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A Dead Language
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton - the faithless young naval lieutenant who abandons Madam Butterfly - was glimpsed fleetingly in Peter Rushforth's previous novel, Pinkerton's Sister. Now Ben steps out of the shadows and into the centre of the stage, a young man haunted by the desolation of his boyhood years, unable to show or respond to love. He's about to sail for Japan. But his imminent departure conjures up the life he and his sister have led, and the monstrous act for which he is most the rejection and destruction of a pure and loving heart. What happened to him then will mark his whole life. He is his own man, but he is also his sister's brother. Once again, in his mastery of language, his extraordinary imagination, his superb sense of time and place, Peter Rushforth has given the world a second masterpiece, ranking alongside, or surpassing, his earlier triumph.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
647 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Peter Rushforth
6 books7 followersPeter Scott Rushforth was an English teacher and novelist.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 4, 2021
A lush fantasia on the theme of education and the creation of character. In this case, the sentimental but ultimately weak and faithless character of Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton.
You can tell the author was a teacher himself as several of the scenes (each a few minutes spread out over dozens of pages and massively filled out/elaborated/smothered with allusions, memories, reflections and linguistic riffs) portray lessons - both good and bad.
Apparently, when he died, Peter Rushforth was planning three more books around the residents of Longfellow Park, following 'Pinkerton's Sister' and 'A Dead Language'. I'd love to know more about those. Presumably each would have focused on a different character - maybe Linnaeus Finch, the doomed artist, or Kate (is this the Kate who appears in Madame Butterfly as the next Mrs Pinkerton?), who gets a tiny mention towards the end of this book.
You can tell the author was a teacher himself as several of the scenes (each a few minutes spread out over dozens of pages and massively filled out/elaborated/smothered with allusions, memories, reflections and linguistic riffs) portray lessons - both good and bad.
Apparently, when he died, Peter Rushforth was planning three more books around the residents of Longfellow Park, following 'Pinkerton's Sister' and 'A Dead Language'. I'd love to know more about those. Presumably each would have focused on a different character - maybe Linnaeus Finch, the doomed artist, or Kate (is this the Kate who appears in Madame Butterfly as the next Mrs Pinkerton?), who gets a tiny mention towards the end of this book.
February 4, 2013
First off, can I say this totally brilliant novels bears almost no relation to the blurb at all, it's quite bizarre.
Post-structuralist novel where the main plot is interspersed with internal dialogues and vignettes. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton attends a private school called Crowninshields run by a conman, and later a private college of the Rugby/Greyfriars type in New York. The story follows the group of Crowninshield schoolboys and their trials with Mr Rappaport, the Sports and Latin teacher. The ending is a bit disappointing.
Post-structuralist novel where the main plot is interspersed with internal dialogues and vignettes. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton attends a private school called Crowninshields run by a conman, and later a private college of the Rugby/Greyfriars type in New York. The story follows the group of Crowninshield schoolboys and their trials with Mr Rappaport, the Sports and Latin teacher. The ending is a bit disappointing.
May 3, 2013
I still have no idea what happens in this book...?!
March 24, 2014
Bizarre.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews