- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Canada (May 13 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0676972926
- ISBN-13: 978-0676972924
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.8 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #201,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Like his elegant debut, An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears's The Dream of Scipio is an inventive, gloriously detailed historical novel told from multiple viewpoints. But Pears has set himself an additional challenge by spreading his narrators over several centuries: there's the fifth century French nobleman and bishop, Manlius, a civilized man who has embraced the uncouth Christian faith in order to protect what he holds dear; an 11th-century scholar and troubadour named Olivier de Noyen, the famously ill-fated admirer of a married girl; and Julien Barneuve, an early 20th-century scholar of de Noyen who discovers, through him, a magnificent manuscript of Manlius's called "The Dream of Scipio." Though all three men come from the same small Provençal town, it is this manuscript, derived from the teachings of a wise woman, that links the three narrative threads of Pears's story. At the heart of The Dream of Scipio and, one suspects, at the heart of its author, is the conflict between a classical ideal of learning and the contemplation of beauty, and the noisy, uncivilized, democratizing impulses of the Christian era. A novel of ideas like its predecessor, The Dream of Scipio is neither chilly nor didactic and doesn't shy away from depicting the costs of its narrators' unpopular devotions. --Regina Marler
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Critic Harold Bloom once opined that literature is a series of misprisions, or misreadings, by writers of their predecessors. Although Pears might not have had Bloom in mind in his latest novel, the premise is an unlikely embodiment of Bloom's thesis. The story unfolds in three time frames, in each of which a man and a woman are in love, civilization itself is crumbling and Jews become the scapegoats for larger cultural anxieties. In the first scenario, Manlius is a wealthy Roman living in Provence in the empire's crepuscular 5th century. Although he has received the last echo of Hellenic wisdom, he is surrounded by believers in a nasty sect he despises Christianity but must find some means to protect Provence from the barbarians. In fighting for "civilization," he becomes a bishop and the promoter, almost accidentally, of one of the West's first pogroms. In the next narrative time period, a manuscript of Manlius's poem, "The Dream of Scipio," a neo-Platonic allegory, is discovered by Olivier de Noyen, a Provencal poet of the 14th century. As his 20th-century interpreter, Julien Barneuve, discovers in investigating his violent death, de Noyen was attacked because he got caught up in a political intrigue in Avignon while trying to save his love, Rebecca, from a pogrom unleashed by the Black Death. Barneuve, Pears's third protagonist, has a Jewish lover, too, but is enmeshed in the racist policies of Vichy France. Pears has a nice sense of what it means to live in a time when things fall apart, and not only the center but even the peripheries will not hold. But the readers who flocked to An Instance of the Fingerpost might not find the pages turning so fast in this less mystery-driven outing.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
JULIEN BARNEUVE died at 3:28 on the afternoon of August 18, 1943. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
JULIEN BARNEUVE died at 3:28 on the afternoon of August 18, 1943. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A serious and stimulating novel for our times.,
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dream of Scipio (Hardcover)
In this remarkable and hugely conceived novel of ideas, Pears gives us three intense, emotionally gripping stories set in Provence during the fifth, fourteenth, and 20th centuries. In each of these, a sensitive and thoughtful man of letters faces not only a crisis of belief, but also of action, as outside forces threaten to destroy civilization as he knows it. As each man fights to save the values he finds important, Pears explores the ethical underpinnings of western thought and history, those ideas first proffered by Plato which continue to influence men and governments two thousand years later. A mysterious 5th century manuscript by Manlius Hippomanes connects the parallel plots and eras: the waning days of the Roman Empire, as the barbarian hordes attack Gaul's borders and Manlius Hippomanes writes The Dream of Scipio; the 14th century in Avignon, when poet Olivier de Noyen discovers some of Manlius's writing and deals with papal intrigue, the Hundred Years War, and the Black Death; and the Vichy government in France during World War II, when Julien Barneuve, a scholar who has traced the Manlius manuscript, joins the Vichy government in an effort to "civilize" the German occupiers and prevent deportation of the Jews. This is not a beach book--its excitement is far more thoughtful than sensational. Pears' characters are real, flawed people living and loving in times of crisis and experiencing conflicts with parents, teachers, friends, and mentors. These conflicts clearly parallel those in the wider world of their political alliances and governments, and ultimately affect their attitudes toward humankind in general. Beautiful love stories, which bring warmth to the narrative, are portrayed with the delicacy such fragile relationships deserve and the strength which allows them to endure. As we, too, face uncertain times and threats to our own civilization, Pears offers a reflective and thought-provoking framework for contemplating our own future.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A philosophical and historical masterwork!,
This review is from: The Dream of Scipio (Paperback)
I wasn't impressed with Iain Pears's An Instance of the Fingerpost, but I was told that this novel was an outstanding work of fiction. I am glad I gave it a whirl. This is a wonderful and true work of historical fiction. What makes this novel all the more memorable to me is that it is philosophical as well. The Dream of Scipio is an extremely well done and beautiful novel -- a challenging read involving three different characters at three different points in history. All come from the same French town, and each one affects the subsequent character. The story flows in a marvelous and steady motion, moving seamlessly from one historical period to the next. The three main characters are concerned, perhaps obsessed, with making morally correct decisions in a seemingly immoral world. Each lives in a time when tremendous calamities of historical consequences were occurring around them and throughout the whole of Europe. The decisions they make are not easy and the latter characters look for guidance to the writing of the Manlius, the first character in the novel. The Dream of Scipio is a highly interesting read, one that enthralled me from beginning to end. I love historical fiction and this novel is one of the best I've read. If you are not afraid of a philosophical and somewhat complex novel, pick this one up. You won't regret it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond words,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Dream of Scipio (Paperback)
The book reaches such a highlight of beauty and wisdom that no words can give it justice.
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