There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. In Fritz Fitzgerald has discovered a perfect character through whom to explore the meaning of love, poetry, life, and loss. I was insanely frustrated by his devotion to his twelve-year old muse, who as acknowledged, has barely any attributes that attract devotion or friendship in modern terms, but I loved the minutiae of 18th century life in Germany, and once inculcated into the book's mysteries, found it totally enticing. Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2016. Cart Hello Select your address Best Sellers Today's Deals Electronics Customer Service Books New Releases Home … The entire book is about longing. 226 pp. I’m not sure I would have read or finished it without the book club, though. Publication Date: April 15, 1997. Since then, she's written eight more, three of which have been short-listed for England's prestigious Booker Prize, and one of which, Offshore, won. It's also Fitzgerald at her best - elegant, inventive, hilarious, unsparing. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. And about Novalis. From the Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore comes this unusual romance between the poet Novalis and his fiancée, Sophie, newly introduced by Candia McWilliam. Here she reconstructs the life of 18th-century German romantic poet Novalis, focusing on his boisterous family, his struggle to articulate his longings, and, most tellingly, his passion for 12-year-old Sophie, a simple child he intends to marry despite the furious reservations of family and friends. here re-creates him, his family, his doomed young lover Sophie von Kühn, and Sophie's huge family—not to mention the era all of them lived in—in the most human-sized … She died in 2000, aged 83, one of the great writers of the twentieth century. The last novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, despite the slimness of this you will probably be surprised to know that this took her about four years to write. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Fitzgerald's interest in complex, tragicomic family life must stem from her own family experience; I read THE BLUE FLOWER mainly because I just read her newish biography. enelope FITZGERALD'S first novel was published in 1977, when she was already 60. Her detailed recreations of historical milieus are outstanding and her grasp of human psychology piercingly insightful. Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2018. The Blue Flower's elusive magic Penelope Fitzgerald’s subject is recondite, and her meaning hard to decipher – but she’s such an engaging writer … If ever there is a book to persevere with, to have patience with, and to go back and re-read again, it is ‘The Blue Flower’ by Penelope Fitzgerald. For someone about to read it, it can seem a trifle intimidating. What transpires, then, in the inward universe, when Fritz first sees 12-year- old Sophie von Khn standing at a window looking out? Heartbreaking and hilarious, compassionate and severe. It doesn't go to town with it's humour, but it is artfully present at all times. Penelope Fitzgerald was obviously sailing splendidly in the wind with this book - comfortable in her position as an established and celebrated writer; aware of her own capacity for observation and passing on her many years' wisdom gently and meditatively. This is a story of love lost. He is a young man so self-contained, so absorbed in his thoughts, that I wondered where the drama would arise. She won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for The Blue Flower, the Booker Prize for Offshore, and three of her novels — The Bookshop,The Gate of Angels, and The Beginning of Spring — were short-listed for the Booker Prize. It is laugh out loud funny at times and deeply moving at others. And about Novalis. "The Gate of Angels" takes place in Oxford, the year 1912, and the work is one of comedy (as opposed to a tragedy). As a counterpoint to her protagonist's beautifully captured romanticism, Fitzgerald successfully evokes the sights, sound, and smells?and the constant sorrows?of domestic life in 18th-century Germany. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. By Penelope Fitzgerald. Having just finished The beginning of Spring by the same author I was really looking forward to this book as many reviewers say it is her best. I learned more than I ever thought I even wanted to about 17-18th c. Germany. Times were once better for the Hardenbergs, who've sold two estates, may have to sell another, and meanwhile live in a more manageable house in town. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Company. The Blue Flower is a critically acclaimed 1995 historical novel by author Penelope Fitzgerald. Penelope Fitzgerald uses fiction to examine an 18th-century German poet and his doomed love for a 12-year-old girl. I think that's what I hoped to find out by reading the book but didn't as I didn't get to know the characters well enough. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. In The Blue Flower readers will find a work of fine prose, fierce intelligence, and perceptive characterization. You find yourself wanting more, and the scene switches. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. THE BLUE FLOWER By Penelope Fitzgerald. Over 300,000 copies of her novels are in print, and profiles of her life appeared in both The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine.In 1979, her novel Offshore won Britain's Booker Prize, and in 1998 she won the National Book Critics Circle Prize for The Blue Flower. This is a story of love lost. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Check out this great listen on Audible.com. The way leads inwards, always inwards' ''). Fitzgerals includes so much with so little, as if she believes that less is more, which in this case is true. This is an extraordinary book - one that was suggested by someone else in my book club - which I enjoyed exorbitantly and madly (an element of madness in one's own character is a necessary precursor to reading this book I would think). Hello, Sign in. Mariner Books, 9780395859971, 240pp. It has all the narrative coherence of a bolted rabbit - it weaves and staggers and seems to waver drunkenly at times; but it comes together at the end and unveils a host of absolutely charming characters, not least the future poet/philosopher, Novalis and his family of eccentric siblings. There was a problem loading your book clubs. To say he's a salt inspector, though, is a little like saying Shakespeare was an actor. Paper, $12. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. The last novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, despite the slimness of this you will probably be surprised to know that this took her about four years to write. Penelope Fitzgerald wrote her first novel 20 years ago, at the age of 59. If ever there is a book to persevere with, to have patience with, and to go back and re-read again, it is ‘The Blue Flower’ by Penelope Fitzgerald. The book has humor and sadness as she describes the life of its hero Fritz von Hardenberg, before he became Novalis, the late 18th century German Romantic poet. Her detailed recreations of historical milieus are outstanding and her grasp of human psychology piercingly insightful. Alas, here I must do so. It is laugh out loud funny at times and deeply moving at others. Penelope Fitzgerald wrote her first novel 20 years ago, at the age of 59. I just didn't like this book. Heartbreaking and hilarious, compassionate and severe. it is nothing like what one might expect from that genre, Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2014. Throughout, he is carried aloft by an inchoate desire for something beyond that is summed up in his little story of the blue flower: "I have no craving to be rich, but I long to see the blue flower....I can imagine and think about nothing else." Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. ?Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal", The German poet Novalis (17721801) was really Friedrich Leopold von Hardenberg: and Fitzgerald (The Gates of Angels, 1992; Offshore, 1987, etc.) Skip to main content.sg. Perhaps if I knew more about German romantacisn I might have got more out of the book, but a novel should stand on its own. Since then, she's written eight more, three of which have been short-listed for England's prestigious Booker Prize, and one of which, Offshore, won. The 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner in Fiction. Penelope Mary Fitzgerald (17 December 1916 – 28 April 2000) was a Booker Prize–winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. Cart The pious and old (he's 56) father of the many-childrened family is Director of the Salt Mining Administration of Saxony, one of the few vocations (the military is another) not forbidden to members of the aristocracy, and the same calling the oldest Hardenberg son, Fritz, will follow upon conclusion of his studies at the universities of Jena, Leipzig, and Wittenberg. It's not dreadful, the prose is good, but neither characters nor story engaged me. I am in awe of Penelope Fitzgerald. This book is well written and life during that period appears to be well researched but the characters did not come alive for me as they did in The Beginning of Spring. A peculiar tale and probably if it occurred nowadays he's be arrested for being a pervert. Over 300,000 copies of her novels are in print, and profiles of her life appeared in both The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine.In 1979, her novel Offshore won Britain's Booker Prize, and in 1998 she won the National Book Critics Circle Prize for The Blue Flower. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2016. A peculiar tale and probably if it occurred nowadays he's be arrested for being a pervert. I was insanely frustrated by his devotion to his twelve-year old muse, who as acknowledged, has barely any attributes that attract devotion or friendship in modern terms, but I loved the minutiae of 18th century life in Germany, and once inculcated into the book's mysteries, found it totally enticing. What better tribute could be made to Novalis, perhaps the greatest poet of the German Romantic. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. I’m not sure I would have read or finished it without the book club, though. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". THE BLUE FLOWER. This is an extraordinary book - one that was suggested by someone else in my book club - which I enjoyed exorbitantly and madly (an element of madness in one's own character is a necessary precursor to reading this book I would think). Even though this is an historical novel, it is nothing like what one might expect from that genre. A beautiful book. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Against all precedent (Sophie isn't of the real nobility), and in keeping with the changing times (there's been the revolution in France), he gets his father's permission to become engaged--but dreadful sorrow lies just ahead. Now she's back with her tenth and best book so far, The Blue Flower. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. It was definitely not gripping and I’m still not sure what it was about, what was at stake, apart from the author’s original and poetic language. '' This cheerful, careless, laughing child-woman becomes Fritz's star, his guide, ``his Philosophy.'' When I bought it, I didn’t realize it was the last novel by the Booker prize winner; published five years before her death in 2000 aged 83. The chapters are short and sweet, no explanations about life in the 16th century, yet Fitzgerald creates an intimate sense of life in German in this time and place with beautiful descriptions of landscape and domestic life and interiors. It's not dreadful, the prose is good, but neither characters nor story engaged me. ''The Blue Flower is a model of what historical fiction can be at its best - when the radical otherness of other times is not merely acknowledged but made integral to the fictional experience. Fitzgerald’s greatest triumph.” — New York Times Book ReviewThe Blue Flower is set in the age of Goethe, in the small towns and great universities of late eighteenth-century Germany. This itself is part of here pure genius. Taking us back to the late 18th Century we are taken into the life of a certain provincial German, Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, later to become better known to us as simply Novalis. It's not helped by needless time shifting in the narrative, nor that the core story is about a 20 year old man falling 'in love' with a 13 year old girl. Please try again. Please try again. Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2018. Set in 18th century Germany, Fitzgerald tells her imagining of the teenage story of real German poet and philosopher Fritz von Hardenberg, later called Novalis. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2020. The book has humor and sadness as she describes the life of its hero Fritz von Hardenberg, before he became Novalis, the late 18th century German Romantic poet. Tracing the dramatic early years of the young German who was to become the great romantic poet and philosopher Novalis, `The Blue Flower' is a masterpiece of invention, evoking the … Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. A learning experience--with laughter and tears, Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2015. The Blue Flower (Paperback) By Penelope Fitzgerald. The blue flower— die blaue Blum e— has long been a symbol of Romantic yearning. Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2016. The Blue Flower is a 1995 novel by the British author Penelope Fitzgerald. Since then, she's written eight more, three of which have been short-listed for England's prestigious, Fitzgerald never repeats herself, and her latest novel, named Book of the Year by 19 British newspapers in 1995, is her most original book yet. If ever there is a book to persevere with, to have patience with, and to go back and re-read again, it is ‘The Blue Flower’ by Penelope Fitzgerald. It’s the sort of book, as other reviewers have suggested, where you end up living inside its world. PENELOPE FITZGERALD wrote many books small in size but enormous in popular and critical acclaim over the past two decades. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Not only have Fritz's studies brought him among faculty the likes of Fichte, Schiller, and Schlegel--but he himself is already a visionary poet helping bring the 18th century to its close (`` `The universe, after all, is within us. 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