Losing Nelson: a novel
Author:
Publisher:
N.A. Talese,
Pub. Date:
[1999]
Edition:
1st ed.
Language:
English
Description
Barry Unsworth, author of the Booker Prize-winningSacred Hungerand the bestsellingMorality Play, has long established his genius for both historical narrative and for sharply observed, fantastically odd characters and stories. InLosing Nelson, Unsworth's most brilliantly imagined novel yet and a nominee for the Booker Prize, he has enlisted all these proven talents in a way unprecedented in his earlier work. Every day, Charles Cleasby relives the events of Lord Horatio Nelson's life. He holds no regard for year-by-year chronology, so his life is a bustle of anniversaries: a political confrontation in 1797, for instance, might be followed immediately by a climactic sea battle in 1805. He reenacts the battles in his basement on a huge blue-glass table, moving the perfectly rendered ships that represent Nelson's Royal Navy and its enemies, thus reliving Nelson's triumphs. Losing Nelsonis a novel of obsession, the story of a man unable to see himself separately from the hero he mistakenly idolizes. Cleasby is, in fact, a Nelson biographer run amok. He is convinced that Nelson--Britain's greatest admiral, who finally defeated Napoleon, and lost his own life, in the Battle of Trafalgar--is the perfect hero, but in his research he has come upon an incident of horrifying brutality in Nelson's military career that simply stumps all attempts at glorification. Admiral Nelson, faults and all, is a hero to many, but to Cleasby he is something more. Cleasby has come to think of himself as Nelson's dark side, the fallible human flip-side of the perfect man. And so Nelson's transgression represents more than just a chink in his thesis. Further, Cleasby's new assistant, Miss Lily of Avon Secretarial Services, insists on maintaining a running criticism of Nelson as she takes dictation, not to mention the objections she voices to the isolated, sheltered way Cleasby lives his life. Something has to give, and give it does--in the most astonishing and entertaining of ways.
Subjects
Subjects
Fiction
Historiography
History, Naval
Influence
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Historiography -- Fiction
Nelson, Horatio Nelson
Nelson, Horatio Nelson, -- Viscount, -- 1758-1805 -- Influence -- Fiction
Psychological fiction
United Kingdom -- History, Naval -- 19th century -- Historiography -- Fiction
Historiography
History, Naval
Influence
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Historiography -- Fiction
Nelson, Horatio Nelson
Nelson, Horatio Nelson, -- Viscount, -- 1758-1805 -- Influence -- Fiction
Psychological fiction
United Kingdom -- History, Naval -- 19th century -- Historiography -- Fiction
More Details
ISBN:
9780385486521
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | d168e0b2-cf39-de3f-df5f-05cf8b026e18 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | losing nelson |
Grouping Author | unsworth barry |
Grouping Category | book |
Last Grouping Update | 2018-11-15 01:32:17AM |
Last Indexed | 2019-02-16 05:18:55AM |
Solr Details
accelerated_reader_interest_level | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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accelerated_reader_point_value | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
accelerated_reader_reading_level | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author | Unsworth, Barry, 1930-2012. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author_display | Unsworth, Barry | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
available_at_englewood | Englewood Public Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
detailed_location_englewood | EPL Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
display_description | As he writes on Nelson, a British biographer re-lives his battles and romances. But he is obsessed by a black mark against his hero, Nelson's massacre of Neapolitans. The biographer undertakes a trip to Naples and receives an explanation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
format_category_englewood | Books | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
format_englewood | Book | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
id | d168e0b2-cf39-de3f-df5f-05cf8b026e18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
isbn | 9780385486521 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
item_details | ils:.b11863675|.i74397825|EPL Fiction|UNSWORTH BARRY|||1|false|false|||||On Shelf||epf|| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
itype_englewood | Adult book | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
last_indexed | 2019-02-16T12:18:55.375Z | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
lexile_score | -1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literary_form | Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literary_form_full | Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
local_callnumber_englewood | UNSWORTH BARRY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
owning_library_englewood | Englewood Public Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
owning_location_englewood | Englewood Public Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
primary_isbn | 9780385486521 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
publishDate | 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
record_details | ils:.b11863675|Book|Books|1st ed.|English|N.A. Talese,|[1999]|338 pages ; 25 cm. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
recordtype | grouped_work | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
scoping_details_englewood
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subject_facet | Fiction, Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Historiography -- Fiction, Nelson, Horatio Nelson, -- Viscount, -- 1758-1805 -- Influence -- Fiction, Psychological fiction, United Kingdom -- History, Naval -- 19th century -- Historiography -- Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_display | Losing Nelson : a novel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_full | Losing Nelson : a novel / Barry Unsworth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_short | Losing Nelson : | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_sub | a novel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
topic_facet | Historiography, History, Naval, Influence, Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Nelson, Horatio Nelson |