The Sermon on the Fall of Rome
Published on 6. August 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-78206-839-6 (ISBN)
Description
When the manager of the village bar absconds, a succession of would-be heirs descend - with disastrous results. One by one, they are seen off by adultery, insolvency or the outraged morals of the general community, until Matthieu and Libero, native sons disillusioned with their philosophical studies, return to take up the reins.
At first they find success, but as lustful, avaricious reality intrudes on their idyll, they too are forced to concede, senses befuddled by pliant women and plentiful liquor, that all empires must eventually crumble.
Wise, comical, dramatic, tragic and absurd, Ferrari's epic in miniature reads like a Corsican One Hundred Years of Solitude, charting the intimate history of an inimitable island with dazzling, skewering precision.
At first they find success, but as lustful, avaricious reality intrudes on their idyll, they too are forced to concede, senses befuddled by pliant women and plentiful liquor, that all empires must eventually crumble.
Wise, comical, dramatic, tragic and absurd, Ferrari's epic in miniature reads like a Corsican One Hundred Years of Solitude, charting the intimate history of an inimitable island with dazzling, skewering precision.
Reviews / Votes
Astute, cunning, brilliant . . . Prepare for wonders . . . Blackly playful and serious, this is an earthy, philosophical tract drawing on history and human experience; the tiny hopes, the immense failures and, above all, the ambivalence. Ferrari pursues his story with the delicacy and skill of a musician reaching the final note -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times * A novelist whose concern with how we should live and what we can believe puts him in the tradition of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus -- Allan Massie * Scotsman * Ferrari writes with power and perceptive humour -- David Platzer * Tablet * Focusing on Corsica, but taking in Paris, Algeria and French colonies in Africa, its portrayal of the many accommodations we make with "circumstance" is both humorous and poignant -- Catriona Graham * Guardian * More admirable even than his previous works . . . The best novel of the year -- Le Monde * Raphaelle Leyris * 'Blackly playful and serious, this is an earthy, philosophical tract drawing on history and human experience; the tiny hopes, the immense failures and, above all, the ambivalence. Ferrari pursues his story with the delicacy and skill of a musician reaching the final note' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times. * Irish Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quercus Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
170 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78206-839-6 (9781782068396)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jerome Ferrari was born in Paris in 1968. His first novel in English translation, Where I Left My Soul was the winner of the Prix du roman France Televisions, the Prix Initiales, the Prix Larbaud, and the Grand Prix Poncetton de la SGDL in its French edition. His second, The Sermon on the Fall of Rome, was the winner of the 2012 Prix Goncourt, confirming his status as one of France's outstanding young literary talents.