The Archivist: A Novel
by Martha Cooley
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Book Summary Information
Author: Martha CooleyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-04-08
ISBN: 0316158461
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Reviews of The Archivist: A Novel
Book Review: A Brilliant, Electrifying, Literary First Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I stayed up late enraptured by the discovery of this marvelous first novel. Complex , literary, it revolves around Matthias, the archivist of literary documents at a prestigious university library. He is the gatekeeper of letters written by T.S. Eliot to a woman who he loved for most of his life, Emily Hale, and then spurned after his religious conversion to the Anglican Church. These letters are the bequest of Hale to the library, not to be opened until the year 2020, to scholars. Into Matt's life comes Roberta, a poet, who is obsessed with seeing the letters as a way to understand her own religious identity. Interwoven with the story of Eliot's relationship with his wife Vivienne, committed to a mental institution by Eliot, is the story of Matt's marriage to the dark, unfathomable Judith who is also a poet. Eliot's life is the 'stillpoint of the turning world' upon which the lives of Matt, Judith and Roberta balance as each of them comes to terms with hidden secrets, revelation, religious identity, faith, solitude, obsession and the spiritual vacuum created by the aftermath of WWII and the Holocauset. This book is multi-textured; a delicate tapestry of meaning is woven. It's finely crafted like a beautiful symphony as themes, exposition and resolution are spun by the author. And when all is finally woven together magic occurs, and the reader learns something valuable about his or her own life. Any reader can ask for nothing more sublime from an author than this.
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