Confessing a Murder - Couverture souple

Drayson, Nick

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0224062387 ISBN 13 : 9780224062381

Editeur : Jonathan Cape Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

The Theory of Evolution was the greatest scientific concept of its age. It was so revolutionary that its author, Charles Darwin, revealed to a friend in 1854 that even mentioning it felt like 'confessing a murder'. Both the man and his theory are still the subject of intrigue and debate. How was it that the unremarkable younger son of a rich plutocrat, who idled through school, dropped out of medical studies and looked destined to be a clergyman of some quiet country parish, came to lay the foundation stone of modern biology? And how was it that another biologist, Alfred Russel Wallace, came up with the same theory at the same time? The answer may be found in Nicholas Drayson's delicious first novel. Purporting to be an anonymous memoir found in an attic, its author is an arrogant but brilliant homosexual whose life has crossed with that of Darwin with startling regularity. He is writing it on a small island in the Java Sea of which he is the only human inhabitant. The island has a live volcano and, aware that his life will soon come to an end, he sets out the true story of the theory of natural selection, confesses a murder of his own, and provides a fascinating and delightful account of the plants and animals of the now-vanished island. Peaceful gadzocks and bloodthirsty mistletoes, jumping cucumbers and bat-eating spiders, and most prized of all - the Golden Scarab.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

A murder, a vanished tropical island, a thwarted love affair. . . clues to the origin of Charles Darwin's famous theory. A nameless narrator, abandoned on an island soon to be obliterated by volcanic activity, tells the story of his life and exile from England. The tale is as extraordinary for its observations of a surreal natural history as for the dark twistings of human nature it reveals. His particular interest is beetles—a passion he shares, most literally, with the idolized friend of his school years, Charles Darwin—and his reckless pursuit of the golden scarab has led him to a place that mirrors the Galapagos in the utter singularity of its fauna and flora. Blood-sucking mistletoe and amphibian swallows are but two of the fantastic species he records. Is this the diary of a madman? Or is it the story of why Darwin published the book that destroyed his belief in God? Fearlessly original in conception, this tale is as extraordinary for its observations of a surreal natural history as for the dark twistings of human nature it reveals.

Biographie de l'auteur

Nicholas Drayson, a writer and naturalist, was formerly a curator at the National Museum in Canberra, Australia. This is his first novel.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0224062387
• ISBN 13: 9780224062381
• Reliure: Broché
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 304
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible