Chamberlin Free Public Library Catalog

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Elizabeth Finch : a novel /

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2022Edition: First United States editionDescription: 179 pages ; 22 cmISBN:
  • 9780593535431
  • 059353543X
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Online version:: Elizabeth FinchDDC classification:
  • 823/.914 23/eng/20220127
LOC classification:
  • PR6052.A6657 E45 2022
Summary: "From the award-winning novelist, a compact narrative that turns on the death of a vivid and particular woman, and becomes the occasion for a man's deeper examination of love, friendship, and biography. This beautiful, spare novel of platonic unrequited love springs into being around the singular character of the stoic, exacting Professor Elizabeth Finch. Neil, the narrator, takes her class on Culture and Civilization, taught not for undergraduates but for adults of all ages; we are drawn into his intellectual crush on this private, withholding yet commanding woman. While other personal relationships and even his family drift from Neil's grasp, Elizabeth's application of her material to the matter of daily living remains important to him, even after her death, in a way that nothing else does. In Neil's story, we are treated to everything we cherish in Barnes: his eye for the unorthodox forms love can take between two people, a compelling swerve into nonfictional material (this time, through Neil's obsessive study of Julian the Apostate, following on notes Elizabeth left for him to discover after her death), and the forcefully moving undercurrent of history, and biography in particular, as nourishment and guide in our current lives"--Other editions: Reproduction of (manifestation):: Barnes, Julian. Elizabeth Finch
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
F F Chamberlin Free Public Library Fiction F BAR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 34480000590855

"From the award-winning novelist, a compact narrative that turns on the death of a vivid and particular woman, and becomes the occasion for a man's deeper examination of love, friendship, and biography. This beautiful, spare novel of platonic unrequited love springs into being around the singular character of the stoic, exacting Professor Elizabeth Finch. Neil, the narrator, takes her class on Culture and Civilization, taught not for undergraduates but for adults of all ages; we are drawn into his intellectual crush on this private, withholding yet commanding woman. While other personal relationships and even his family drift from Neil's grasp, Elizabeth's application of her material to the matter of daily living remains important to him, even after her death, in a way that nothing else does. In Neil's story, we are treated to everything we cherish in Barnes: his eye for the unorthodox forms love can take between two people, a compelling swerve into nonfictional material (this time, through Neil's obsessive study of Julian the Apostate, following on notes Elizabeth left for him to discover after her death), and the forcefully moving undercurrent of history, and biography in particular, as nourishment and guide in our current lives"--

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