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The Count of Concord
Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, was―as Nicholas Delbanco writes―“world famous in his lifetime,” yet now he has been “almost wholly forgotten.” Like Delbanco himself, Sally Ormsby Thompson Robinson―the narrator of this novel and the Count’s fictional, last-surviving relative―is “haunted” by one of history’s most fascinating and remarkable figures. On par with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Count Rumford was, among many other things, a politician, a spy, a philanthropist, and above all, a scientist. Based on countless historical documents, including letters and essays by Thompson himself, The Count of Concord brings to life the remarkable career of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford.
- GenresBiography
478 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
22 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Delbanco
98 books18 followersNicholas Delbanco is the Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan and Chair of the Hopwood Committee. He has published twenty-five books of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent novels are The Count of Concord and Spring and Fall; his most recent works of non-fiction are The Countess of Stanlein Restored and The Lost Suitcase: Reflections on the Literary Life. As editor he has compiled the work of, among others, John Gardner and Bernard Malamud. The long-term Director of the MFA Program as well as the Hopwood Awards Program at the University of Michigan, he has served as Chair of the Fiction Panel for the National Book Awards, received a Guggenheim Fellowship and, twice, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship. Professor Delbanco has just completed a teaching text for McGraw-Hill entitled Literature: Craft and Voice, a three-volume Introduction to Literature of which he is the co-editor with Alan Cheuse; in 2004 he published The Sincerest Form: Writiing Fiction by Imitation. His new non-fiction book, Lastingness: The Art of Old Age will be published by Grand Central Publishing in 2011.
Full Biography
NOTE: The following biography was composed in 2000 by Jon Manchip White and reflects information only up to and including that year.
Nationality: American. Born: London, England, 1942. Education: Harvard University, B.A. 1963; Columbia University, M.A. 1966. Career: Member of Department of Language and Literature, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1966-84, writing workshop director, 1977-84; professor of English, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1984-85; Robert Frost Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1985—. Awards: National Endowment for the Arts creative writing award, 1973, 1982; National Endowment of Composers and Librettists fellowship, 1976; Guggenheim fellowship, 1980; Woodrow Wilson fellowship; Edward John Noble fellowship; New York State CAPS Award; Vermont Council of the Arts Award; Michigan Council of the Arts Award. Agent: Brandt & Brandt Literary Agents, Inc., 1501 Broadway, New York, New York 10036, U.S.A.
As a novelist, Nicholas Delbanco can be considered doubly fortunate in that he has always been able to draw inspiration and sustenance from two continents and two cultures.
Of Italian and German descent, he was born in London at the height of the German Blitz, and his family did not depart for America until he was six, and he was not naturalized as an American citizen until he was eleven. It is not surprising that, though later he would anchor himself firmly in New England and particularly in Vermont, and more recently in Michigan as the Robert Frost Professor of English Language and Literature, the influence of his European origins would play a consistent part in his fiction and non-fiction alike.
The cultural ambivalence, if such it may be called, manifested itself early. At Harvard, his B.A. thesis was devoted to a joint study of Rilke and Heredia, two noteworthy wanderers, and the subject of his M.A. thesis was that tragic outcast, Malcolm Lowry. Examining the numerous novels Delbanco has published to date, one finds that only five are set exclusively in the United States and that the majority are set, either in whole or part, in Provence, Tuscany, Greece, Switzerland, or as far afield as Barbados and Mexico. Several of his non-fiction books are concerned with Europe, one of them a study of that remarkable group of literary exiles, including Conrad, Crane, and James, who lived and worked together in a small corner of England at the turn of the last century. Indeed, one of the courses Delbanco has taught over the years is specifically entitled “Exiles,” and is devoted to Becket, Conrad, and Nabokov, while other courses have featured a gallery of roving and displaced novelists such as Joyce, Lawrence, Forster, Ford, Mann, Fitzgerald, and He
Full Biography
NOTE: The following biography was composed in 2000 by Jon Manchip White and reflects information only up to and including that year.
Nationality: American. Born: London, England, 1942. Education: Harvard University, B.A. 1963; Columbia University, M.A. 1966. Career: Member of Department of Language and Literature, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1966-84, writing workshop director, 1977-84; professor of English, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1984-85; Robert Frost Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1985—. Awards: National Endowment for the Arts creative writing award, 1973, 1982; National Endowment of Composers and Librettists fellowship, 1976; Guggenheim fellowship, 1980; Woodrow Wilson fellowship; Edward John Noble fellowship; New York State CAPS Award; Vermont Council of the Arts Award; Michigan Council of the Arts Award. Agent: Brandt & Brandt Literary Agents, Inc., 1501 Broadway, New York, New York 10036, U.S.A.
As a novelist, Nicholas Delbanco can be considered doubly fortunate in that he has always been able to draw inspiration and sustenance from two continents and two cultures.
