Compass
The novel follows an insomniac musicologist in Vienna whose memories open onto a wide network of Orientalist scholarship and historical exchange.
Work Information
A nocturnal novel about the ties between Europe and the Middle East, memory, and intellectual desire.
A sleepless Vienna novel about the relationship between Europe and the East.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Fitzcarraldo Editions
- Published
- 2017-03-22
- Pages
- 480 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13 x 2.7 x 19.6 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781910695234
- ISBN-10
- 1910695238
- Price
- 3366 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Contemporary
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, academics, orientalists, and explorers who populate this vast dreamscape. At the centre of these memories is his elusive, unrequited love, Sarah, a fiercely intelligent French scholar caught in the intricate tension between Europe and the Middle East. An immersive, nocturnal, musical novel, full of generous erudition and bittersweet humour, Compass is a journey and a declaration of admiration, a quest for the otherness inside us all and a hand reaching out – like a bridge between West and East, yesterday and tomorrow. Winner of the 2015 Prix Goncourt, this is Mathias Enard’s most ambitious novel since Zone .
Mathias Enard, born in 1972, studied Persian and Arabic and spent long periods in the Middle East. He won several awards for Zone , including the Prix du Livre Inter and the Prix Décembre, and won the Liste Goncourt/Le Choix de l’Orient, the Prix littéraire de la Porte Dorée and the Prix du Roman-News for Street of Thieves . He won the 2015 Prix Goncourt, the 2017 Leipziger Book Award for European Understanding, the Premio Gregor von Rezzori and was shortlisted for the 2017 International Booker Prize for Compass .
Reviews
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How does he do it?
I really appreciate the ability of a good writer to make the most esoteric , unlikely subject imaginable , come alive. Orientalism in German culture and music. On the surface, could there be a duller subject matter? And yet this story captivated me.
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A rewarding book to read and re-read
This book is so full of ideas and references about the exchange of (musical and other) themes between east and west that it makes you want to learn more about the cultures and periods discussed. Not an easy read but rewarding. I read a library copy of this book and decided I had to own it.
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Obsessed - not for everyone, but I am in love with this book!
Beautiful prose. The opening paragraph is, in my opinion, stunning. I've read it over and over. There are numerous paragraphs throughout that I re-read just because I liked the prose so much. Not everyone will be able to cope with the stream-of-consciousness style narrative. Personally I found it quite artistic and felt it entirely suited the protagonist. Some pretentious naming of scholars and musicians that partially went over my head, but that also fitted the story and character well. The writer's skill and knowledge were evident throughout - I was quite taken aback at a couple of points in the story, and in my opinion this admiration made up for any potential/perceived lack of plot. It depends what you are looking to get out of a story. I feel like if you enjoy reading novelists like Kafka, you will like this.
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A fulfilling literary pleasure
It wanders around yet leaves the reader completely in control...and concludes with pleasant satisfaction.
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Gran lectura
Libro muy interesante. Envío más rápido de lo que me habían dicho.
Related Literary Awards
- Prix Goncourt Edition 113 (2015) ・Winner