- Picture This (novel)
infobox Book |
name = Picture This
title_orig =
translator =
author =Joseph Heller
cover_artist =
country =United States
language = English
series =
genre =Historical novel
publisher =Putnam
release_date = 1988
media_type = Print (Hardcover andPaperback )
pages = 352 p. (hardcover first edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-399-13355-0 (hardcover first edition)
preceded_by = No Laughing Matter
followed_by = Closing Time"Picture This" is a
1988 novel fromJoseph Heller , the satiric author of the acclaimed "Catch-22 ".The novel is an eclectic historical journey across three periods of history, all connected by a single painting:
Rembrandt van Rijn 'sAristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer . With constant reflections between the different time levels, we jump back and forth between the time of Aristotle, Rembrandt and Heller: the Golden Age of Athens, the brief17th Century golden age ofHolland , and the golden age of theUSA .Plot introduction
Like in Heller's version of King David's story, "God Knows", the author changes little in the storyline of the original – he excels in narrative, and historical counterpoints, some explicit, some implicit. Incomprehension may have contributed to a colder reception of this book, along with less weight for humour and a sobering conclusion.
Major themes
Heller concludes that we don't learn from history (and in fact so much of history may be nonfactual that learning may be impossible). Being a pessimist chronicler of the
American Century , his main unspoken theme is of course parallels between the onetime Hellenic overlord respective the onetime ruler of the Seas, and his home country.This is most apparent in his treatment of the peak and downfall of Athens, when after the victory over Persia, Athens formed the
Delian League , and got embroiled in thePeloponnesian War . Heller describes a beacon of democracy that destroys its own greatest advances or transforms them into tools of abuse, turns on its own allies just to demonstrate its power, and loses to weaker enemies due to self-deception.
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