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March 2009 - The Master of Verona by David Blixt

A monthly discussion on varying themes guided by our members. (Book of the Month discussions through December 2011 can be found in this section too.)
annis
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Post by annis » Sun March 1st, 2009, 7:12 pm

Posted by Cesco
And there are clues about Cesco's mother that have to wait until the sequel. So don't anyone go mad trying to figure this out. The pieces aren't there.
Darn! Not wanting to nag or anything :) , but is there any word yet on the publication date for "Voice of the Falconer", David?

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cesco
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Sequel

Post by cesco » Sun March 1st, 2009, 7:28 pm

Not a word, not a sound, not a syllable. Last I heard, the date was June, 2010. But it's changed so often, I won't believe it until I see the proofs. It's frustrating, as I finished it two years ago and want to move on. Maybe the excitement you're generating here can put some pressure on SMP.

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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Sun March 1st, 2009, 7:33 pm

You are all making me want to reread this book! I loved it the first time around, and I am sure I would again, but I don't normally do rereads!
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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Sun March 1st, 2009, 11:28 pm

she becomes a nun in Ravenna, taking the name Sister Beatrice. Which seems quite perverse, on many levels
This is so fascinating! There's certainly a touch of quasi-incestuous obsession here, if not heresy. In The Divine Comedy, Beatrice does come very close to appearing as a goddess, so there's something quite interesting in Antonia taking the name for herself when she takes religious orders. My reference book on the saints tells me there were several St. Beatrixes, though, so she may have had a legitimate saint to point to.
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cesco
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Sister Beatrice

Post by cesco » Sun March 1st, 2009, 11:50 pm

I'm sure she did. But her choice could hardly have failed to raise eyebrows.

This thread is only a day old, yet I feel as though I'm interfering too much. I'm just pleased that so many here enjoyed the book. And you're reminding me of things I had forgotten - like my little joke in Cangrande's Spanish name (nice catch).

Therefore I am determined to read more, comment less. Naturally, direct questions are different.

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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Mon March 2nd, 2009, 12:33 am

One of my favorite parts is when Dante writes Antonia lamenting how much he misses his great love, Beatrice Portinari, and Antonia glibly responds, "In the future you may address me as Beatrice."

I did feel sorry for Dante's wife, though. How horrible to live with great shadow infecting even your children.

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Post by annis » Mon March 2nd, 2009, 2:01 am

Yes, just imagine always knowing that you were a poor second best :(

There is something rather worrying about the way Antonia is happy to sacrifice herself in her father's interests with an almost religious intensity. Her mother seems to mean little to her, but given the fact that everyone knows Dante's wife isn't of much interest to him, it's perhaps not surprising that his children might not think that she is of any great importance either. Perhaps it's also worrying that Dante accepts her sacrifice as no more than his due. Does being a great poet/ artist /musician automatically give someone licence to be totally selfish and self-absorbed, and to be above all the petty concerns and transactions of daily life?

Posted by Cesco
Actually, Cesco's identity was never intended to be a huge secret. Unlike several surprises in store, that one is more "a-ha!" than "wow!"
That's good- now that my suspicions have been confirmed by reading David's old post I'm afraid of accidentally blabbing and spoiling the surprise for others.
Last edited by annis on Mon March 2nd, 2009, 2:13 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Mon March 2nd, 2009, 5:25 am

One of the interesting themes in the novel is the way Pietro feels about his father's celebrity (I hadn't realized Dante was so greatly admired in his own time - kind of the big rock star of his time and place). Famous novelists, movie stars, musicians, etc., of our own day often have troubled relationships with their children. It was very easy for me to believe that Dante might be a rather self-absorbed and distant parent. Writing of the sort he did requires enormous concentration, and enough ego to insist on being undisturbed. I don't think being a great artist gives a person license to be obnoxiously selfish, but there's a balance point. If artists didn't have enough license to put their work first for a good portion of the day, art would no longer happen. It's a very tricky balance to achieve.


*********SPOILER*********

I thought it was sweet the way Dante becomes so proud of Pietro toward the end of the novel. There are a few hints leading up to that point suggesting that Dante has always been fonder of Pietro than Pietro realized. But I wonder if there might not be just a touch too much sweetness there. The very self-absorbed Dante was a little easier for me to believe in, given his neglect of his wife, his readiness to address Antonia as Beatrice, etc.
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Post by annis » Mon March 2nd, 2009, 6:42 am

I like your point about celebrities and their children, Margaret.

To be the best in any endeavour does require a conviction about your ability to achieve the best result which can translate as arrogance to others.

It has to be remembered as well, I guess, that the dynamic of the child-parent relationship in the late medieval period would have been very different from a modern one; compliance and obedience to the parent would have been taken as a given. Pietro seems unsure of his place in his father's regard. He has a feeling of being second-best; he was not the first choice for the role which he has now been assigned, but only chosen by default after his older brother's death, and often has the feeling that he's not living up to his father's expectations. This makes his father's unlooked-for approval at the end of the story so special to him.

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Mon March 2nd, 2009, 7:52 pm

a conviction about your ability to achieve the best result which can translate as arrogance to others
Or even be arrogance. Some of the things I've read about famous authors of the 20th century and the way they treated their families are truly appalling. The best of today's writers seem to do a better job of balancing work and family, perhaps partly because social expectations of family life have changed so much. Fifty or 100 years ago, it was expected that women would care for the children and men would have little or no role in childcare. That meant women writers had to fight tooth and nail for private time in which to write (it would be hard not to resent your kids if you were expected to sacrifice your dreams for them), and men writers had a certain entitlement to arrogance handed to them on a platter.
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