"When Will Shakespeare turns up all is forgiven"
Mark Haddon's latest release, The Porpoise, is a hugely ambitious novel which loosely retells the ancient Greek legend of Pericles via a contemporary plane crash and an appearance by the ghost of Shakespeare himself.
Haddon has re-worked ancient texts before, see his collection of short stories The Pier Falls, but in The Porpoise he really tests his skills of literary adaption. This is an epic undertaking that has all the time travelling transcendence of a David Mitchell novel.
The story begins with a young girl, Angelica, who survives a plane crash that kills her mother. Angelica is raised by her overprotective and sexually abusive father, Philippe, who guardedly shelters her from the real world until, as a young women, she meets an art dealer, Darius, who recognises the truth. This establishing plot line references King Antiochus's incestuous relationship with his daughter in Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1619).
In a fit of jealousy Philippe murders Darius leaving Angelica bereft and struggling to come to terms with her loss. Whether as a result of post traumatic stress or some sort of break-down Agelica imagines an alternate world where Darius morphs in to Pericles himself. For the bulk of the novel we follow Pericles's mission aboard his ship, The Porpoise, with brief narrative glimpses back to Angelica.
This is a dense and unforgiving story that requires full attention, and suspension of belief, from the reader. At times you are left wondering what the purpose is in The Porpoise but then Haddon reminds you quite what a great writer he is. When Will Shakespeare turns up with his pimp friend, and presumed co-writer, George Wilkins in 17th Century Southwark all is forgiven.
Haddon has re-worked ancient texts before, see his collection of short stories The Pier Falls, but in The Porpoise he really tests his skills of literary adaption. This is an epic undertaking that has all the time travelling transcendence of a David Mitchell novel.
The story begins with a young girl, Angelica, who survives a plane crash that kills her mother. Angelica is raised by her overprotective and sexually abusive father, Philippe, who guardedly shelters her from the real world until, as a young women, she meets an art dealer, Darius, who recognises the truth. This establishing plot line references King Antiochus's incestuous relationship with his daughter in Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1619).
In a fit of jealousy Philippe murders Darius leaving Angelica bereft and struggling to come to terms with her loss. Whether as a result of post traumatic stress or some sort of break-down Agelica imagines an alternate world where Darius morphs in to Pericles himself. For the bulk of the novel we follow Pericles's mission aboard his ship, The Porpoise, with brief narrative glimpses back to Angelica.
This is a dense and unforgiving story that requires full attention, and suspension of belief, from the reader. At times you are left wondering what the purpose is in The Porpoise but then Haddon reminds you quite what a great writer he is. When Will Shakespeare turns up with his pimp friend, and presumed co-writer, George Wilkins in 17th Century Southwark all is forgiven.
Stick with it. 4
The Porpoise by Mark Haddon published by Chatto and Windus 326 pages
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