| Hourmaster: Novel Contributor(s): Bataille, Christophe (Author), Howard, Richard (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0811213579 ISBN-13: 9780811213578 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation OUR PRICE: $12.56 Product Type: Hardcover Published: April 1998 Annotation: Hourmaster is a novel about evil, the passage of time, and the dissolution of a society - France in the seventeenth century. In his palace in a city vanquished by the years, the Duke Gonzaga lives consumed by his deep boredom and his passion for young girls. Time passes as marked by the more than two hundred clocks situated throughout the palace. Needing a new hourmaster, Gonzaga employs Arturo to be the keeper of the palace's time-pieces. Arturo - called Gog - also becomes the Duke's friend and for a time alleviates Gonzaga's boredom as they share the nightly clock-keeping rounds. There seems to be the beginning of new life in the realm. But, for reasons the reader is to discover, doom settles like fog upon the Duke's domain and time stands still. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Historical - General |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 97-42141 |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 5.13" W x 7.79" (0.51 lbs) 208 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 17th Century - Cultural Region - French |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In his palace in a city vanquished by the years, the Duke Gonzaga lives consumed by his passion for young girls and his deep boredom. Time passes as marked by the more than two hundred clocks situated throughout the palace. When the old hourmaster and his successor both disappear, Gonzaga employs Arturo who becomes the new keeper of the palace's timepieces. Arturo -- called Gog -- also becomes the Duke's friend and for a time alleviates Gonzaga's boredom as they share the nightly clock-keeping rounds. There seems to be the beginning of new life in the realm. The hourmaster marries happily and fathers a daughter. But the Duke's restlessness and ennui return and when the hourmaster vanishes -- for reasons the reader is to discover -- time again stands still. In the words of the translator Richard Howard, Christophe Bataille's third novel is a remarkable, even triumphant little book. |
Contributor Bio(s): Howard, Richard: - Richard Howard is the author of eleven books of poetry, including Untitled Subjects, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1970. He is the translator for more than 150 works from the French language. He received the American Book Award for his translation of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. |