Uncle Rudolf

Author:   Paul Bailey
Publisher:   HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:  

9781841157597


Pages:   192
Publication Date:   07 July 2003
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Uncle Rudolf


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Overview

The haunting new novel from Paul Bailey, whose work has been short-listed twice for the Booker Prize. At the age of seventy, Andrew Peters looks back across the years to remember life with his doting Uncle Rudolf, who rescued him from fascist Romania as a child. Vivid, often hilarious, stories of Rudolf’s brilliant but blighted singing career are intertwined with the slow unfolding of secrets that have shadowed Andrew’s otherwise happy life. Told in matchless prose, this deeply moving novel captures a vanished epoch with exquisite tact and restraint.

Full Product Details

Author:   Paul Bailey
Publisher:   HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint:   Fourth Estate Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 12.90cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 19.80cm
Weight:   0.160kg
ISBN:  

9781841157597


ISBN 10:   1841157597
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   07 July 2003
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

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Reviews

'A finely-wrought meditation on language, art, melancholia, lyric tenors, loss. Paul Bailey's book contains exquisitely poignant moods of regret.' Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph 'A poised and elegant tale.' Amellia Hill, Observer 'Lyrical and touching.' Michael Arditti, The Times 'An exquisitely composed novel of doubleness, dubeity and prolonged protected silences.' Guardian 'This fine and thoughtful tale is given a bittersweet seductiveness by the elegant sophistication of Bailey's writing and the splendid flamboyance of his central character.' Lucy Hughes-Hallet, Guardian 'The underlying story is sad -- harrowing, indeed -- but there is spicy humour here too. Andrew himself is an appealing narrator: honest, troubled, perceptive. It is the clarity of his vision that gives the novel its crisp and satisfying accuracy, and makes it one of Paul Bailey's best books.' Independent 'This is a beautifully worked cultural fable, elliptically presented after the manner Bailey has made uniquely his own. But it's more than this; the teller of the tale and his subject love one another deeply, and their love transfigures the world they find themselves in.' Spectator 'An exceptionally tender and vivid account of a little boy's expulsion from his own country and language. Tremendous.' Beryl Bainbridge 'I read it in one sitting and think it echoing and beautiful; so graciously pitched, perfectly poised, balanced on its hair-breadth between grief and delight. It moved me terribly. I loved it.' Ali Smith 'Beautifully written, strange, moving and wryly funny. Haunting.' Shena Mackay 'The wars of twentieth century Europe produced countless individual family tragedies that could be as strange as they were harrowing. Bailey has woven the anguish and consolation experienced by his narrator into the fabric of history with humour as well as compassion.' Alan Brownjohn 'Whether describing the boy Andrew's heart-rending final parting from his father in Paris, the comic antics of Rudolf's adoring entourage, or the final denouement of an open-air political meeting in a newly liberated Romania, each scene is boldly and comprehensively realised. Bailey's authorial voice possesses a silky, seductive, wholly individual timbre, and is deployed with all the skill of the highly professional writer that he is.' Literary Review 'Uncle Rudolf is a tale of Bach, burnt toast and betrayal. The simple story carries a heavy burden of hidden pain. The period detail, sketched in lightly, is frequently amusing -- what man today would wear a cologne called Jicky? -- yet this masterly study of exile is more likely to leave the reader in tears.' Time Out Praise for Paul Bailey 'He has a rare feeling for language and an understanding of character which few can rival.' Selina Hastings, Daily Telegraph On KITTY AND VIRGIL: 'A book the depth and beauty of which it is hard to do justice in the language of criticism and dissection.' Alex Clark, TLS On OLD SOLDIERS: 'Old Soldiers has taken root in my head. It's a spare, intense, elliptical novel, beautifully and cunningly set in a London which is at once drawn from Dickens and bang up-to-date.' Jonathan Raban, Sunday Times On GABRIEL'S LAMENT: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 'A magnificent novel, moving, eccentric and unforgettable.' Daily Telegraph On PETER SMART'S CONFESSIONS: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 'Rich in characters, situations, jokes and comic repartee. It's a fiendishly clever and funny book.' Anthony Thwaite, Observer


'A finely-wrought meditation on language, art, melancholia, lyric tenors, loss. Paul Bailey's book contains exquisitely poignant moods of regret.' Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph 'A poised and elegant tale.' Amellia Hill, Observer 'Lyrical and touching.' Michael Arditti, The Times 'An exquisitely composed novel of doubleness, dubeity and prolonged protected silences.' Guardian 'This fine and thoughtful tale is given a bittersweet seductiveness by the elegant sophistication of Bailey's writing and the splendid flamboyance of his central character.' Lucy Hughes-Hallet, Guardian 'The underlying story is sad - harrowing, indeed - but there is spicy humour here too. Andrew himself is an appealing narrator: honest, troubled, perceptive. It is the clarity of his vision that gives the novel its crisp and satisfying accuracy, and makes it one of Paul Bailey's best books.' Independent 'This is a beautifully worked cultural fable, elliptically presented after the manner Bailey has made uniquely his own. But it's more than this; the teller of the tale and his subject love one another deeply, and their love transfigures the world they find themselves in.' Spectator


Paul Bailey established himself as an author of distinction when his first novel, At the Jerusalem, won the Somerset Maugham Award. Since then, he has twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, as well as receiving several other awards. This latest novel is written in his customary spare, dignified prose; he tells his story with a calm compassion which merely enhances the horror of certain parts of the tale. Andrew Peters, formerly Andrei, comes to live with his Uncle Rudolf in London when the Fascist regime in his native Romania threatens the safety of everyone with even a trace of Jewish blood in their veins. After a hair-raising journey to Paris, his father puts the bewildered seven-year-old on a train to London, and promises that the family will be reunited very soon. Andrew never sees his mother or father again. Instead, he quickly settles down to a life of pleasure and excitement in his uncle's household. Rudolf is a gifted tenor, and travels the great cities of Europe where he stars in various operettas. Andrew accompanies him on these excursions, and as the years pass, he becomes increasingly attached to his uncle. But he never forgets his roots, and when Rudolf finally reveals the truth about what really happened to his parents, Andrew knows he has to return to Romania to lay the ghosts of the past once and for all. The relationship between the naive young country boy and his elegant, charismatic uncle is the lynchpin of this understated novel. Andrew's physical attraction towards Rudolf is touched upon, but is handled with sensitivity and discretion. Far more overpowering is the sense that Rudolf has betrayed his own sublime talents by performing in populist operettas, rather than taking on the challenges of grand opera. As Rudolf sinks deeper into an almost imperceptible melancholy, Andrew seems unable to tear himself away from his uncle's side. One by one Rudolf's faithful old retainers fall away until only he is left to support Rudolf to the bitter end. This is a moving account of how age and background are no barrier to a deep and lasting relationship. Once again, Bailey displays his profound insight into the complex workings of the human heart. (Kirkus UK)


Author Information

Paul Bailey is the author of At the Jerusalem (1967) which won the Somerset Maugham Award,Trespasses (1970),A Distant Likeness (1973), Peter Smart’s Confessions (1977), shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Old Soldiers (1980), and Sugar Cane (1993). He was the first recipient of the E.M. Forster Award and won a George Orwell Prize for his essay ‘The Limitations of Despair’.

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