The Volcano Lover: A Romance
by Susan Sontag
published
August 1st 2004
(first published 1992)
by Picador
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binding
Paperback, 432 pages
isbn
0312420072
(isbn13: 9780312420079)
description
Set in 18th century Naples, based on the lives of Sir William Hamilton, his celebrated wife Emma, and Lord Nelson, and peopled with many of the great ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 298)
I read this book while in Naples (it's set in Naples, late-18th-early 19th century). I think it's probably Susan Sontag's best novel. But then I don't really like her novels normally...[random trivia:]--Susan Sontag's novels come up in the movie "Bull Durham" (Kevin Costner--or "Crash"--doesn't like them, either...)
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The dramatic heart of this book lies in Nelson’s distinctly unheroic behaviour during the Neapolitan Republican uprising in 1799, when he oversaw the execution of hundreds of ‘rebels’, and hanged the much-loved Admiral Caracciolo and threw his body into the harbour.
The story starts, though, as Sir William Hamilton goes back to Naples from London to carry on his work as British Ambassador. His wife - the reserved, refined Catherine - plays the piano in the Neapolitan palazzo while Hamilt...more
The story starts, though, as Sir William Hamilton goes back to Naples from London to carry on his work as British Ambassador. His wife - the reserved, refined Catherine - plays the piano in the Neapolitan palazzo while Hamilt...more
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I read this book because I am currently researching an essay I'd like to write on the use of volcanoes in late twentieth century and contemporary women's literature. I specifically intend to concentrate on poetry (Anne Carson, Adrienne Rich, and Louise Gluck), but I thought it would be an oversight to ignore this novel by Susan Sontag.
I think Sontag's critical writing is the gem of her collected work. The Volcano Lover is good, but mediocre to what is is able to achieve in other genres. It's ...more
I think Sontag's critical writing is the gem of her collected work. The Volcano Lover is good, but mediocre to what is is able to achieve in other genres. It's ...more
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Read in May, 2008
I've read this book twice now; I am studying it for a class (incidentally a class that I love) and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more the second time I read it (after the seminar we had on it).
My professor maintained that this would be the easiest book on our course because Sontag has the essayist's compulsion to explain herself as she goes along; well, much as I respect and admire my professor I have to disagree. This is a difficult book. At times it deliberately goes out to decieve (sub...more
My professor maintained that this would be the easiest book on our course because Sontag has the essayist's compulsion to explain herself as she goes along; well, much as I respect and admire my professor I have to disagree. This is a difficult book. At times it deliberately goes out to decieve (sub...more
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Read in February, 2008
The dramatic love triangle between Sir William Hamilton, his wife Emma, and her lover, Lord Nelson, of the late 18th-century Naples is the basis of Sontag's historical "romance". The Cavaliere is an obsessive collector and fascinated with Mount Vesuvius which becomes symbolic of each characters' emotions at one point or another. When his beloved Catherine dies he falls in love with his nephew's lover, Emma, who ultimately finds true love not in the Cavaliere, but in "the hero&qu...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Historical Novel Readers
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in June, 2008
Well I give up. I'm on page 172 and I can feel the lava hardening around my ankles as I read this book. Sontag's style is so thick she makes Iris Murdoch feel like a waltz in the park.
I was so looking forward to learning more about this unusual relationship between Hamilton, his wife and Nelson but it is almost like she's avoiding the subject (which is perhaps how Hamilton handled it).
Anyways with thousands of other books waiting on my shelves I can't get bogged down in something that s...more
I was so looking forward to learning more about this unusual relationship between Hamilton, his wife and Nelson but it is almost like she's avoiding the subject (which is perhaps how Hamilton handled it).
Anyways with thousands of other books waiting on my shelves I can't get bogged down in something that s...more
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Read in April, 2007
I read this Susan Sontag novel based on my colleague's recommendation and I wasn't disappointed.
It's a delicate and dense read--you need to appreciate and adjust to Sontag's unique writing style, but the image of rustic Italy in the 17th century and the fascinating British collector known mostly in the text as "the collector" create an interesting novel.
I wouldn't recommend this to everyone. It's sort of like reading Shakespeare or a 19th century Romantic novel, if your will...more
It's a delicate and dense read--you need to appreciate and adjust to Sontag's unique writing style, but the image of rustic Italy in the 17th century and the fascinating British collector known mostly in the text as "the collector" create an interesting novel.
I wouldn't recommend this to everyone. It's sort of like reading Shakespeare or a 19th century Romantic novel, if your will...more
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عاشق آتشفشان سومین ولی مشهورترین رمان سونتاگ است. یک رمان تاریخی بر مبنای یک مثلث عشقی مشهور که اوایل قرن هژدهم در شهر ناپل ایتالیا اتفاق افتاده. سونتاگ در رمان خود از نام های واقعی قهرمانان استفاده نکرده است. با نظر بسیاری از منتقدین موافقم که این اثر سونتاگ بیشتر داستانی ست.
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I Read this after a dear friends recommendation and I proclaim no regrets!
Susan Sontag
Amazing Women
A walking encyclopedia
An immense vocabulary
And a tremendous intellect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
The avant-garde, make life more interesting!
I always find it amazing when an author can draw me into what I dislike (A Romance Story) via what I truly enjoy (Historical Narrative)
Another writer who does
Susan Sontag
Amazing Women
A walking encyclopedia
An immense vocabulary
And a tremendous intellect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
The avant-garde, make life more interesting!
I always find it amazing when an author can draw me into what I dislike (A Romance Story) via what I truly enjoy (Historical Narrative)
Another writer who does
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Read in September, 2006
The story of a romance between vulcanologist Sir William Hamilton and his wives Catherine and Emma (Emma also strikes up a romance with Lord Nelson). Since Sontag does not often refer to her characters by name, though, the names eventually cease to matter. The prose is absorbing, though pretty thick in places. Nice pieces of meditation on one's role in life, especially as the characters encounter the French Revolution, and their world begins to fall apart.
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Lisa by:
Feminista list
I didn't love it but it wasn't a waste of time. I liked the prose when it was deliberate, but sometimes it was ponderous. I liked all the bits about the Cavaliere's duties and collecting and obsessing about volcanos. I liked when the penny dropped about who these characters were, what their names were.
But it would have taken me much longer if I had not had enforcedly empty hours to pass.
But it would have taken me much longer if I had not had enforcedly empty hours to pass.
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Read in May, 1997
This was not the great book I'd been led to believe it would be but it was okay. Basically a mix between great writing and literary masturbation (as in, "I'm a great writer ergo this is great writing, no matter if it's drivel at some points." As a historical novel, it doesn't necessarily read well, in my opinion, but it's worth a visit for the bits and pieces of quality scattered about.
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Read in January, 2008
For some reason I never thought I'd like Susan Sontag's novels but this one changed my mind. A look at European history during the revolutionary and Napoleonic eras through the eyes of upper class men and lower class women. Ms. Sontag injects just enough of her political perspective to make me see history with new eyes.
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i read somewhere that this is a prolonged response to an opera, i think. it does seem to be a prolonged response to something. a bit too contrived. but there are still moments of deep beauty. and, as always, an education about gender. even for those of us who think we already know it all.
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Read in May, 2008
As much a "romance" as any other story ever told. I suppose "The Volcano Lover: Sontag Obsesses About Collecting" doesn't have the same ring.
Certainly, the most readable Sontag I've encountered. Dense, but not so murky that I couldn't read it on the tube.
Certainly, the most readable Sontag I've encountered. Dense, but not so murky that I couldn't read it on the tube.
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Read in October, 2008
recommended to Rina by:
mom
Sontag is a master at flipping the "normalizing" "male" "colonizing" (what have you) gaze. I was amazed to read here who the characters actually are! The story was woven so tight that I didn't need to know it was real in order to sink deep into its folds.
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
History buffs, philosophical-minded people
Heavy emphasis on style, but stream-of-consciousness prose almost lyrical, despite my usual disinclination for that sort. Not very plot-driven; more a reflection on a wide range of subjects. Emotional core curiously hollow - on purpose? It IS Sontag, after all.
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Sheila Frankfurt
Beautiful. An exploration of a British diplomat in Naples who "collects" volcanos, i.e., watches and obsessively learns about, while Vesuvius bubbles and burns in the near distance. Love, sex, and witty party banter ensues, of course.
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Read in January, 1992
This is another story that has stayed with me for quite some time. It's an enjoyable read about isolation, loneliness, and self-centeredness amongst the upper classes of 18th century Neopolitan society.
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