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Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants
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Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants
$3299
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This novel will appeal to readers interested in historical fiction, art, and cross-cultural encounters, especially those fascinated by Renaissance figures or Ottoman history. Lovers of literary, thought-provoking tales that blend fact with imaginative reconstruction will find much to admire here.
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See moreA rich and vivid novel about Michelangelo in Constantinople from the 'mesmerizing' (New Yorker) and 'masterful' (Washington Post) author of Compass.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
In 1506, Michelangelo—a young but already renowned sculptor—is invited by the sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge over the Golden Horn. The sultan has offered, alongside an enormous payment, the promise of immortality, since Leonardo da Vinci's design was rejected: 'You will surpass him in glory if you accept, for you will succeed where he has failed, and you will give the world a monument without equal.' Michelangelo, after some hesitation, flees Rome and an irritated Pope Julius II—whose commission he leaves unfinished—and arrives in Constantinople for this truly epic project.
Once there, he explores the beauty and wonder of the Ottoman Empire, sketching and describing his impressions along the way, and becomes immersed in cloak-and-dagger palace intrigues as he struggles to create what could be his greatest architectural masterwork.
Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants—constructed from real historical fragments—is a thrilling page-turner about why stories are told, why bridges are built, and how seemingly unmatched pieces, seen from the opposite sides of civilization, can mirror one another.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
"Mathias Enard's work is a celebration of art, history and beauty, rendered vital and hopeful amidst a world in decline," writes Guy Gunaratne for New Statesman. Praising Charlotte Mandell's translation, he describes the book as a "miracle" that argues for art's invincibility. Another review imagines an alternate reality where Michelangelo's grand Renaissance bridge spans the Golden Horn, highlighting the book as a compelling rendition of this historic possibility.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781910695692
Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 November 2018
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Fitzcarraldo Editions
Contributors:
- Translated by Charlotte Mandell
- Translated by Charlotte Mandell
- Translated by Charlotte Mandell
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 125.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 144
Collections
About the Author
Mathias Enard, born in 1972, studied Persian and Arabic and spent long periods in the Middle East. He has lived in Barcelona for about fifteen years, interrupted in 2013 by a writing residency in Berlin. He won several awards for Zone, including the Prix du Livre Inter and the Prix Decembre, and won the Liste Goncourt/Le Choix de l'Orient, the Prix litteraire de la Porte Doree and the Prix du Roman-News for Street of Thieves. He won the 2015 Prix Goncourt, the 2017 Leipziger Book Award for European Understanding, and was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for Compass.
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Compass
As night falls over Vienna, Franz Ritter, an insomniac musicologist, takes to his sickbed with an unspecified illness and spends a restless night drifting between dreams and memories, revisiting the important chapters of his life: his ongoing fascination with the Middle East and his numerous travels to Istanbul, Aleppo, Damascus, and Tehran, as well as the various writers, artists, musicians,...Paperback$4299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Deserters
Fleeing a nameless war, an unknown soldier emerges from deep within the Mediterranean scrubland, dirty and exhausted. A chance meeting forces him to rethink his journey, and the price he puts on a life. On 11 September 2001, aboard a small cruise ship on the River Havel near Berlin, a conference of scientists pays homage to the late East German...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Street Of Thieves
"A tremendous accomplishment... Zone is, in short, one of the best books of the year" - Daily Beast Exiled from his family for religious transgressions related to his feelings for his cousin, Lakhdar finds himself on the streets of Barcelona, hiding from both the police and the Muslim Group for the Propagation of Koranic Thoughts. This is the same group...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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Recipient of three French literary awards, Mathias Enard's follow-up to the critically acclaimed Zone is a timely novel about a young Moroccan boy caught up in the turbulent events of the Middle East, and a possible murder. Exiled from his family for religious transgressions related to his feelings for his cousin, Lakhdar finds himself on the streets of Barcelona hiding...PaperbackSold Out -
Zone
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