false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168047762m/29881.jpg 29881 13 Like it 1977 predecessor <I>The Wars</I>, Timothy Findley's 1981 <I>Famous Last Words</I> ruthlessly examines the (often violent) nature of social division and union, as well as the making of history. Together these two novels mark the peak of Findley's career. While the slim <I>Wars</I> focuses largely on a single Canadian soldier in the First World War, <I>Famous Last Words</I> observes the next war--sometimes in the wings, sometimes from a distant office--through expatriate American writer Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. The title character in a well-known poem by the infamous Ezra Pound ("born / In a half savage country-- / Bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn"), Mauberley gives Findley a focus point for his forceful moral questions. Can bad people produce good art? (Good anything?) Are actions really excused by explanations?<P> Findley's career as a professional actor is nowhere more present than in this fascinating novel of revelatory props, coded dialogue, and emblematic settings. Mauberley's participation in an international cabal of intelligentsia and power brokers also lends <I>Famous Last Words</I> the suspense of an espionage novel. This fictional group, devoted to creating a new, post-national Europe, anticipates the migrant fixations of so many of Findley's fellow Canadian novelists. Like the characters of Mordecai Richler, Rohinton Mistry, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and Mavis Gallant, Findley's Mauberley is, in Michael Ondaatje's phrase, another "international bastard--born in one place and choosing to live elsewhere. Fighting to get back to or get away from our homelands all our lives." <I>--Darryl Whetter</I> 960519 book 1981 Famous Last Words total:132|5:34|4:60|3:32|2:4|1:2| 132 516 205 12 4 1 false false Sun Jul 13 12:27:59 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 12:31:20 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 10:14:24 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 12:34:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 28 11:28:26 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 19:53:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Wed Aug 19 15:20:27 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 15:23:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 19:29:18 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 19:29:18 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 15 00:28:59 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 00:26:49 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 03:53:47 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 10:16:37 -0700 2008
This is a novel mostly set during World War Two, but then it's not exactly about the war -- & it's not exactly not about it, either. It is about a story, carefully etched on the walls of an ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Mar 13 12:04:02 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 12:04:15 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1996 Thu Mar 06 11:01:49 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 19 07:10:56 -0700 2009 1 0 0 false false Fri Sep 11 18:12:35 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 24 04:14:54 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 31 06:38:14 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 31 06:38:47 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jun 17 18:21:47 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 24 14:54:05 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 1987 Mon Nov 16 14:34:01 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 14:34:01 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Sat Nov 14 14:23:16 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 14 14:23:16 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 15:54:36 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 15:54:36 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Tue Nov 03 21:53:58 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 21:53:58 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 03 01:04:24 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 01:04:24 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Nov 01 21:49:46 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 21:49:46 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Oct 22 05:31:04 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 05:31:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 18 15:58:24 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 15:58:26 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=29881