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Earthly Powers
First published 1980 · 870 pages
A sprawling, cynical, and fiercely intelligent romp through the moral and historical wreckage of the twentieth century.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like sitting in a smoke-filled, opulent study with a brilliant, cynical raconteur who has witnessed every major catastrophe of the twentieth century. It is a massive, steady-paced epic that demands your full intellectual attention, rewarding you with a darkly comic and profoundly unsettling exploration of good, evil, and the failures of both art and religion. The prose is a linguistic feast, overflowing with polymathic wit, literary allusions, and sharp satirical jabs. Beneath the erudite surface and decadent atmosphere lies a deeply melancholic meditation on human corruption and the illusion of free will. It will thoroughly delight readers who love sweeping, ambitious literature that wrestles with theology and history without ever losing its wicked sense of humor.
- Mood
- grandiose
- decadent
- intellectual
- shadowed
- Tone
- cynical
- erudite
- satirical
- wry
- melancholic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the nature of evil · spiritual corruption · art versus morality · the burden of history · illusion of free will
- The writing
- Exuberant, polymathic, and densely layered with linguistic play, literary allusions, and razor-sharp wit.
- The arc
- A journey from cynical, worldly detachment through the chaotic horrors of the twentieth century, culminating in a weary, devastating confrontation with absolute evil.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave sprawling, intellectually demanding epics that wrestle with theology, history, and morality through a darkly comic, unapologetically erudite lens.
Content notes
- homophobia
- religious trauma
- violence
- antisemitism
- suicide
- sexual content
About the book
Anthony Burgess has long been regarded as one of the most original and daring writers of our time. In Earthly Powers, Burgess has writtena book rich with astonishing powers and surprising events.
Description from Open Library.
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