Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Dutton Adult (1985), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 342 pages
Description
In French caracole means "prancing"; in English, "caper." Both words perfectly describe this high-spirited erotic adventure. In Caracole, White invents an entire world where country gentry languish in decaying mansions and foppish intellectuals exchange lovers and gossip in an occupied city that resembles both Paris under the Nazis and 1980s New York. To that city comes Gabriel, an awkward boy from the provinces whose social naïveté and sexual ardor make him endlessly attractive to a variety of patrons and paramours. "A seduction through language, a masque without masks, Caracole brings back to startling life a dormant strain in serious American writing: the idea of the romantic."--Cynthia Ozick
User reviews
LibraryThing member IsolaBlue
Although White remains one of my all-time favorite authors, "Caracole" has always remained the one book of his that I have found to be inaccessible, annoying, and - in a way - a disappointment. After reading it right after it was first published, I decided that it was a mere aberration, that I
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should forgive White, continue to read him, and forget that he ever wrote that particular book. Recently, however, in his memoir "City Life," White mentioned the real-life individuals upon whom the characters in Caracole were roughly modeled. Immediately, a key was handed to me, and I read the book for a second time seeing it in a completely different light. Although it will never be my favorite White novel, I am grateful for his revelation regarding the inspiration for it. Future generations of readers may find the novel more accessible once they learn of the background and the people who inspired White to write it. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1985
Physical description
342 p.; 9.3 inches
ISBN
0525242813 / 9780525242819
Local notes
OCLC = 481
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