A Case of Curiosities: A NovelThis tale of an ambitious inventor in France as the Revolution looms is “brilliantly playful . . . full of lore and lewdness” (Chicago Tribune). “A portrait of a young mechanical genius in 18th-century France, delivered along with a gallimaufry of odd and intriguing facts and a rich, lusty picture of society in that time and place.” —Publishers Weekly In France, on the eve of the Revolution, a young man named Claude Page sets out to become the most ingenious and daring inventor of his time. Over the course of a career filled with violence and passion, Claude learns the arts of enameling and watchmaking from an irascible, defrocked abbé, then apprentices himself to a pornographic bookseller and applies his erotic erudition to the seduction of the wife of an impotent wigmaker. But it is Claude’s greatest device—a talking mechanical head—that both crowns his career and leads to an execution as tragic as that of Marie Antoinette, and far more bizarre. “Like a joint effort by Henry Fielding and John Barth” (Chicago Tribune), this “captivating novel” (San Francisco Chronicle) marked the debut of one of the finest literary artists of our time. “A Case of Curiosities . . . really is brilliant. Also witty, learned, ingenious, sly, and bawdy.” —Entertainment Weekly “What John Fowles did for the 19th century with The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Umberto Eco did for the 14th with The Name of the Rose . . . Kurzweil now does for the late 18th century.” —San Francisco Chronicle |
Contents
III The Morel
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IIII The Lay Figure
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V The Pearl
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VI The Linnet
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VII The Watch
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VIII The Bell
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IX The Button
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X The Empty Compartment
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Back Matter | |
Back Cover | |
Spine | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbe Abbe's Agnes Alexandra allowed apprentice barn owl bookseller called Catherine chapel church Claude asked Claude looked Claude nodded Claude pointed Claude's coach coachman copybook cornopard Count door enameling entered Etiennette Everard eyes Fidelite filled finger flywhisk garret Globe guerite hand harpsichord head Henri hope Hours inspected Kleinhoff knew La Chaux-de-Fonds Laurent Robert learned litde Livre Livre's Lucien Livre Lucille Madame Dubois Madame Hugon mansion house Marguerite Marie-Louise matter meal mechanical mother moved never night nose note-roll observed once painting Paris patrons pearls pears piece Piero Plumeaux pulled reached Red Dog returned revealed sister sketch slighdy smile soon sound Staemphli stared stopped surgeon talents Talking Head Talking Turk tell thought tion told Claude took Tournay tried turned Vengeful Widow watch watchmaker week wet nurse window wine wish woman young