The Spirits of the Earth (The Swiss List)
by Catherine Colomb
On This Page
Description
Swiss novelist Catherine Colomb is known as one of the most unusual and inventive francophone novelists of the twentieth century. Fascinated by the processes of memory and consciousness, she has been compared to that of Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust. The Spirits of the Earth is the first English translation of Colomb's work and its arrival will introduce new readers to an iconic novel. The Spirits of the Earth is at heart a family drama, set at the Fraidaigue château, along the shores of show more Lake Geneva, and in the Maison d'en Haut country mansion, located in the hills above the lake. In these luxe locales, readers encounter upper-class characters with faltering incomes, parvenues, and even ghosts. Throughout, Colomb builds a psychologically penetrating and bold story in which the living and the dead intermingle and in which time itself is a mystery. show lessTags
Member Reviews
This is wonderful--inventive and interesting. The Virginia Woolf/Proust analogies are quite misleading; this is much closer to Josef Winkler and Ivy Compton-Burnett (all indirection and repetition), but I guess those names are even less likely to generate sales. I very much hope John Taylor translates Colomb's other novels, which would be far too much for me in the original.
Anyway, you have to pay attention, but it rewards that attention. It's a real shame that so few seem to be reading this book!
Anyway, you have to pay attention, but it rewards that attention. It's a real shame that so few seem to be reading this book!
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Les 50 meilleurs livres de langue française de 1900 à aujourd’hui
69 works; 2 members
Author Information
9 Works 17 Members
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Tagundnachtgleiche
- Original title
- Les esprits de la terre
- Original publication date
- 1953
- Important places*
- Genfersee, Schweiz
- First words*
- "Abraham ist hinuntergefallen!"
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Feuchtigkeit zeigte ihm manchmal an, dass er im See war, manchmal, zurück auf Fraidaigue, fand er weisse Veilchen, einen Maulwurf, Wurzeln von Heidekraut, grüne Minzen, riesige rote Ameisen, und Weinstöcke wie Pflugscharen in der von Luft und Blitz durchdrungenen Reberde.
- Original language*
- Französisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 843.912 — Literature & rhetoric French & related literatures French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1900-1945
- LCC
- PQ2605 .O34813 .E813 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Modern literature 1900-1960
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 8
- Popularity
- 2,493,641
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (5.00)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
