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A review by mafiabadgers
The Abyss by Marguerite Yourcenar
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
First read 07/2024
The road, bordered by poplars, stretched out level before them, opening to them a fragment of boundless universe; the adventurer seeking for power and the adventurer in quest of knowledge strode forward together, side by side.
Marguerite Yourcenar's novel about a sixteenth century alchemist, Zeno of Bruges, forms the second panel of what she called a triptych, consisting also of Memoirs of Hadrian and Anna, Soror... Slightly disappointing compared to Hadrian, who as a character has more humanity, but nonetheless an impressive book. Filled with oodles of research, as much to capture the mindset of the time as archaeological details ("without which a "historical novel" is merely a more or less successful costume ball," as Yourcenar says in her author's note, which is good enough to differentiate between her research and her inventions), it's easily likened to the later The Name of the Rose. Eco's murder mystery, however, takes care to introduce uninformed characters, so that the complexities of contemporary heresy can be explained for the reader's benefit. Yourcencar offers no such support, so her book is a perplexing swirl of names, titles, and allusions that are surprisingly reminiscent of worldbuilding-heavy fantasy or science fiction novel. I like that sort of thing, but mileage may vary.
It is a slow and philosophical book, and while many of its observations are particular to the alchemy of the day, other retain their bite, fifty-six years on:
It is strange that for Christians the supreme evil is constituted of so-called errors of the flesh. No one chastises savagery and brutality, barbarity and injustice with the same fury and disgust. No one will judge those good folk obscene who will come to watch me tomorrow, writing in the flames.
The road, bordered by poplars, stretched out level before them, opening to them a fragment of boundless universe; the adventurer seeking for power and the adventurer in quest of knowledge strode forward together, side by side.
Marguerite Yourcenar's novel about a sixteenth century alchemist, Zeno of Bruges, forms the second panel of what she called a triptych, consisting also of Memoirs of Hadrian and Anna, Soror... Slightly disappointing compared to Hadrian, who as a character has more humanity, but nonetheless an impressive book. Filled with oodles of research, as much to capture the mindset of the time as archaeological details ("without which a "historical novel" is merely a more or less successful costume ball," as Yourcenar says in her author's note, which is good enough to differentiate between her research and her inventions), it's easily likened to the later The Name of the Rose. Eco's murder mystery, however, takes care to introduce uninformed characters, so that the complexities of contemporary heresy can be explained for the reader's benefit. Yourcencar offers no such support, so her book is a perplexing swirl of names, titles, and allusions that are surprisingly reminiscent of worldbuilding-heavy fantasy or science fiction novel. I like that sort of thing, but mileage may vary.
It is a slow and philosophical book, and while many of its observations are particular to the alchemy of the day, other retain their bite, fifty-six years on:
It is strange that for Christians the supreme evil is constituted of so-called errors of the flesh. No one chastises savagery and brutality, barbarity and injustice with the same fury and disgust. No one will judge those good folk obscene who will come to watch me tomorrow, writing in the flames.