Pilgrim - Softcover

Timothy Findley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571202683 ISBN 13: 9780571202683

Publisher: Faber & Faber Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

Pilgrim, is the story of a man who cannot die. Ageless, sexless, deathless and timeless, Pilgrim has inhabited endless lives and times. On April 15, 1912 - ironically, the date of the sinking of the Titanic - Pilgrim fails, once again, to commit suicide, his heart miraculously beginning again, five hours after he is found hanging from a tree. Admitted to the Burgholzi Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich, by his dear friend Lady Sybil Quartermaine, Pilgrim - at first, stubbornly mute - begins a battle of psyche and soul with Carl Jung, self-professed mystical scientist of the unconscious and slave to his own sexual appetites. Poring over Pilgrim's journals in his quest to penetrate his patient's armour of silence, Jung is both confounded and shaken by the extraordinary revelations of other existences. Pilgrim is a richly-layered story of a man's search for his own destiny - superbly crafted, breathtaking in scope and brilliantly imagined.

About this title

About the Author

Timothy Findley was born in Toronto in 1930. His first career was in the theatre; he was a charter company member of Ontario's Stratford Shakespearean Festival in 1953, and toured several European capitals.$$$In 1963, Findley turned to writing full-time and in 1977 his third novel, The Wars, won a Governor General's Award. It is now considered a Canadian classic. Following his bestsellers such as Famous Last Words, he won an Edgar Award for The Telling of Lies, while his collection of short stories, Stones, won Ontario's Trillium Award.$$$Findley's first work of non-fiction, Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer's Workbook, made him the first two-time winner of a Canadian Authors Association Award; he had earlier won its fiction counterpart for his novel, Not Wanted on the Voyage. He has also written plays, and his third, The Stillborn Lover (1993), won the CAA Drama Award, as well as winning an Arthur Ellis Award and Chalmers Award. His later novels include Headhunter (1993) and The Piano Man's Daughter (1995). His most recent play, Elizabeth Rex, was produced at the 2000 Stratford Festival in Canada.$$$Along with the likes of Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley has become one of Canada's most acclaimed and best-selling authors. In 2000, Faber published Pilgrim and reissued The Wars and Famous Last Words. His last novel, Spadework, was published in 2002, the year in which Timothy Findley died.

Review

"An extraordinary gifted storyteller."-- "Publishers Weekly""Seeing Findley's name on a book's cover immediately sends a signal to readers: here's a story that will be provocative and intriguing, beautifully told, and one-of-a-kind. Findley offers both sheer unputdownable entertainment and intelligent, thoughtful writing." -- "Booklist""Beautiful writing and extraordinary invention."-- "Chicago Tribune""It's rare to find an author in which the moralist and the entertainer cohabit so naturally."-- "New York Times Book Review""Findley spins a fine tale...[his] powers of description are truly extraordinary. Pilgrim is an impressive creation."-- "The Wall Street Journal"What is most appealing about this meganovel is that despite its daunting display of the intellectual evolution of the world through literature, art, politics and history, it remains endlessly enjoyable and never fails to engage the reader. "Pilgrim endlessly rewards the reader with luxuriant prose, complex characters and challenging ideas. It is an adventuresome ride well worth taking."-- "Chicago Tribune"Provocative."-- "Richmond Times-Dispatch"Findley is a thinking person's storyteller."-- "Houston Chronicle"Impressive."-- "Denver Rocky Mountain News""Pilgrim is an entertaining book, as visual as the artists depicted in it."-- "Minneapolis Star Tribune"Soaring...["Pilgrim is] a gorgeously complex novel of ideas and a rousing good read."-- "Ruminator Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0571202683
• ISBN 13: 9780571202683
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 485