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herbieridesagain 's review for:
Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants
by Mathias Énard
Tell them of Battles, Kings and Elephants, wrote Rudyard Kipling, for that’s what the people want, and indeed, Enard writing about Michelangelo’s little known request for a commission by the Great Turk, Bayezid, to design a bridge for Constantinople, and to suprass Da Vinci, whose design was turned down, is as much about storytelling as it is about a bridge, and an elephant.
Enard is my favourite current author, who could write out his shopping list and I would still devour it with enjoyment. Here he writes in short sharp bursts of chapters, alternating between Michelangelo himself, a beautiful dancer who becomes the artists muse and letters that Michelangelo sent home while in the great city.
Annoyed at his treatment by the Pope, Michelangelo accepts the commission and arrives in Constantinople (He refused in real life, fearing it would be a betrayal of his faith) where he is befriended and guided by Mesihi, a poet of the court who falls in love with the slightly eccentric genius. As he explores the city and it’s customs, he is mesmerised by a dancer he sees at a banquet, and even not being sure of their sex, it is the form that so intersests the great sculptor and they are quickly brought to more and more intimate meetings, as Michelangelo struggles to find the form for the bridge.
When at last he is inspired and submits his design, it is accepted by Bayezid and Michelangelo is furious when his first payment is a village in Bosnia and it’s incomes, which he in turn gives to Mesihi along with a drawing of an Elephant they had both seen.
Even as the bridge begins construction, machinations in the court of the Sultan push Mesihi out of favour and he acts to protect Michelangelo, but it does not work out as planned. The artist flees back to Italy and an earthquake destroys what has been created so far and the project is abandoned.
While an interesting what-if scenario, it is still Enard’s writing that I really enjoy. Told in a different way to Saramago’s The History of the Siege of Lisbon (what happens if the British don’t stop to help) it netherless captured me and opened up a little the life and world of Michelangelo, and Enard did tell me of Battles, Kings and Elephants.
(blog review here)
Enard is my favourite current author, who could write out his shopping list and I would still devour it with enjoyment. Here he writes in short sharp bursts of chapters, alternating between Michelangelo himself, a beautiful dancer who becomes the artists muse and letters that Michelangelo sent home while in the great city.
Annoyed at his treatment by the Pope, Michelangelo accepts the commission and arrives in Constantinople (He refused in real life, fearing it would be a betrayal of his faith) where he is befriended and guided by Mesihi, a poet of the court who falls in love with the slightly eccentric genius. As he explores the city and it’s customs, he is mesmerised by a dancer he sees at a banquet, and even not being sure of their sex, it is the form that so intersests the great sculptor and they are quickly brought to more and more intimate meetings, as Michelangelo struggles to find the form for the bridge.
When at last he is inspired and submits his design, it is accepted by Bayezid and Michelangelo is furious when his first payment is a village in Bosnia and it’s incomes, which he in turn gives to Mesihi along with a drawing of an Elephant they had both seen.
Even as the bridge begins construction, machinations in the court of the Sultan push Mesihi out of favour and he acts to protect Michelangelo, but it does not work out as planned. The artist flees back to Italy and an earthquake destroys what has been created so far and the project is abandoned.
While an interesting what-if scenario, it is still Enard’s writing that I really enjoy. Told in a different way to Saramago’s The History of the Siege of Lisbon (what happens if the British don’t stop to help) it netherless captured me and opened up a little the life and world of Michelangelo, and Enard did tell me of Battles, Kings and Elephants.
(blog review here)