The Discovery of Slowness

by StenNadolny (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1997

  $3.50

  Slow and deliberate from boyhood, John Franklin seemed destined to be a misfit. But he escaped from the ever-expanding world of Industry and Empire to the sea's silent landscape, where the universe seemed more manageable. At fourteen he joined the Navy, and, after the harrowing battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar, went in search of the Northwest Passage. As he journeyed from Canada to the Arctic he replayed in a kind of slow-motion mental frieze the bloody frenzy of the battles he had so deplored. Everyone with whom he came into contact sensed that they were dealing with a rare man, one who as out of his time and who moved to a different, grander beat. The beat later led Franklin into the Arctic in search of a frozen dream; it was a voyage on which time stopped.

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $3.50

  Nadolny's masterpiece, a huge commercial and critical success in Germany and across Europe, recounts the life of one of the most interesting explorers of the nineteenth century - Sir John Franklin who, amongst other achievements, paved the way for the discovery of the NorthWest Passage. By means of Nadolny's acute reading of history and his storytelling prowess, the reader follows this misfit's development from awkward schoolboy to expedition leader, Governor of Tasmania, icon of adventure. Not only a riveting account of a remarkable life, The Discovery of Slowness is also a profound and thought-provoking meditation on time.The result is an extraordinary reading experience that justifies the novel's reputation as one of the classics of contemporary German literature.

• New

  Paperback
  2005

  $28.45