Beatrice and Virgil
Martel, Yann
Additional Notes
Fate takes many forms.... When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulled further into the world of this strange and calculating man, Henry becomes increasingly involved with the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey - named Beatrice and Virgil - and the epic journey they undertake together. With all the spirit and originality that made Life of Pi so beloved, this brilliant new novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey. On the way Martel asks profound questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.Librarian's Miscellania
Early on in the story, the protagonist, an author, (some say that the protagonist is a reflection of Yann himself) makes reference to Primo Levi's If This Is a Man; Art Spiegelman's Maus; David Grossman's See Under: Love; Martin Amis's Time's Arrow; George Orwell's Animal Farm; Albert Camus's The Plague; and Pablo Picasso's Guernica.Extracts are quoted from Flaubert's "The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator" which is discussed at length. Later in the novel, Jacques the Fatalist by Diderot is later discussed along with Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
The title is an allusion to two of the main characters in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.
| Location | edition | Bar Code | due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SENIOR READING | A04293 |