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Bruges-la-Morte
Author: Georges Rodenbach
Translator: Mike Mitchell, Will Stone
Editor: Alan Hollinghurst
Cover design: Marie Lane
Bruges-la-Morte, which first appeared in 1892, concerns the fate of Hugues Viane, a widower who has turned to the melancholy, decaying city of Bruges as the ideal location in which to mourn his wife and as a suitable haven for the narcissistic perambulations of his inexorably disturbed spirit. Bruges, the 'dead city', becomes the image of his dead wife and thus allows him to endure, to manage the unbearable loss by systematically following its mournful labyrinth of streets and canals in a cyclical promenade of reflection and allusion. The story itself centres around Hugues' obsession with a young dancer whom he believes is the double of his beloved wife. The consequent drama leads Hugues onto a plank walk of psychological torment and humiliation, culminating in a deranged murder. This is a poet's novel and is therefore metaphorically dense and visionary in style. It is the ultimate evocation of Rodenbach's lifelong love affair with the enduring mystery and haunting mortuary atmosphere of Bruges.
Mike Mitchell's new translation brings to life one of the great masterpieces of the symbolist period.
This edition has Will Stone's photographs of Bruges and his translation of Rodenbach's essay on Bruges.
Reviews
- Chris Power in The Times
- S.B.Kelly in Scotland on Sunday
- Summer Reading Recommendations in The Financial Times
- Daniel Starza-Smith in The Times Literary Supplement
- Nick Lezard,paperback of the week in The Guardian
- Ruth Stokes in The Big Issue
- The Crack
- Ruth Stokes in The Big Issue
RRP: £7.99
No. of pages: 166
Publication date: 10 November, 2009
Re-print date: unspecified
Catalogue/ISBN no: 978 1 903517 82 6
Dedalus World English language rights in this translation
Buy from: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com