The Alteration
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)
Author
Contributors
Published
New York Review Books , 2013.
Status
Checked Out
Available Platforms
Libby/OverDrive
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Description
BOOKER PRIZE–WINNING AUTHORSet in a world in which the Reformation failed, this award-winning science fiction novel is “one of the best . . . alternate-worlds novels in existence” (Philip K. Dick).In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976, but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.
More Details
Format
eBook, Kindle
Street Date
05/07/2013
Language
English
ISBN
9781590176375
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Kingsley Amis and Evelyn Waugh, both children of the same literary school, share a comedic tone and accessible writing style. They also explore similar themes of religion and a disdain for certain aspects of British society. -- Bethany Latham
British writers P.G. Wodehouse and Kingsley Amis used comedy to explore their respective generations' rigid social stratification; Wodehouse skewered the aristocracy while Kingsley Amis attacked the world of the effete intellectual. Both effectively combined satire, slapstick, and wit to make their point through wordplay and, at times, sheer silliness. -- Mike Nilsson
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Published Reviews
Kirkus Book Review
The English Reformation never was. Got that? Now: Ten-year-old Hubert Anvil is boy soprano of the year--1976-- and Pope John XXIV (a Yorkshireman) would like that pre-pubescent voice to glorify the Church on a permanent basis. Hence the title, and the castrato-elect's desperate crusade to understand--via peeping-tomming and intense inquiries--what he's in danger of missing out on. As it happens, Hubert would rather compose than sing anyway, so he takes Dickensian flight and refuge in the bosom of a sweetness-and-light household. Escape to sea, an ah!-fate! deus ex machina denouement, and an ironic, downbeat epilogue. The Amis light touch and high spirits are sadly missing. There's no shortage of flat, what-if-history-were-different gags: Arnoldstown (for Benedict) instead of Washington, Monsignor Jean-Paul Sartre, ""tachygram"" instead of telegram, scientific treatises treated as pornography. But the only real laugh comes when the Pope begins teatime by lifting the teapot and asking, ""Shall we be Mother?"" The novelty plot and narrative efficiency are enough to snare an audience, but shame on the usually entertaining Amis for giving us gimmicky, half-parodied, sentimental melodrama. Too precious to take seriously (however genuine the anti-clerical anger) and too leaden to embrace. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Amis, K., & Gibson, W. (2013). The Alteration . New York Review Books.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Amis, Kingsley and William Gibson. 2013. The Alteration. New York Review Books.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Amis, Kingsley and William Gibson. The Alteration New York Review Books, 2013.
Harvard Citation (style guide)Amis, K. and Gibson, W. (2013). The alteration. New York Review Books.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Amis, Kingsley, and William Gibson. The Alteration New York Review Books, 2013.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
Copy Details
| Collection | Owned | Available | Number of Holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libby | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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