Sylvain Reynard's Blog - Posts Tagged "-gabriel-s-inferno"
Art - Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son"
Dear Everyone,
As I mentioned previously, art plays a very important role in my novel, "Gabriel's Inferno." Without posting spoilers, I'll simply point out that sometimes the mention of a particular painting carries with it either a back story or an element of foreshadowing.
There is a scene, for example, in which I mention Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. Rembrandt's painting illustrates a story from the Bible - Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son, which is told in the Gospel according to St. Luke 15:11-32. There are at least two interpretations of the parable...
http://www.sylvainreynard.com/2011/05...
As I mentioned previously, art plays a very important role in my novel, "Gabriel's Inferno." Without posting spoilers, I'll simply point out that sometimes the mention of a particular painting carries with it either a back story or an element of foreshadowing.
There is a scene, for example, in which I mention Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. Rembrandt's painting illustrates a story from the Bible - Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son, which is told in the Gospel according to St. Luke 15:11-32. There are at least two interpretations of the parable...
http://www.sylvainreynard.com/2011/05...
Literature - "The Book of Common Prayer"
Dear Everyone,
Sex and love form important themes in my novel, "Gabriel's Inferno." The theme is developed through dialogue, events, the lives of the characters and even through a university lecture or two. My characters and the characters in the various pieces of literature mentioned in the story take different views on these topics.
Sometimes sex and love are separate considerations, sometimes they are unified. Sometimes sex is viewed as a gift to give someone else, sometimes it's viewed as something taken from another person for one's own benefit and pleasure. Sometimes sex is a way of exerting power or control over another person, sometimes it's a way of asserting vulnerability and connectedness. Without offering spoilers, I'll simply point out that the various voices in the novel express what I take to to be both typical and atypical approaches to the vexed questions of sex and love.
www.sylvainreynard.com
Sex and love form important themes in my novel, "Gabriel's Inferno." The theme is developed through dialogue, events, the lives of the characters and even through a university lecture or two. My characters and the characters in the various pieces of literature mentioned in the story take different views on these topics.
Sometimes sex and love are separate considerations, sometimes they are unified. Sometimes sex is viewed as a gift to give someone else, sometimes it's viewed as something taken from another person for one's own benefit and pleasure. Sometimes sex is a way of exerting power or control over another person, sometimes it's a way of asserting vulnerability and connectedness. Without offering spoilers, I'll simply point out that the various voices in the novel express what I take to to be both typical and atypical approaches to the vexed questions of sex and love.
www.sylvainreynard.com
Friendship and Tolkien
Dear Everyone,
Friendship is one of the relationships that figures prominently in “Gabriel’s Inferno.” Julia and Rachel are friends, Paul and Julia are friends, Professor Emerson appears to be friends with Katherine Picton, the villains of the story (seen and unseen) used to be friends with some of the other characters …
Friendship is a kind of love, but it’s a love that is asexual and chaste. Friendship reminds us that human beings can love each other deeply without that love being sexual or romantic...
www.sylvainreynard.com
Friendship is one of the relationships that figures prominently in “Gabriel’s Inferno.” Julia and Rachel are friends, Paul and Julia are friends, Professor Emerson appears to be friends with Katherine Picton, the villains of the story (seen and unseen) used to be friends with some of the other characters …
Friendship is a kind of love, but it’s a love that is asexual and chaste. Friendship reminds us that human beings can love each other deeply without that love being sexual or romantic...
www.sylvainreynard.com
Grendel and his Relatives
Dear Everyone,
There is a scene in “Gabriel’s Inferno” in which Professor Emerson accompanies two young women (one of whom is his sister) to a club in Toronto. As their host, he realizes that he will not be able to indulge himself in his usual sins for an evening. Instead of the hunter, he becomes the protector. Ever the professor of literature, he muses on the fact that he will have to play the part of Beowulf, prepared to slay Grendel and his relatives if they threaten his precious charges.
It's surprising, perhaps, that someone who is convinced he is irredeemably evil views himself as a Beowulf rather than a Grendel, at least in this scene...
www.sylvainreynard.com
There is a scene in “Gabriel’s Inferno” in which Professor Emerson accompanies two young women (one of whom is his sister) to a club in Toronto. As their host, he realizes that he will not be able to indulge himself in his usual sins for an evening. Instead of the hunter, he becomes the protector. Ever the professor of literature, he muses on the fact that he will have to play the part of Beowulf, prepared to slay Grendel and his relatives if they threaten his precious charges.
It's surprising, perhaps, that someone who is convinced he is irredeemably evil views himself as a Beowulf rather than a Grendel, at least in this scene...
www.sylvainreynard.com
