Identify Books As The Towers of Trebizond
| Original Title: | The Towers of Trebizond |
| ISBN: | 159017058X (ISBN13: 9781590170588) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Turkey |
| Literary Awards: | James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (1956) |
Rose Macaulay
Paperback | Pages: 296 pages Rating: 3.69 | 1317 Users | 237 Reviews
Be Specific About Based On Books The Towers of Trebizond
| Title | : | The Towers of Trebizond |
| Author | : | Rose Macaulay |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 296 pages |
| Published | : | November 30th 2003 by NYRB Classics (first published 1956) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Travel. Classics. Humor. European Literature. British Literature. Historical. Historical Fiction. Literature. 20th Century |
Narrative In Favor Of Books The Towers of Trebizond
"'Take my camel, dear,' said my aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass." So begins The Towers of Trebizond, the greatest novel by Rose Macaulay, one of the eccentric geniuses of English literature. In this fine and funny adventure set in the backlands of modern Turkey, a group of highly unusual travel companions makes its way from Istanbul to legendary Trebizond, encountering potion-dealing sorcerers, recalcitrant policemen, and Billy Graham on tour with a busload of Southern evangelists. But though the dominant note of the novel is humorous, its pages are shadowed by heartbreak as the narrator confronts the specters of ancient empires, religious turmoil, and painful memories of lost love.Rating Based On Books The Towers of Trebizond
Ratings: 3.69 From 1317 Users | 237 ReviewsAppraise Based On Books The Towers of Trebizond
I wish I could have divided this book into two parts - the parts with Aunt Dot ( and Father Pigg) and the parts without them. The parts with Aunt Dot I adore and would be, are, all time favorites. The rest of the novel, I am very sorry Laurie, but I do not believe in you. Not that I believe necessarily in Aunt Dot, but it is much easier to just go along and enjoy her eccentricity.Back to Laurie and my problems with him/her, one thing this book is utterly remarkable about is that how hidden theI didn't howl, no, but I certainly snorted in quite a few places.Yes, it is funny and absurd and all over the place and skewers travel books and travel writers and publishing and the press and spying and the iron curtain (Burgess and Maclean) and it's incredibly erudite too, with Xenophon and the Euxine Sea and Priam and Hecuba and translators of the Classics and people travelling round these ancient places with an ancient guidebook in their hand and only seeing what they already know, and the
I wanted to read this book because it was a humorous fictionalized trip to Turkey (where I've been) on the part of the author, along with her eccentric aunt and a camel. What could go wrong?Well, this: the book was overloaded with references to esoteric religious references (Anglican, High Church, Low Church, Roman Catholic, etc, etc, etc...) that were mainly meant to show how ridiculous they were. Unless you were an expert in these, the semi-humorous/semi-serious religious arguments went flat
Read this humorous, warmly satirical, adventure-travel novel years ago and was just reminded of its pleasures as I began a reread of the authors collection of essays appropriately titled Personal Pleasures. Certainly high up on that list should be one titled On Rereading of Favorite Books. If Rose Macaulay were still with us today, her line from the essay Booksellers Catalogues would be a reflection on the pleasures of Good Reads: "To Read these catalogues is like drinking wine in the middle of
So many people have professed their love for The Towers of Trebizond that I couldnt help but choose it over several other 1956 books, despite having already read three other Rose Macaulay novels this year. Known by many people simply for its fabulous opening line:Take my camel, dear, said my aunt Dot, climbing down from that animal on her return from high Mass.Well, if that isnt enough to make you smile and to wish to carry on reading, I dont what is. Macaulay is frequently wry as she sets about
What a quintessential mid-century novel; I found the cadences quite Hemingway-esque; the narrator even fly fishes which cracked me up.Towers is also very much a "literary" novel, yet despite that is also accessible -- Macaulay never slips over the line from literary into experimental -- if you prefer contemporary pop fiction you won't care for it but if you appreciate the classics at all you will not find this a difficult read by any stretch. I enjoyed every minute of the book. Laughed out loud
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