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The Conversions
 
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The Conversions (Paperback)

by Harry Mathews (Author), Harry Matthews (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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8 new from CDN$ 8.86 4 used from CDN$ 10.76

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Product Description

Times Literary Supplement 3-20-98

"Exquisitely stitched narratives, and [a] sense of wonderverging on aweat the world's regal strangeness . . . inspires [Mathews's] novels. . . . Extraordinary imagination. . . . Told with the strictest economy, without extraneous justification or explanation."


Edmund White, New York Times

"The tragi-comedy of human ingenuity, which insists upon interpreting the facts of experience even when they are senseless, baffling, or banal. . . . a remarkable extension and exploration of the odd fictional devices invented by Raymond Roussel."
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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Curiouser and curiouser, Dec 10 2000
By M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a book that was meticulously planned - word play and images, false starts and unreliable history - all in an interplay that is both riveting and frustrating. Riveting because of the quality of the imagination; frustrating because reading is one long riddle requiring very intense concentration by the reader.

The book is filled with wordplay ... most notably beginning with a gypsy "game" of describing the scene on a ball filled with boiling water ...; the narrator wins the game in what is called "a new triumph ... of analytical poetry over descriptive prose". Songs seem to carry hidden messages. Horse pedigrees are given in exhaustive detail. A man writes and speaks backwards - two languages, in effect, for one reverses sounds, the other letter. Old manuscripts hide clues in the red letters at the beginning of each line - if you only know what to add and where to divide. Authors and titles of books seized at customs, nine civil servants each of whom distorts language more strongly than the predecessor.

Through all the word play is a plot that is entertaining - but not always sufficiently so to motivate one to put the work into reading that this novel demands.

In short, The Conversions has a fascinating use of language in a satisfactory plot; the author is in full control at all times. Well worth your time ... but chose your time well.

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5.0 out of 5 stars a perfect book, Jun 30 2000
By Micah B. Kleit (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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Harry Mathews is the most important novelist writing in the English language that no one reads. It's a pity, for he writes with a style and engagement that, if left in less talented hands, could be considered effete, but with his mastery of language and narrative comes off as pure genius.

The Conversions is essentially about solving a riddle, but the search for its answer allows Mathews to do what he's best at: telling stories, and in all respects displaying a love for and engaging with the potential of language.

If you've not read Mathews before, this book will get you hooked; you'll soon want to read his novels, his essays, poems and other pieces, and will soon recognize that he is an American master, one whose works will only grow in stature with the years.

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