| Description |
290 pages ; 25 cm |
| Note |
Previously published in Dutch as Oorlog en terpentijn (Amsterdam : De Bezige Bij, 2013); English translation originally published by Harvill Secker in 2016, in London |
| Summary |
"An international best seller: a vivid, masterly novel about a Flemish man who reconstructs his grandfather's story--his hopes, loves, and art, all disrupted by the First World War--from the unflinching notebooks he filled with pieces of his life. The life of Urbain Martien--artist, soldier, survivor of World War I--lies contained in two notebooks he left behind when he died in 1981. His grandson, a writer, retells his story, the notebooks giving him the impetus to imagine his way into the locked chambers of Urbain's memory. He vividly recounts a whole life: Urbain as the child of a lowly church painter, retouching his father's work; dodging death in a foundry; fighting in the war that altered the course of history; marrying the sister of the woman he truly loved; haunted by an ever-present reminder of the artist he had hoped to be and the soldier he was forced to become. Wrestling with this story, Urbain's grandson straddles past and present, searching for a way to understand his own part in both. As artfully rendered as a Renaissance fresco, War and Turpentine paints an extraordinary portrait of one man's life and reveals how that life echoed down through the generations. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)"-- Provided by publisher. |
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"In this vivid and masterful novel, a Flemish man reconstructs his grandfather's story--his life, loves, and art, all disrupted by the first World War--from the unflinching notebooks he left behind. Short Description War and Turpentine centers on two men distanced by time: a religious painter whose life is changed forever by World War One; and his grandson, a writer reckoning with his grandfather's story. The life of Urbain Martien--artist, soldier, survivor of the incomprehensible--lies contained in two notebooks written before his death in 1981. His grandson, a writer, imagines his way into the locked chambers of Urbain's memory: retouching church paintings as a boy, dodging death in an iron foundry, and, ultimately, fighting the war that altered the course of human history. There is Urbain's father, the lowly church painter; Urbain's wife, Gabrielle, his true love's sister; and Urbain's canvas, the ever-present reminder of the artist he wanted to be and the soldier he was forced to become. Wrestling with this story, the narrator straddles past and present, searching for a place in both. As artfully rendered as a Renaissance fresco, War and Turpentine paints the extraordinary story of one man's life and the echo of its impact resounding through the generations. Translated from the Dutch by David McKay"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Grandfathers -- Fiction.
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Grandsons -- Fiction.
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Life change events -- Fiction.
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World War, 1914-1918 -- Influence -- Fiction.
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FICTION -- Family Life.
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FICTION -- Historical.
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World War (1914-1918) (OCoLC)fst01180746
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FICTION -- Literary.
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Grandsons. (OCoLC)fst01746469
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Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) (OCoLC)fst00972484
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Life change events. (OCoLC)fst00998231
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| Chronological Term |
1914-1918
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| Genre/Form |
Domestic fiction. (OCoLC)fst01726589
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Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787
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| Subject |
Grandfathers. (OCoLC)fst00946347
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| Genre/Form |
Historical fiction.
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Domestic fiction.
|
| Added Author |
McKay, David, 1973- translator.
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| Added Title |
Oorlog en terpentijn. English
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| ISBN |
9781101874028 (hardback) |
|
1101874023 (hardback) |
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