Charles Palliser Volgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)

In 1990, Charles Palliser made a remarkable debut with a densely plotted novel that intricately details early 19th-century English society. In his fourth novel, Palliser shifts to the late Victorian era, offering a meticulously crafted narrative filled with treachery and interconnected mysteries. The story begins with Philip Barthram, who travels to Geneva for a cryptic meeting with a dying woman. This encounter leads to "The Courtine Account," a memoir by historian Edward Courtine, recounting his 1881 visit to the cathedral town of Thurchester. Courtine seeks reconciliation with his estranged college roommate, Austin Fickling, and hopes to find a manuscript in the local library that could illuminate his studies on King Alfred's reign. As Courtine navigates personal and academic challenges, he becomes embroiled in two unresolved mysteries: the 200-year-old murders of William Burgoyne and Launcelot Freeth, and the recent brutal killing of a banker, which occurs shortly after his visit to the banker's home. Palliser skillfully guides readers through a complex labyrinth of fact, rumor, and legend, where the pursuit of objective truth proves elusive. Throughout his journey, Courtine reassesses his relationships and personal failures. This novel is a captivating blend of excitement, mystery, and intellectual challenge, resonating with fans of literary giants like Dickens and Collins.

At once a hypnotic murder mystery, scathing literary parody, soap opera, and brilliant pastiche, this novel is a virtuoso performance by a modern master of literary gamesmanship in the tradition of Nabokov and Barth. It unfolds through seemingly unrelated narratives, each in a different style and genre. An obituary for a Scottish scientist reveals a colleague's relish for his death. Early in the century, a train in the Scottish Highlands derails during a snowstorm, leading to the death—or murder—of a passenger. An inept publisher's reader summarizes a tacky hospital romance that culminates in a gory murder reminiscent of Jack the Ripper. A report on a contemporary academic scandal spirals into plagiarism, shattered reputations, paranoia, and possible murder disguised as suicide. As the author teases out each situation, it becomes clear they all revolve around a common theme: a distinguished figure in an intellectual pursuit becomes obsessed with a rival's success and schemes their demise, only to fail due to their own monomania. Each plotter becomes a victim of their own machinations, and the betrayer often becomes the betrayed in a complex dance of deception, revenge, and revelation. This challenging, engrossing, and original work is a joy to read, filled with laughter, suspense, and the marvel of a cleverly constructed fictional puzzle.

The protagonist, a young man naive enough to be blind to all clues about his own hidden history (and to the fact that his very existence is troubling to all manner of evildoers) narrates a story of uncommon beauty which not only brings readers face-to-face with dozens of piquantly drawn characters at all levels of 19th-century English society but re-creates with precision the tempestuous weather and gnarly landscape that has been a motif of the English novel since Wuthering Heights. The suspension of disbelief happens easily, as the reader is led through twisted family trees and plot lines. The quincunx of the title is a heraldic figure of five parts that appears at crucial points within the text (the number five recurs throughout the novel, which itself is divided into five parts, one for each of the family galaxies whose orbits the narrator is pulled into). Quintuple the length of the ordinary novel, this extraordinary tour de force also has five times the ordinary allotment of adventure, action and aplomb.