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, along with 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, 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 fragments, seen from the opposite sides of civilization, can mirror one another.
About the Author
Mathias Enard is the author of Compass (winner of the Prix Goncourt, the Leipzig Prize, and the Premio von Rezzori, and shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize), Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants, Zone, and Street of Thieves. Charlotte Mandell has translated works by a number of important French authors, including Proust, Flaubert, Genet, Maupassant, and Blanchot.
Reviews
"All of Enard's books share the hope of transposing prose into the empyrean of pure sound, where words can never correspond to stable meanings. He's the composer of a discomposing age." -- Joshua Cohen - New York Times Book Review
"Enard weaves an imaginative and suspenseful tale of civilizations and personalities clashing, of love, of being an artist in a violent era." -- Juan Vidal - NPR
"There is a lush materiality to Enard's prose, thick and smooth, so that following the artist's expeditions through Ottoman opium dens feels nearly as immersive as being in them." -- The New York Times
"Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants (deftly translated, like Enard's three previous English releases, by Charlotte Mandell) is a tale of bastard genius that might have been, and a cautionary fable about the consequences of parochial timidity." -- Julian Lucas - The New Yorker
Book Information
ISBN 9780811228947
Author Mathias Enard
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publisher New Directions Publishing Corporation
Weight(grams) 145g
Dimensions(mm) 206mm * 137mm * 10mm
