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Les maîtres de Glenmarkie
Qui sont vraiment les maîtres du manoir de Glenmarkie, cette bâtisse écossaise menaçant ruine, tout droit échappée d'un roman de Stevenson ? Et où est donc passé le trésor de leur ancêtre Thomas Lockhart, un écrivain extravagant mort de rire en 1660 ? Fascinée par le génie de Lockhart, intriguée par l'obscur manège de ses descendants, la jeune Mary Guthrie explore les entrailles du manoir et tâche d'ouvrir les trente-deux tiroirs d'un prodigieux meuble à secrets. Ebenezer Krook est lui aussi lié aux Lockhart. À Édimbourg, dans la librairie d'un vieil excentrique, il poursuit à l'intérieur de chaque livre l'image de son père disparu. Les tiroirs cèdent un à un sous les doigts de Mary. Les pages tournent inlassablement entre ceux d'Ebenezer. Mais où est la vérité ? Dans la crypte des Lockhart ? Au fond de Corryvreckan, ce tourbillon gigantesque où Krook faillit périr un jour ? Ou bien dans les livres ? Peuplé de silhouettes fantasques, de personnages assoiffés de littérature qui rôdent au bord de la folie, Les maîtres de Glenmarkie brasse les époques, les lieux, et s'enroule autour du lecteur comme un tourbillon de papier. Hommage facétieux aux grands romans d'aventures, il pose et résout une singulière équation : un livre + un livre = un homme.
360 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2008
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2022
Un passionnant roman en forme d’hommage à une certaine littérature (la trinité Scott-Dickens-Stevenson, à laquelle viendraient s’ajouter des auteurs comme Poe) et de déclaration d’amour à la littérature en général (on ne compte pas les citations directes ou non, de Shakespeare à Orwell, en passant par Dostoievski, Flaubert et Rostand). On y trouve des passages secrets, de l’amour, des coïncidences, des livres, la guerre, des histoires de famille, le tout dans un décor écossais qui sent le whisky à plein nez.
Il y a quelques facilités (qu’on dura propres au genre), quelques maladresses dans l’écriture (dont on dira qu’elles sont charmantes), mais c’est un immense plaisir de lecture pour les bibliovores. On rit, on tremble, on pleure
Il y a quelques facilités (qu’on dura propres au genre), quelques maladresses dans l’écriture (dont on dira qu’elles sont charmantes), mais c’est un immense plaisir de lecture pour les bibliovores. On rit, on tremble, on pleure
June 29, 2013
The Lairds of Cromarty by Jean-Pierre Ohls (translated by Mike Mitchell)
This is a delightfully quirky novel written by a Frenchman whose evocation of Scotland seems just right. The story is told in alternating chapters by Mary Guthrie, a graduate student in literature and Ebeneezer Krook, a priest whose indiscreet behavior with Mary Guthrie gets him defrocked.
In telling the story of Mary Guthrie, Ohls is able to take a few witty jabs at modern academia as when she says: “I imagined my studies would be an adventure as exciting as David Balfour in the company of ardent fellow searchers after truth; eyes ablaze with a passion for books under tutelage of masters worthy of Stevenson himself. In short I was still unaware that university is for the love of literature what castor oil is for thirst.”
Or this: “All of these academics had a vision of literature that was no broader than than that of a mule with blinkers pulling the plow in some Grampian glen would have of the general geography of the United Kingdom. To find equivalents in other disciplines one would have to imagine an accountant who refused to add any numbers other than 4 and 8 and a garage mechanic who would only work on green cars.”
But I could spend the entire review citing clever lines. Mary Guthrie goes to the rundown estate of her idol, Thomas Urquhart, translator of Rabelais and meets a cast of truly eccentric characters. She also tries to solve the riddle of the chest with 32 drawers each of which has to opened and closed in a particular sequence. No one has ever managed it but the one who does is promised the key to the treasure of the Urquhart treasure.
Eby Krook ends up working in a bookstore which sells books that are never less than 50 years old, the bookstore proprietor believing that he should only offer what lasts. This gives Mr. Krook time to find out more about his father whose favorite book (perhaps the only book he read) was Jack London’s Martin Eden.
If you enjoy cleverly crafted and witty literary puzzlers, this book is for you
This is a delightfully quirky novel written by a Frenchman whose evocation of Scotland seems just right. The story is told in alternating chapters by Mary Guthrie, a graduate student in literature and Ebeneezer Krook, a priest whose indiscreet behavior with Mary Guthrie gets him defrocked.
In telling the story of Mary Guthrie, Ohls is able to take a few witty jabs at modern academia as when she says: “I imagined my studies would be an adventure as exciting as David Balfour in the company of ardent fellow searchers after truth; eyes ablaze with a passion for books under tutelage of masters worthy of Stevenson himself. In short I was still unaware that university is for the love of literature what castor oil is for thirst.”
Or this: “All of these academics had a vision of literature that was no broader than than that of a mule with blinkers pulling the plow in some Grampian glen would have of the general geography of the United Kingdom. To find equivalents in other disciplines one would have to imagine an accountant who refused to add any numbers other than 4 and 8 and a garage mechanic who would only work on green cars.”
But I could spend the entire review citing clever lines. Mary Guthrie goes to the rundown estate of her idol, Thomas Urquhart, translator of Rabelais and meets a cast of truly eccentric characters. She also tries to solve the riddle of the chest with 32 drawers each of which has to opened and closed in a particular sequence. No one has ever managed it but the one who does is promised the key to the treasure of the Urquhart treasure.
Eby Krook ends up working in a bookstore which sells books that are never less than 50 years old, the bookstore proprietor believing that he should only offer what lasts. This gives Mr. Krook time to find out more about his father whose favorite book (perhaps the only book he read) was Jack London’s Martin Eden.
If you enjoy cleverly crafted and witty literary puzzlers, this book is for you
May 9, 2013
A bibliophile's book that continues a literary device I've run into with several other books this year, a real author, in this case George Orwell, as one of the characters. Ohl subverts several genres, the most obvious the gothic novel, but never lets that get in the way of telling interesting stories.
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May 15, 2013Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews