Picture This (novel)

Picture This is a 1988 novel from Joseph Heller, the satiric author of the acclaimed Catch-22.

Related Topics:
1988 - Joseph Heller - Catch-22

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In a radical departure for his 6th book, Heller concocted a strange piece of experimental historical fiction. As the novel begins, the slovenly and debt-ridden great painter Rembrandt van Rijn is painting his now-famous Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer. Suddenly, we are whisked from 17th Century Holland to Ancient Greece, where an exiled, weary Aristotle clairvoyantly watches Rembrandt doing his portrait. Not much has changed, the philosopher concludes as he gazes down the centuries at our dawning modern era of greed, wars and capitalism run amok. Written in a flat, reportorial style, omniscient in viewpoint, the narrative confusingly and annoyingly jumpcuts in time and spacebetween and within epochs.

Related Topics:
Rembrandt van Rijn - Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer - 17th Century - Holland - Ancient Greece - Aristotle

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