Clouds Gather at the Met
By MARIO NAVES
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This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
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“And yet when I lay these stories atop each other, no light does pass and no space remains. All my knowledge consumes itself.” So notes the eponymous narrator of “Angelica” (Random House, 331 pages, $25.95), the third novel by Arthur Phillips. His first two, “Prague” (2002) and “The Egyptologist” (2004), demonstrated a fascination with trick narratives similar to that of David Mitchell. “The Egyptologist,” a tale of archaeological fabrication, was compared to Vladimir Nabokov’s “Pale Fire,” consisting of a prime document within a frame that casts doubts on its authenticity. And Mr. Phillips’s first book, the best seller “Prague,” imagined American expatriates playing a bluffing game, in which their stories — some true, most false — constitute the meat of the novel.
By MARIO NAVES
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By CARL ROLLYSON
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By SHARON KEHNEMUI
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By ELYSA GARDNER
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By BENNY AVNI
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By JOSEPH CURL
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By MICHAEL BARONE
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By NEWT GINGRICH
|“And yet when I lay these stories atop each other, no light does pass and no space remains. All my knowledge consumes itself.” So notes the eponymous narrator of “Angelica” (Random House, 331 pages, $25.95), the third novel by Arthur Phillips. His first two, “Prague” (2002) and “The Egyptologist” (2004), demonstrated a fascination with trick narratives similar to that of David Mitchell. “The Egyptologist,” a tale of archaeological fabrication, was compared to Vladimir Nabokov’s “Pale Fire,” consisting of a prime document within a frame that casts doubts on its authenticity. And Mr. Phillips’s first book, the best seller “Prague,” imagined American expatriates playing a bluffing game, in which their stories — some true, most false — constitute the meat of the novel.
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