The Jules Verne Steam Balloon: Nine Stories
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Overview
Guy Davenport’s cerebral and innovative stories intricately assemble centuries’ worth of images and ideas
Guy Davenport’s stories seamlessly illuminate his vast knowledge of theology, philosophy, botany, and art, in his singular style of finding harmony in the juxtaposition of different themes. Whether critiquing the politics of socialist realist art in “We Often Think of Lenin at the Clothespin Factory,” revisiting biblical tales in “Jonah,” or depicting an ancient Greek philosopher in “The Meadow,” Davenport demonstrates his talent for blending high-minded ideas with literary wit.
Davenport’s writing is at its most confident when the author weaves between time periods and ideas, such as when he revisits Descartes through the eyes of an ancient Greek skeptic in “Pyrrhon of Elis,” wherein a doubting philosopher declares, “I may not be, I think”; or in “The Bicycle Rider,” in which a doctoral student studying imagery of demons in the Gospels is visited by angelic spirits and attempts to save the life of a nihilistic prostitute. In these stories and the others collected in The Jules Verne Steam Balloon, Davenport’s signature approach to culture and humanity is on bold display.
Guy Davenport’s stories seamlessly illuminate his vast knowledge of theology, philosophy, botany, and art, in his singular style of finding harmony in the juxtaposition of different themes. Whether critiquing the politics of socialist realist art in “We Often Think of Lenin at the Clothespin Factory,” revisiting biblical tales in “Jonah,” or depicting an ancient Greek philosopher in “The Meadow,” Davenport demonstrates his talent for blending high-minded ideas with literary wit.
Davenport’s writing is at its most confident when the author weaves between time periods and ideas, such as when he revisits Descartes through the eyes of an ancient Greek skeptic in “Pyrrhon of Elis,” wherein a doubting philosopher declares, “I may not be, I think”; or in “The Bicycle Rider,” in which a doctoral student studying imagery of demons in the Gospels is visited by angelic spirits and attempts to save the life of a nihilistic prostitute. In these stories and the others collected in The Jules Verne Steam Balloon, Davenport’s signature approach to culture and humanity is on bold display.
- Dedication
- Contents
- The Meadow
- Pyrrhon of Elis
- We Often Think of Lenin at the Clothespin Factory
- Bronze Leaves and Red
- The Bicycle Rider
- Les Exploits de Nat Pinkerton de Jour en Jour
- The Jules Verne Steam Balloon
- Jonah
- The Ringdove Sign
- About the Author
“Davenport reaches back in time and across cultures with the ease of an angler whose every languorous catch is a catch.” —The New York Times
“Fine writing and fresh perceptions are the mutually shared joys of Guy Davenport’s fiction. Reading it is a life experience.” —The Washington Post Book World
“He dams progress and upholds the ethics of eternal return with a passion reminiscent of Borges and Bioy Casares. . . . Exotic, erotic, outrageous.” —Los Angeles Times
“Davenport . . . brings together his talents as poet, critic, philosopher, classical scholar, and naturalist in nine dazzling fictions that answer, in a marvelously learned voice, Pound’s dictum to ‘make it new.’ Innovation here derives from the artful recombination of received forms—an awe-inspiring collage of classical learning, botanical fact, linguistic insight, and historical vision.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Fine writing and fresh perceptions are the mutually shared joys of Guy Davenport’s fiction. Reading it is a life experience.” —The Washington Post Book World
“He dams progress and upholds the ethics of eternal return with a passion reminiscent of Borges and Bioy Casares. . . . Exotic, erotic, outrageous.” —Los Angeles Times
“Davenport . . . brings together his talents as poet, critic, philosopher, classical scholar, and naturalist in nine dazzling fictions that answer, in a marvelously learned voice, Pound’s dictum to ‘make it new.’ Innovation here derives from the artful recombination of received forms—an awe-inspiring collage of classical learning, botanical fact, linguistic insight, and historical vision.” —Kirkus Reviews
Product Details
- Title : The Jules Verne Steam Balloon: Nine Stories
- Author: Davenport, Guy
- Publisher: Open Road Media
- Publication Date: 2015
- ISBN: 9781504019644