Adam Thorpe est un auteur britannique dont l'œuvre comprend de la poésie, des romans, des nouvelles et des drames radiophoniques. Son écriture se caractérise par une riche texture linguistique et une exploration profonde de la psyché humaine, abordant souvent des thèmes tels que l'histoire, l'identité et la relation de l'individu avec son environnement. Le style de Thorpe est imaginatif et évocateur, attirant les lecteurs dans les mondes de ses personnages et leurs vies complexes. Son travail est célébré pour son art littéraire et sa représentation perspicace de l'expérience humaine.
The fourth poetry collection from the author delves into the theme of history, exploring the connections between the present and both near and distant pasts. Through evocative language and imagery, the poet invites readers to reflect on how historical events shape our identities and experiences. This collection showcases the author's continued commitment to weaving historical narratives into contemporary poetry, creating a rich tapestry of time and memory.
First published in 1992, a novel whose various voices describe the waxing and waning of history, of the land, and of the ways in which society regards itself and the world it disposes of. From the author of Mornings in the Baltic and Pieces of Light.
Leaving London's cosmopolitanism in 1990 for a new life in rural south-west France, Adam Thorpe settled with his family in an ancient part of the Cévennes, a rugged landscape between the mountains and the sea. Here, amongst memories of religious conflict and Nazi savagery, alongside escapees of the 1968 Paris revolts and villagers deeply committed to their inheritance, Thorpe now makes his life as a writer. In his memoir Thorpe describes an author's existence embedded within an almost unrecognisably rustic setting and an impoverished yet proud local community. At the heart of his amusing yet profound account is a deep affection for the natural environment and the people that surround him, as well as a genuine fear for what the future may hold for them both.
It is April 1945, and the small town of Lohenfelde is about to be overrun by the Allied Third Army. Huddled in the vaults of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum to escape the artillery bombardment, are Heinrich Hoffer, the Acting Director, and his three colleagues, two women and one man. Their petty rivalries and resentments surface quickly in their confinement, and the vaults become a stage for an intense psychological drama of secret histories and shared terror. Above ground, picking through the rubble, is Corporal Neal Parry who wishes he was back in West Virginia studying art, and not dodging snipers. When he finds an exquisite painting in what remains of the museum vaults, he is immediately reconnected with a lost world of beauty and order: the world of art. It is this small 18th century oil — the appropriately titledLandscape with Ruins— that is the poignant link between the young soldier and the four charred corpses he finds at the same time. As the narratives interweave, the story of the painting reveals the hidden story of Herr Hoffer and his three associates — and in so doing, uncovers other, darker mysteries. In this thrilling re-creation of the last months of the Second World War, Adam Thorpe has written a narrative tour de force. Through his beautifully drawn characters, Thorpe allows us to see — just as they begin to see — the possibilities of art and love: perspective, in the face of war.
Pilot Bob Winrush worked for years as a 'freight dog', flying consignments of goods - and sometimes people - to all corners of the world. Until, one day, he walked away from a deal that didn't smell right - something a freight dog should never do. Now working as a private pilot, he finds that moment of refusal catching up with him.
It is the freakishly hot, drought summer of 1921; dust storms in London, parched and cracking earth, autumn tints in July. Holed up in a cottage in the Chilterns, a young writer strives to write the first great novel of the War, impelled by his own suffering. Outward events and inner crises deflect him from his purpose, and love intervenes in the form of two very different women. A visit to the hallucinatory wreckage of post-war Flanders brings strange repercussions in its wake. Everyone is in some way damaged by the terrible years of the war; in what sense can art be made out of such horror? Adam Thorpe's novel seeks to touch the marrow of this jazz and death-haunted period, which was ironically the most excitingly creative period of the last century. In a language deeply soaked in the time and by means of a beguiling story which gradually haunts its own process, Nineteen Twenty-One vividly recreates the year in which The Waste Land was written, as well as offering a bright mirror to the inner and outer complexities of our own troubled times.
Jack lebt mit seiner Frau Milly, einer reichen Erbin, im vornehmen Londoner Viertel Hampstead. Einst war er der vielversprechendste Komponist Großbritanniens. Nun ist er in einer Schaffenskrise, seine Kariere im freien Fall. Jack reist für drei Wochen nach Estland, um im Land seines Idols Arvo Pärt seine Inspiration wiederzufinden. Er lernt eine Kellnerin kennen, Kaya, es entwickelt sich eine leidenschaftliche Affäre. Als er abreist, ist alles vorbei. Es ist das Jahr 2005, London wurde gerade von terroristischen Anschlägen erschüttert. Sechs Jahre nach Jacks Reise nach Tallin holt ihn die Vergangenheit mit einer Wucht ein, die sein Leben - und auch Millys - vollständig durcheinander wirft. Jack sieht keine andere Möglichkeit, als nach Tallin zu reisen, um die Angelegenheit zu klären und die Wahrheit herauszufinden. Als er ankommt, ist es zu spät. Eine Geschichte von Liebe und Betrug, von Alter und Jugend, von Reichtum und Armut, vom „neuen“ und „alten“ Europa, von Kunst und Kompromissen, von jugendlichen Idealen und zynischem Überdruss. Taktverschiebung ist eine bewegende Liebesgeschichte, zugleich eine bissige zeitgenössische Satire über soziale und emotionale Orientierungslosigkeit.
