Publication
London, Faber, 1968.
Physical description
317 p.; 21 cm
Language
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Description
An idealistic inventor is seduced by a mysterious firm in this Faustian novel by the "virtuoso" author of Justine (The New York Times). Felix Charlock's scientific genius is unrivaled--and so is his very special invention. So special, in fact, that a shadowy and enigmatic international firm, called Merlin, recruits Felix and marries him into the family. He is betrothed to the erratic Merlin heiress, Benedicta, and given access to an inexhaustible fortune. Yet he longs to be free of the psychological and scientific toll the mysterious firm inflicts. The inscrutable Merlin is always one step ahead, and twists and turns ensue in this tale of sexual and moral intrigue that leaves Felix's future--and his sanity--on uncertain ground.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
Tunc is really only half a novel, since Durrell had planned throughout to continue and conclude it in Nunquam, and there is nothing like a conclusion evident in the first book. Still, it's a pretty good half-novel as I rank them. The style is very 20h-century modern, perhaps midway between Malcolm
The book and its sequel are together titled The Revolt of Aphrodite. I'll take a breather before reading Nunquam, but it's firmly on my list to be read.
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Lowry and Thomas Pynchon, complete with the latter's tendency to interject songs and light-hearted verse. Protagonist-narrator Felix Charnock is an inventor whose fortunes become embedded in the multinational firm of Merlin Industries. He has gone to ground in Athens after a circuit that began there, led him to Istanbul and thence to London. His original technological forte is audio recording, but during his late time at the firm he has applied himself to the extracurricular development of Abel, a computer dedicated to the purpose of divination on the basis of recorded speech and other data. Tunc is a retrospective exercise, just as Abel is coming fully on-line. Charnock reflects on his friends, lovers, and professional associates since the days of his independence in Athens, charting out a wide-flung web of psychological manipulation and frustrated desires. The book and its sequel are together titled The Revolt of Aphrodite. I'll take a breather before reading Nunquam, but it's firmly on my list to be read.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Compared to the masterful treatment of timing, and point of view in the "Alexandria Quartet, this two book series "The Revolt of Aphrodite", seemed quite flat and uninteresting. Neither the artificial woman, "Aphrodite" nor Merlin, her creator, seem...well, finished, in any sense, and the future
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world is barely sketched in. I finished it out of gratitude for the Quartet. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
You don't read LD for the plot or the complicated story line. Its all about character and his command of the English language and use of English words that are no longer part of the American idiom.
20 or so years of Felix Charlock's life are spent in thee pages. What read somewhat like a Paris
20 or so years of Felix Charlock's life are spent in thee pages. What read somewhat like a Paris
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Hemingway novel transposed to Athens with Brits and Greeks evolved into the navel gazing of the scientists life for "The Firm" and a very poor marriage. He finally is disgusted enough to leave and engage with his teenage son but this leaves to a failed assassination attempt that takes the life of his son. Interesting but not uplifting. LD has other better books. Show Less
Original publication date
1968