HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Opus nigrum by Marguerite Yourcenar
Loading...

Opus nigrum (original 1968; edition 1985)

by Marguerite Yourcenar (Author), Emma Calatayud (Translator)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,6963010,191 (4)18
A novel of 16th century Europe. A young man, destined for the Church, rejects his theological studies and takes up with the scientific studies of the times.
Member:Eucalafio
Title:Opus nigrum
Authors:Marguerite Yourcenar (Author)
Other authors:Emma Calatayud (Translator)
Info:Madrid: Alfaguara
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
Tags:ficción, narrativa, siglo XX, francés, francesa, renovación del clasicismo, cuento, prosa

Work Information

The Abyss by Marguerite Yourcenar (Author) (1968)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 18 mentions

English (9)  Spanish (7)  French (7)  Dutch (3)  Italian (2)  German (1)  Portuguese (1)  All languages (30)
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
The life of Zeno, a fictional 16th century alchemist, philosopher, physician. The historical backdrop is convincing (and seems accurate) and Zeno has a rich internal life. Beautiful writing. I think of it as a European counterpoint to Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev. ( )
  nullset | Feb 18, 2024 |
Històricamente bem estribado. Pontos de vista da autora são lugares-comuns anticatólicos, antiluteranos e veladamente libertinos. ( )
  biclaranja | Oct 22, 2016 |
Davvero bello, le quattro stelle le merita tutte.
Romanzo intenso e solido, nel quale la Yourcenar dimostra una acuta indagine storica ed interpretativa del tempo che fa da sfondo alla narrazione (il Cinquecento).
Zenone, il protagonista, alchimista della materia e della vita, cerca di trovare le sue risposte al bisogno istintivo dell'essere umano di conoscere l'essenza delle cose, anche per capire la natura umana, il senso dell'esistenza, e le leggi che regolano il cosmo.
Intorno, ruotano e si intersecano le vicende di altri personaggi ben caratterizzati e, sullo sfondo, un riuscito affresco storico e culturale."Da circa mezzo secolo si serviva della mente come di un cuneo per allargare, meglio che poteva, gli interstizi del muro che da ogni parte ci stringe. Le fessure si dilatavano, o piuttosto sembrava che il muro perdesse da sé la propria compattezza senza tuttavia cessare d'essere denso, quasi muraglia di fumo anziché di pietra". ( )
  Kazegafukuhi | Aug 10, 2013 |
I read this over 20 years ago and it still remains strongly in my head.

Yourcenar's prose is not the delicious sort, delighting the reader with inventive wordplay or imagery that creates new visions of the world by a new interoperation of the senses. Her prose is controlled, at times almost surgical, but it flows effortlessly, and it flows from the mind outward. It is intellectual and incisive.

Zeno's journey is one of the most fascinating I have been taken on by a writer. He is a rebel, a thinker, and a human being with frailties. He amazed me, he frustrate due but he never disappointed me.

I was constantly reminded of Eliot's Adam Bede when I read this. Both are books about characters with ideas and ideals; both written without the belligerence politics but underpinned by social and political philosophy.

It's a great book that deserves to endure.

( )
  AlanSkinner | Jul 26, 2013 |
Os personagens são extraordinariamente bem construídos. Tem o charme dos detalhes verídicos, como do homem que dissecou o cadáver do próprio filho, e frases hilárias, como a internação em um hospício da criada Catarina, para que ela possa se descabelar a vontade.
Zenon é médico, alquimista e filósofo, e chegou a receber os graus religiosos mais baixos, o que o torna um sábio renascentista segundo a visão moderna, e apto a discutir muito do que surgia na época, teorias da circulação do sangue (até o final), os humores, a atração e repulsa dos elementos químicos, o sistema proposto por Copérnico, etc. Além disso, seu pai participou da corte Borgia, e ele passa pelas célebres cortes de seu tempo. Sua mãe passa por uma seita religiosa fanática, e outros personagens do livro têm contato com outras seitas. Ele se torna o símbolo de uma época, de diversos pensamentos. É impressionante.
Ler Marguerite Yourcenar me desespera de um dia ter a cultura dela. ( )
  JuliaBoechat | Mar 30, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (16 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Yourcenar, MargueriteAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Cartago, GabriellaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mongardo, MarcelloTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tuin, JennyTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Nec certam sedem, nec propriam faciem, nec munus ullum peculiare tibi dedimus, o Adam, ut quam sedem, quam faciem, quae munera tute optaveris, ea, pro voto, pro tua sententia, habeas et possideas. Definita ceteris natura intra praescriptas a nobis leges coercetur. Tu, nullis angustiis coercitus, pro tuo arbitrio, in cuius manu te posui, tibi illam praefinies. Medium te mundi posui, ut circumspiceres inde commodius quicquid est in mundo. Nec te caelestem neque terrenum, neque mortalem neque immortalem fecimus, ut tui ipsius quasi arbitrarius honorariusque plastes et fictor, in quam malueris tute formam effingas...

Pic de la Mirandole,
Oratio de hominis dignitate.

Je ne t'ai donné ni visage, ni place qui te soit propre, ni aucun don qui te soit particulier, ô Adam, afin que ton visage, ta place, et tes dons, tu les veuilles, les conquières et les possèdes par toi-même. Nature enferme d'autres espèces en des lois par moi établies. Mais toi, que ne limite aucune borne, par ton propre arbitre, entre les mains duquel je t'ai placé, tu te définis toi-même. Je t'ai placé au milieu du monde, afin que tu pusses mieux contempler ce que contient le monde. Je ne t'ai fait ni céleste ni terrestre, mortel ou immortel, afin que de toi-même, librement, à la façon d'un bon peintre ou d'un sculpteur habile, tu achèves ta propre forme.
Dedication
First words
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
PREMIERE PARTIE

La Vie errante

LE GRAND CHEMIN

Henri-Maximilien Ligre poursuivait par petites étapes sa route vers Paris.
[...]
Quotations
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Chi sarà tanto insensato da morire senza aver fatto almeno il giro della propria prigione?
Era una di quelle epoche in cui la ragione umana si trova presa in un cerchio di fuoco.
Le scaramucce coi teologi avevano avuto il loro fascino, ma egli sapeva benissimo che non esiste accomodamento durevole tra coloro che cercano, pensano, analizzano e si onorano di essere capaci di pensare domani diversamente da oggi, e coloro che credono o affermano di credere, e obbligano con la pena di morte i loro simili a fare altrettanto.
Last words
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

A novel of 16th century Europe. A young man, destined for the Church, rejects his theological studies and takes up with the scientific studies of the times.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4)
0.5
1 7
1.5 2
2 7
2.5 5
3 45
3.5 13
4 89
4.5 25
5 87

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,186,194 books! | Top bar: Always visible