By MacDonald Harris
As within the better of Jules Verne or Albert Sanchez Pinol, The Balloonist is a gripping and surreal yarn, chilling and comedian through flip, that brilliantly reinvents the Arctic event.
It is July 1897, on the northernmost achieve of the inhabited international. A Swedish scientist, an American journalist, and a tender, French-speaking adventurer climb right into a wicker gondola suspended underneath a tremendous, red-and-white balloon. The ropes are minimize, the balloon rises, and the 3 start their voyage: an try to develop into the 1st humans to set foot at the North Pole, and go back, borne at the wind. Philip Pullman says in his foreword: "Once I open any of MacDonald Harris’s novels i locate it virtually very unlikely to not flip and skim on, so pleasant is the feeling of a pointy intelligence at paintings. within the Balloonist , we see all of his characteristics at their best."
Read Online or Download The Balloonist: A Novel PDF
Similar literature books
The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology
"The Prose Edda", or "Younger Edda", is a vintage selection of Norse myths of the Icelandic humans. largely regarded as compiled via Icelandic student and historian Snorri Sturluson round the 12 months 1220, "The Prose Edda" features a euhemerized Prologue by way of 3 stories: the 'Gylfaginning', the tale of the production and destruction of the realm of the Norse gods; the 'Skáldskaparmál', contains a discussion among Ægir, a god linked to the ocean, and Bragi, a skaldic god; and the 'Háttatal', a set of outdated Norse poetry together with unique compositions by way of Snorri Sturluson.
The Routledge Companion to Experimental Literature
What's experimental literature? How has experimentation affected the process literary historical past, and the way is it shaping literary expression this present day? Literary scan has regularly been varied and tough, yet by no means extra so than in our age of electronic media and social networking, whilst the very classification of the literary is coming less than severe strain.
Mary Hogan's strong and poignant debut novel approximately sisters--opposites in each way--plus their mom and the secrets and techniques and lies that outline them all.
One family members, sisters, a life of secrets and techniques . . .
The 3rd baby in a relatives that sought after simply , Muriel Sullivant has continually been an interloper. brief, dark-haired and around, she worships her attractive blonde sister, Pia, and envies the shut bond she stocks with their mom, Lidia. transforming into up of their shadow, Muriel believes that if she retains all their secrets--and she is aware lots, outsiders continually do--they will love her, too.
But that used to be decades in the past. Now an grownup, Muriel has authorised the disappointments in her lifestyles. along with her fourth-floor walk-up condominium and entry-level ny urban task, she by no means will degree as much as Pia and her prosperous husband, their daughter, and their suburban Connecticut dream domestic. Muriel would favor not anything larger than to prevent her judgmental relatives altogether. something she does particularly well.
Until the day Pia exhibits as much as stopover at and percentage devastating information that Muriel understands she can't tell--a mystery that might strength her to return to phrases with the earlier and aid her see her lifestyles and her family members in unforeseen new methods.
The Romantic Paradox: Love, Violence and the Uses of Romance, 1760-1830
Why are there so few "happily ever afters" within the Romantic-period verse romance? Why achieve this many poets make the most of the romance and its elements to such devastating influence? Why is gender so frequently the 1st sufferer? The Romantic Paradox investigates the superiority and dying within the poetic romances of the Della Cruscans, Coleridge, Keats, Mary Robinson, Felicia Hemans, Letitia Landon, and Byron, and posits that realizing the romance and its violent trends is key to realizing Romanticism itself.
- A Gathering of Old Men
- Counternarratives
- Civiltà sommerse
- The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
- Géronimo a mal au dos
- The New York Review of Books (March 20, 2014)
Extra resources for The Balloonist: A Novel
Sample text
Vil lûte rief er unde sprach, dô er mich aller verrest chôs: “Rîter, ir sît triuwelôs! Mirne wart von iu niht widerseit, und habt mir lasterlîchez leit in iuwer hôchfart getân. Nû wie sihe ich mînen walt stân! Den habt ir mir verderbet, und mîn wilt ersterbet, und mîn gefügel verjagt. Iu sî von mir widersagt: ir sult es buozze bestân, ode ez muoz mir an den lîp gân! Daz chint daz dâ ist geslagen, daz muoz wol weinen unde clagen – alsus clagich von schulden. Ichn hân wider iuwern hulden mit mînem12 wizzen niht getân.
I clearly perceived that he was angry with me, 33 660 665 670 675 680 685 690 695 700 34 705 710 715 720 725 730 735 740 German Romance III Als ab ich in einen sach, mîn forhte und mîn ungemach wart gesenftet iedoch, und gedâhte ze leben noch, und gurte mînem rosse baz. Dô ich wider drûf gesaz, dô was er chomen daz er mich sach. Vil lûte rief er unde sprach, dô er mich aller verrest chôs: “Rîter, ir sît triuwelôs! Mirne wart von iu niht widerseit, und habt mir lasterlîchez leit in iuwer hôchfart getân.
There bisons and aurochses fought with ferocity, with horrible cries. Then I halted, at a distance, regretting that I had ever gone there, and if they had perceived me, then I would not have trusted to defend myself, other than by beseeching God to save me. I wanted to get away from them. Then I saw a man sitting in the very midst of them all, which consoled my mind. Yet when I came closer to him and had a good look at him, I was as sorely afraid of him as of the animals, or more so. His appearance, albeit human, was otherwise extremely wild.