Author: Julian Barnes
- Fiction
- Anagrama
- ISBN: 9788433973740
- Release Date: 09-21-2021
Synopsis
En el verano de 1885, tres franceses llegaron a Londres para realizar unas compras intelectuales de unos días: un príncipe, un conde y un plebeyo de nombre italiano. Con el tiempo, cada uno de estos hombres alcanzaría cierto nivel de renombre, pero ¿quiénes eran entonces y cuál fue el significado de su estadía en Inglaterra? Respondiendo a estas preguntas, Julian Barnes despliega las historias de sus vidas que se desarrollan en el contexto de la Belle Epoque en París. Nuestro guía a través de este mundo es Samuel Pozzi, el médico de sociedad, librepensador y hombre de ciencia con una famosa vida privada complicada que fue el tema de uno de los mejores retratos de John Singer Sargent. En este vívido tapiz de personas (Henry James, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Proust, James Whistler, entre muchos otros), lugar y tiempo, vemos no solo una época de glamour y placer, sino, sorprendentemente, una de violencia y prejuicios, con más paralelismos con nuestra época de los que imaginamos. Este es, a la vez, un retrato fresco de la Belle Epoque; una mirada esclarecedora al antiguo intercambio de ideas entre Gran Bretaña y Francia; y la vida de un hombre que vivía apasionadamente el momento, pero cuyas ideas y logros estaban muy por delante de su tiempo.
In the summer of 1885, three Frenchmen arrived in London for a few days' intellectual shopping: a prince, a count, and a commoner with an Italian name. In time, each of these men would achieve a certain level of renown, but who were they then and what was the significance of their sojourn to England? Answering these questions, Julian Barnes unfurls the stories of their lives which play out against the backdrop of the Belle Epoque in Paris. Our guide through this world is Samuel Pozzi, the society doctor, free-thinker and man of science with a famously complicated private life who was the subject of one of John Singer Sargent's greatest portraits. In this vivid tapestry of people (Henry James, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Proust, James Whistler, among many others), place, and time, we see not merely an epoch of glamour and pleasure, but, surprisingly, one of violence, prejudice, and nativism—with more parallels to our own age than we might imagine. The Man in the Red Coat is, at once, a fresh portrait of the Belle Époque; an illuminating look at the longstanding exchange of ideas between Britain and France; and a life of a man who lived passionately in the moment but whose ideas and achievements were far ahead of his time.
A pleasure to read in every way. Barnes writes with elegance and wit, probes motives with a novelist’s imagination but also a historian’s skepticism, plucking memorable formulations -enhanced by his own deft translation- from letters, journals and newspaper squibs... Barnes succeeds brilliantly.The New York Times Book Review
Not a pure biography or history, but an ever-widening gyre of the scandals, art, theory and fashions of the time. The New York Times
Arguably the most versatile writer alive... Barnes has penned yet another truly innovative book that is like no other he has written before. His writing, once again, is clear, erudite, and deeply insightful. His wit, intellect, and pleasant irony incite a lasting thrill in us. Los Angeles Review of Books