Of Italian and German descent, he was born in London at the height of the German Blitz, and his family did not depart for America until he was six, and he was not naturalized as an American citizen until he was eleven. It is not surprising that, though later he would anchor himself firmly in New England and particularly in Vermont, and more recently in Michigan as the Robert Frost Professor of English Language and Literature, the influence of his European origins would play a consistent part in his fiction and non-fiction alike.
The cultural ambivalence, if such it may be called, manifested itself early. At Harvard, his B.A. thesis was devoted to a joint study of Rilke and Heredia, two noteworthy wanderers, and the subject of his M.A. thesis was that tragic outcast, Malcolm Lowry. Examining the numerous novels Delbanco has published to date, one finds that only five are set exclusively in the United States and that the majority are set, either in whole or part, in Provence, Tuscany, Greece, Switzerland, or as far afield as Barbados and Mexico. Several of his non-fiction books are concerned with Europe, one of them a study of that remarkable group of literary exiles, including Conrad, Crane, and James, who lived and worked together in a small corner of England at the turn of the last century. Indeed, one of the courses Delbanco has taught over the years is specifically entitled “Exiles,” and is devoted to Becket, Conrad, and Nabokov, while other courses have featured a gallery of roving and displaced novelists such as Joyce, Lawrence, Forster, Ford, Mann, Fitzgerald, and He
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 10, 2013
Even though I gave this book such a low rating, I honestly had mixed feelings about it. Some parts of it were quite decent, but there was never a thread I could follow all the way through. There isn’t really a plot – it’s basically the life of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, in totality and it is agonizingly slow-moving. I hated the narrator! Sally, the Count’s last surviving relative (supposedly), was pretentious and irritating. Her sections are thankfully short, but I still found it a bear to get through them. I guess the main message of the novel and Thompson’s life is: Even if you have a well-traveled life and contribute lots of good ideas to the world, you’ll be forgotten in death if you weren’t considered to be on the correct side of history. In Thompson’s case, he remained faithful to the British cause during the Revolutionary War; after leaving America, he resided and had adventures in three different countries, but never really a home in any of them. I don’t know if this whole book was meant to be intellectual or what, but frankly, I just didn’t get it. At the end, I was simply relieved his life was over.
Favorite quotes: “A lie thus widely broadcast and universally acknowledged counts – so Thompson came to recognize – as truth.”
“No human invention of which we have any authentic records, except perhaps the art of printing, has produced such important changes in civil society as the invention of gunpowder.”
“Yet as so often on this earth, the prize, once attained, diminished; it had looked brighter while beyond his reach than now within his grasp.”
Favorite quotes: “A lie thus widely broadcast and universally acknowledged counts – so Thompson came to recognize – as truth.”
“No human invention of which we have any authentic records, except perhaps the art of printing, has produced such important changes in civil society as the invention of gunpowder.”
“Yet as so often on this earth, the prize, once attained, diminished; it had looked brighter while beyond his reach than now within his grasp.”
June 18, 2008
What I learned from this book is that the author wanted to write about sexual fetishes.
When the three things you learn about a protagonist is that 1) he is lazy, 2) he has no qualms about deserting his family, and 3) he'll do anything to get in with "the right people" including playing along with their kinks ... there's just not much to recommend me to the guy.
This book also jumped between past and present, but the modern day character was, if less despicable than her ancestor, entirely uninteresting and a chore to read about.
Didn't even finish this one. Maybe because I am a prude, but probably because I just didn't care about what happened.
When the three things you learn about a protagonist is that 1) he is lazy, 2) he has no qualms about deserting his family, and 3) he'll do anything to get in with "the right people" including playing along with their kinks ... there's just not much to recommend me to the guy.
This book also jumped between past and present, but the modern day character was, if less despicable than her ancestor, entirely uninteresting and a chore to read about.
Didn't even finish this one. Maybe because I am a prude, but probably because I just didn't care about what happened.
November 7, 2008
The tone of this book reminded me of Fielding's Tom Jones, but the interspersed sections where the "author" of the story told us about herself and what she was doing were distracting and didn't really add much. I thought the ending was quite weak -- it didn't really conclude so much as wander off. The tumultuous life of Count Rumford did make for an interesting story.
March 25, 2019
Another of my two or three favorite Delbanco books. This isn't just historical fiction -- it is an attempt to recreate the style the story would have been told in in its day. That will not win some readers, of course, but it is a brave effort, even if it is ultimately bound to fail.
Here's a thing I wrote back in the day:
https://annarborobserver.com/articles...
Here's a thing I wrote back in the day:
https://annarborobserver.com/articles...
June 18, 2008
I just couldn't get into this book. I thought it sounded very interesting from the back cover. I gave it 64 pages and back it went!
September 12, 2008
Much less about the man's scientific pursuits than his sexual ones. And told by a modern female narrator whose story line detracted in a big way. Not was I was hoping for.
January 31, 2011
hmm... nobody else on goodreads likes this. while not for the toe tappy reader, it is a great story about what means a person will get up to to get the ends they want.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews