Enigma Variations by Richard Price

by Richard Price

In a steamy colonial city, an eccentric Frenchman offers for sale an extraordinary collection of primitive art. The two anthropologists called in to appraise the pieces for the national museum quickly find themselves in a murky world where the boundaries of authenticity and deception blur in the tropical heat. What begins as an intellectual puzzle threatens to turn into a deadly confrontation. As the game of cat-and-mouse unfolds, the trail leads from the fashionable living rooms of French expatriates to the thatched huts of the Amazonian rainforest, from a Princeton seminar room to a cluttered warehouse not far from Devil's Island, from a chic Parisian cafe to the cobbled streets of northeastern Brazil. Are the objects in the collection worldclass masterpieces of primitive art? Or do they reflect the agile hand and twisted mind of a brilliant forger? Or might the ultimate enigma be of an entirely different nature? Under the equatorial sun, the anthropologists' obsessive pursuit of Truth gradually undermines their academic certainties about art and culture - and, ultimately, their vision of reality itself.

Genres: Fiction, Anthropology

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

https://www.richandsally.net
and Inside/Outside: Adventures in Caribbean History and Anthropology

Reviews

[Muneera Salem-Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I recall, Pat Rubertone sent to me while I was still in Old Town. A very interesting book; enjoyed a great deal.

[Genevieve Paquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at a rummage sale at university a million years ago. I studied museum ethnography, and this was right up my alley, but for whatever reason, I hadn't actually picked it up to read it until now.
I liked it. I found myself believing it was based on a true story, even though it wasn't. I also feel like I have learned a bit about antique forgery.