Stylistically it's self-conscious; the narrator intervenes frequently to remind you he's writing his autobiography. It's not a major problem, and in fact it's necessary. The first time you notice this is the absolutely show-stopping opening paragraph involving archbishops and catamites (reach for your dictionary if you don't know)...! Did I mention this book is frequently very, very funny? I cried laughing at the later scenes featuring the shoplifting bisexual Nazi. Warmly recommended; just don't expect Clockwork Orange!
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best novels of the 20th century...out of print?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Earthly Powers (Paperback)
"Earthly Powers" is a marvelous meditation on destiny, social construction, social climbing, fate and faith ; its Somerset Maugham-based narrator gives us an unflinching view of life's paradoxes amidst a series of wonderful, unforgettable passages and characters. Get ready for a jaw-dropping ending.This book is, say, one of the ten best novels of the last century (and a lot easier to read than Gravity's Rainbow or Ulysses). In a better world, it would never be out of print.
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