The Underground Man

by Mick Jackson (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $7.76

  Short-listed for the 1997 Booker Prize -- a haunting historical novel from an astonishing new British talentVictorian England's most famous eccentric, the Duke of Portland was renowned for both his enormous wealth and for the elaborate series of tunnels he had built beneath his massive estate. The Duke, who is a fountain of nineteenth-century knowledge and curiosity, faithfully records in his journal the events that make up his days. His research extends into the fields of chiropractic medicine, and the study of auras, archaeology, and phrenology in a series of hilarious episodes that echo the New Age exploits of our own era while revealing the Duke to be a true naif: wonderfully humane, painfully shy, and untouched by the power his great wealth affords him.As the Duke's enthusiasms gradually turn inward to the working of the mind and memory, he slowly slips into madness. The natural end of his journey of self-discovery gives The Underground Man its horrifying and unforgettable climax. A brilliant comic and tragic creation, Mick Jackson's Duke of Portland is one of the most memorable and heartbreaking characters to emerge from recent fiction. A marvelous study of human foibles . -- The New York Times Book Review Ingenious ... Jackson's portrait, through the Duke's eyes, of an age poised between credulity and science is shrewd and fascinating . -- Kirkus Reviews

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $3.30

  The fifth Duke of Portland is a Victorian misfit, man who spends his time and wealth creating a network of tunnels beneath his Nottinghamshire estate. As he withdraws further from society he falls prey to his lonely self-absorption and to the mercy of his household staff. His rare appearances are misinterpreted and local gossip has inflated his eccentricities into sinister deformities. No one, not even he, understands his most persistent ache, a pain of absence that no amount of tunnelling or searching can bring to light. The Duke's slow piecing together of the truth about his past builds to an intensely moving and powerful conclusion. 'The narrative structure is immaculate, the characterization superb, the prose so polished you can see your face in it' Max Davidson, Daily Telegraph 'Soaked through with originality and expertly written: tragicomic fiction with the most endearingly sympathetic of anti-heroes' Dominic Bradbury, The Times 'A remarkable balancing act, witty, restrained and shot through with interesting tensions. As a first novel it is, quite simply, astonishing' Christina Patterson, Observer 'A strong narrative drive, a Gothic twist and a wonderful cast of secondary characters make this an entrancingly readable book. What lifts it into the prize-deserving category is Jackson's uncannily visual prose' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Telegraph

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $10.98

  One of the most acclaimed novels of recent times, The Underground Man is the fictionalised diary of a deeply eccentric English aristocrat. The duke has just completed a network of tunnels beneath his estate. His health is failing, but his imagination seems to know no bounds. And while he spends more time underground and retreats ever deeper into the darker corners of his house, there are some ghosts that demand to be acknowledged and some memories which insist on making themselves known.