The Painted Room: A Tale of Mantua

by Inger Christensen, Denise Newman (Translator)

The frescoed picture of the duke and his family on the walls of the Camera degli Sposi looks so peaceful -- you would never guess that a murder has just taken place.Prince Lodovico of Mantua invites the painter Mantegna to his palace to decorate one of the rooms. The painting is slowly completed and the prince's secretary records its progress in his gossip-laden diary. The story is then taken up by the prince's daughter, the dwarf Nana, whose story digs deeper into characters and motivations around the palace, and is quite forthright about deceits and vendettas, assassination and incest within its walls. It is completed by the painter's young son, Bernardino, who introduces a note of high fantasy into the narrative. What results is a beautiful yet startling picture of the Renaissance, as rich and colorful as the men and women depicted on the palace walls.

Genres: Poetry, Denmark, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Danish, 20th Century, Novels

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Inger Christensen was born in Vejle, Denmark, in 1935. Initially she studied medicine, but then trained as a teacher and worked at the College of Art in Holbæk from 1963–64. Although she has also written a novel, stories, essays, radio plays, a drama and an opera libretto, Christensen is primarily known for her linguistically skilled and powerful poetry.

Christensen first became known to a wider audience with the volumes "Lys" (1962; Light) and "Græs" (1963; Grass), which are much influenced by the modernistic imagery of the 60s, and in which she is concerned with the location of the lyric "I" in relation to natural and culturally created reality. The flat, regular landscape of Denmark, its plants and animals, the beach, the sea, the snow-filled winters have determined the topography of many of her poems. Christensen has also been known internationally since the appearance of the long poem "Det" (1969; "it" 2006), a form of creative report on the merger of language and the world, which centres around the single word "it" and covers more than two hundred pages. The book clearly reveals the influence on Christensen's poetic work of such a range of authors as Lars Gustafsson, Noam Chomsky, Viggo Brøndal, R.D. Laing and Søren Kierkegaard. The analogy between the development of poetic language and the growth of life is, as in "Det", also the basic motif of the volume of poetry "Alfabet" (1981; Alphabet). In addition to the alphabet itself – which gives the book its title and provides a logical arrangement for its fourteen sections –, the structure is generated by the so-called Fibonacci series, in which every number consists of the sum of the preceding two. The composition reflects the theme exactly: while "Det" points to the story of creation and its "In the beginning was the Word", here the alphabet is a pointer to the "A and O" of the apocalypse.

The story of her life and work offers access to a poetry that is difficult and enigmatic, but simultaneously simple and elementary. Inger Christensen is one of the most reflecting, form-conscious poets of the present day, and her history of ideas also provides information on the paradox of lyric art; making legible through poetic means what must necessary remain illegible, and in this way wrestling a specific order from the universal labyrinth. Here the transitions between the poet and the essayist Christensen are fluid: just as lyrical figures and motifs give her essays a density of their own, figures of thought and configurations of ideas return as an organic component of the poems.

Reviews

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange, fluid, richly detailed novella about the Italian Renaissance painter, Mantegna, painting frescos for the Duke Gonzaga. Mantegna is not the central character of this book, however: we first meet Gonzaga's secretary, who is in love with Mantegna's wife, then the Duke's daughter Nana, who has Dwarfism, and finally Mantegna's son. Impressions of the time, place and characters are told to us in immersive prose poetry, full of vivid details that bring the place and period to life.

[moosisai · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Me oleme loobunud oma vanadest nimedest ning meie kõigi nimi on Maria."

tglt õige hinnang oleks 3.7 vnii

lõpp oli palju parem kui algus — algus oli päevikuvormis (proosa?! ja lõpp oli kirjutatud pikema tekstina, teisest vaatepunktist natuke müstilisem ja mütoloogilise vaibiga.

tegelased läksid lugedes tihti omavahel sassi, neid polnud liiga hästi eristatavalt selgitatud.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inger Christensen does not fail me on the first day of 2010. She my patron saint of peeling paint and intrigue and loftiness. This is the plottiest plot I've ever loved and I love it for its swiftness and obliqueness and because it reminds me of Gabriel García Márquez. This is the year of the fool and foolish accounts. This is the year of sour wine that blossoms sweetly. This is the year of Maria. Call us Maria. Call all of us one name.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now, in this hour, begins the systematic destruction of my beloved Nicolosia.

This is about Andrea_Mantegna beseeched by Ludovico III of Gonzaga to paint this:



Not an easy read by any means. Each paragraph has to be engaged on three different levels...
Historical
philosophical/artistic
how it pertains to the ongoing story.

So I read everything thrice and enjoyed but cannot recommend onwards

[a.d. · Rating 3 out of 5]

occasionally engaging, brilliantly composed piece of proem (? prose-poem, poetic-prose) on the nature and beauty of art and relationships

[Paula · Rating 1 out of 5]

A senseless mess.

[Ploni Almoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hvilken verden, tænker jeg. Men jeg siger det ikke.

[Cary B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book incomprehensible. Was it translated from another language? Ah, I see that it was. Well I apologise to the original author, perhaps her work was fine and the translation very bad. It was obscure and not very well written. It was supposed to be about Mantegna's painting of Lodovico Gonzaga and his household, but it was incredibly disappointing. It certainly didn't work in any way for me.

[Karlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The incredible ducal palace in Mantua has a room painted by Mantegna, the famous renaissance artist. This book seemed more like notes for a novel than a completed work. Short entries in a diary kept by a man in the palace tell the story A short piece, supposedly a summer assignment for Mantegna's son, concludes the work. Did Pope Pius II really have so many children? Isabella d'Este appeared briefly when she arrived at the palace.

[Ken Fredette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translation was excellent and was expressed exactly how Inger talked in his other translations. However he doesn't seem to keep the thread of each of the stories going in the same way. The second story seemed to keep going in the right direction and was something that made sense. Being translations it couldn't go anywhere but in the directions that were there by the original author.

[Hanneleele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mina ei teadnud sellest autorist midagi, muidu on ta luuletaja? Romaan (kaanel hõiskab uhkelt, et kunstiromaan!), on tõesti luuleline, osati kiriromaan, osati päevik,selline mille sisse minna ja mitte liiga palju torkida, et kes ja kas ja mis ja kas tõesti inimesed võivad niimoodi teha iseendast kirjandust, luulet, legendi, elada ja armastada (igasugust patuelu, ent samaaegselt väga väärikalt ja tasakesti). Aitäh, Võsu raamatukogu!

[Rogue Male · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eigentlich nett geschrieben, aber ich konnte der Geschichte nicht ganz folgen und fand es irgendwie fad

[Anetq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eksperimenterende tekst fra 1976 - og måske tekstsamling mere end roman. tre blikke på de samme hændelser (i stil med Svend Åge Madsens Jakkels vandring), her dog tre helt forskellige vinkler på livet og ikke mindst døden i Mantua. 1) En dagbog om jalousi, mord, sur pavevin og maleren. 2) En fabel om pavebørn, dværgen Nana og en tyrkisk prinsesse - og til sidst 3) En skolestil fra malerens søn om at være inde i malerens billede og den græske mytologi.
Som eksperiment er det interessant, og der er masser af gode detaljer, som samlet værk er det sært. Ikke dårligt, men besynderligt. Og så skal man ikke underkende at Inger Christensen kan ting med ord som få andre.

[Jimmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't love it but it's got a certain charm. Plottiest plot is right, Dawn. I had a hard time keeping it all straight. Seemed kind of silly though, like a combination of a soap opera and a Greek tragedy. Maybe if I read it all in a day it would've made more of an impression. But I ended up spreading it out over a week; this tiny book really should be read in a day.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agree with Dawn--plottiest plot. Agree with Jimmy--should be read in one sitting in order to keep straight the plottiest plot. I read it in two sittings and it took some concentrating. But I loved my first foray into Christensen's prose. Her poetry is brilliant and this is quite nice too.

[Martin Ledstrup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overset Inger Christensen. Sproget kigger sig selv i spejlet her: så smukt uden at forstå hvorfor. Og så alligevel mere reflekterende end hendes lyrik. Men det største udbytte kommer først når læseren opgiver at forstå bogen.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, fik aldrig lige fat i historien, måske skulle man se værelset først

[Andreas Stokke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skal læses mere end én gang.