
Summer in Termuren
Louis Paul Boon(Author)
Dalkey Archive Press
Will be published approx. on 19. October 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
489 pages
978-1-56478-414-8 (ISBN)
Description
This, the author writes, is "the novel of the individual in a world of barbarians." It is the story of Ondine and Oscarke, a young married couple adrift in a Belgian landscape that is darkening under the spread of industry and World War I. Ondine, who "came to serve god and live," finds that she must "serve the gentlemen" instead. Oscarke, an aspiring sculptor, finds himself unsuccessfully scouring Brussels for work and, when he is finally hired, too tired to make his own art. They grow old and their four children grow up as "technology and mechanization, unemployment, fascism, and war" take over around them. War destroys their attempts to establish a better life, which they seek continually and against all odds. And the chapters about these characters, some of whom first appeared in Chapel Road, alternate with chapters about Boon himself, who describes the impossibility of modern life and the destruction of war. As this wide-ranging novel progresses, the author's struggles--both with writing and with his own life--come more and more to resemble those of his characters.
Reviews / Votes
"Boon, one of the best realists we have, doesn't just represent things; he recreates and offers it to us in a world of dream and magic in this long, sad, revolting, profound and beautiful book." - Jan Walravens"More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Normal, IL
United States
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
735 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56478-414-8 (9781564784148)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
P. C. Evans is a poet and a translator of Dutch plays, two of which have been staged by Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic Threatre in London. Paul Vincent is the translator of more than a dozen works of Dutch fiction.