The RecognitionsNew York Review of Books, 2020 M11 24 - 968 pages A postmodern masterpiece about fraud and forgery by one of the most distinctive, accomplished novelists of the last century. The Recognitions is a sweeping depiction of a world in which everything that anyone recognizes as beautiful or true or good emerges as anything but: our world. The book is a masquerade, moving from New England to New York to Madrid, from the art world to the underworld, but it centers on the story of Wyatt Gwyon, the son of a New England minister, who forsakes religion to devote himself to painting, only to despair of his inspiration. In expiation, he will paint nothing but flawless copies of his revered old masters—copies, however, that find their way into the hands of a sinister financial wizard by the name of Recktall Brown, who of course sells them as the real thing. Dismissed uncomprehendingly by reviewers on publication in 1955 and ignored by the literary world for decades after, The Recognitions is now established as one of the great American novels, immensely ambitious and entirely unique, a book of wild, Boschian inspiration and outrageous comedy that is also profoundly serious and sad. |
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Page 14
... heard to refer to the " unswerving punctuality of chance " ) , he had dressed himself in rags , rented three pitiful children , and was to be encountered daily by footloose tourists in a state of mendicant col- lapse before the Ritz ...
... heard to refer to the " unswerving punctuality of chance " ) , he had dressed himself in rags , rented three pitiful children , and was to be encountered daily by footloose tourists in a state of mendicant col- lapse before the Ritz ...
Page 37
... heard in a hall from the direction of the study , with the Kyrie eleison on his lips ... Here , where are you going ... heard a sound there . He waited , a hand out to the doorknob , for the faint knock to be repeated , but there was ...
... heard in a hall from the direction of the study , with the Kyrie eleison on his lips ... Here , where are you going ... heard a sound there . He waited , a hand out to the doorknob , for the faint knock to be repeated , but there was ...
Page 48
... heard his father's approach upon the stairs . When he could not read , he painted , with an extraordinary deftness which consumed his whole consciousness , and often left him so tense that he passed into delirium . -Listen , I ... what ...
... heard his father's approach upon the stairs . When he could not read , he painted , with an extraordinary deftness which consumed his whole consciousness , and often left him so tense that he passed into delirium . -Listen , I ... what ...
Page 57
... heard noth- ing , finally there was nothing for it but to sit bound in this intimacy which refused him , waiting , until the light came at last and obliterated it . Then , mornings just before sunrise he could hear his father's steps on ...
... heard noth- ing , finally there was nothing for it but to sit bound in this intimacy which refused him , waiting , until the light came at last and obliterated it . Then , mornings just before sunrise he could hear his father's steps on ...
Page 59
... rapturous gasps could have been heard from behind the closed door , if anyone had listened . For the most part she went about her work happily , detached , padding through the dim passages in soft slippers THE RECOGNITIONS 59.
... rapturous gasps could have been heard from behind the closed door , if anyone had listened . For the most part she went about her work happily , detached , padding through the dim passages in soft slippers THE RECOGNITIONS 59.
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Common terms and phrases
Anselm answered appeared asked Basil Valentine beside better broke brought Brown called Christ cigarette closed coming course damn dark don't door empty Esther everything eyes face father figure floor girl give glass gone Gwyon hand happened head hear heard held holding it's knew leave light lips listen living looked matter mean minute moved never night once Otto painting passed paused picked picture pulled raised reached remember repeated returned rose round Saint seemed seen shoulder side silent sitting smile someone sound standing Stanley staring started step stood stopped street suddenly talk tell that's there's thing thought told took trying turned Valentine voice waiting walked wall watched window woman