Benchere in Wonderland
A Novel
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- 19,99 €
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- 19,99 €
Publisher Description
What is the role of art in the world? And what is the responsibility of the artist? After the death of his wife, Michael Benchere, a well-respected sculptor and once-famous architect, looks for ways to redefine the meaning of his life through the purpose of his art. Determined to create a sculpture that celebrates nothing more than the pure beauty of art, Benchere heads into the Kalahari desert where he is followed quite unexpectedly by a ragtag mix of people. Over the course of his months in the desert, Benchere must address not only the relationship of his art to the world at large, but his own relationship to the world and how our responsibilities, our loves and dreams don’t ever fade in time but, in effect, become evermore defined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Plaudits are due for Gillis's brilliant fifth novel, an ambitious treatise on the role of art and the artist in modern day society. The author has an uncanny knack for depicting the best and worst of humankind here their respective avatars are Michael Benchere, a no-nonsense, bigger-than-life sculptor and self-taught architect, and Dancy Mund, a smarmy hotel chain owner. They who face off over a spot in the Kalahari Desert where Benchere has decided to erect one of his works of art. Gillis skillfully skips between character backstory and the present art project. Along the way, readers meet Benchere's soul mate and wife, Marti, the inspiration for his work, and his daughter, Zooie, a musician who decides to join the Kalahari adventure after connecting romantically with a filmmaker who's documenting the project. Gillis's novel carefully examins the fallibility and resolve of the artist, the myriad repercussions that art can have, and the different ramifications of political art and art created merely for the sake of art if there can be such a thing.
