2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Recently Viewed clear list


Guests | February 8, 2012

Nathan Englander: IMG Big Think



Tonight is the first event for the new book, and I've spent most of the afternoon at home with curlers in my hair and cucumber circles on the eyes... Continue »
  1. $17.47 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

spacer
Free Shipping!

Ships free on qualified orders.
$14.50
New Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
available for shipping or prepaid pickup only
Available for In-store Pickup
in 7 to 12 days
Qty Store Section
3 Remote Warehouse Literature- A to Z

The Player's Boy

by Bryher

The Player's Boy Cover

ISBN13: 9781930464094
ISBN10: 1930464096
Condition:
All Product Details

Only 3 left in stock at $14.50!

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"Bryher is known as the author of distinguished, poetically evocative historical novels. Their melancholy magic, their ability to recapture the mood of a historical crisis and their haunting symbolism introduced a fresh and original approach to historical fiction. [This is] a striking and beautifully written narrative... Bryher is extraordinarily skillful in her magical ability to capture the essence of an individual emotion and the quality of a national mood."-The New York Times

James Sandstrains with the great actors of the Elizabethan stage-until his master dies unexpectedly, and he is cast into the brutality of Jacobean London.

Review:

"An English novelist and patron of artists such as H.D., Bryher (Winifred Ellerman, 1894-1983) first published this beautifully realized story of a young Elizabethan actor's apprentice in 1953. After the death of James Sands's beloved Master Awsten, one of the Queen's Players who has taught Sands the rudiments of acting, Sands travels from Southwark, London and passes through a succession of employers. At a house in the country, he meets the summering playwright Francis Beaumont, in the process of writing his play Philaster. James wins the part of Bellario, the girl page disguised as a boy for love of Philaster, who in a curious royal menage-a-trois sends Bellario to serve his beloved Arethusa; James duly falls in love, unrequitedly, with Beaumont's virginal fiancee, Ursula. History intrudes offstage in the form of Sir Walter Ralegh's execution and the ascent of the Puritans, and James, now a clerk, becomes a kind of poignant anachronism, too delicate for the coarsening new age. Theatrical and romantically lyrical, Bryher's novel is a forgotten gem, channeling the servant boy's first person flawlessly." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

"Shakespeare in Love" meets "Oliver Twist" in this Elizabethan story of adventure, loyalty, and the stage.

Synopsis:

The orphaned James Sands anticipated a magnificent career as apprentice to an Elizabethan theater troupe. But when his masters die unexpectedly, Sands must fight for his art, his home, and ultimately his life as the violent reign of James I overshadows the glory of the Elizabethan era. An historical novel with profound contemporary reverberations.

About the Author

Bryher (1894-1983) wrote many critically acclaimed novels and memoirs during her lifetime. She was deeply involved in film, politics, and psychology. She funded Contact Editions, and edited Life and Letters To-day and the first English film journal, Close Up. She was the longtime companion of H.D., and a generous supporter of numerous writers, artists, psychoanalysts, and culture icons, including Marianne Moore, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, and Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company.

Patrick Gregory is an editor, translator, and the author of the novel The Dagguereotype. He is the son of poet, translator, and critic Horace Gregory and poet Marya Zaturenska, who were intimate friends with Bryher. He now lives in Northampton, MA and South Halifax, VT.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

edlk, March 3, 2007 (view all comments by edlk)
"When Elizabethan splendor was passing into Jacobean twilight"

A gracefully written and invaluable introduction by the translator and novelist Patrick Gregory (who knew Bryher) provides entrance to this welcome reprinting of "The Player's Boy." This smart, tight little novel tells the story of a time of turbulent transition as seen through the eyes of a young theatrical apprentice in the heady, muddy, dangerous world of 17th century England. A tale of one young man's tangled journey to maturity (if not wisdom), this is historical fiction of the highest order, scrupulous and haunting.

Bryher's talent is to take the reader inside the world she writes about, showing, personalizing the impact outside forces (what becomes known as "history") have on ordinary and unsuspecting lives. It is James Sands' voice - at once antique and modern - that tells not only a tale of backstage life, with all its byzantine intrigues, but also one of life choices, of compromises and consequences, of external events and intrusions and political plottings that take him away from the theatre but never let him leave it. "The Player's Boy" is an unorthodox bildungsroman with a resolution as unexpected as it is inevitable.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

Product Details

ISBN:
9781930464094
Author:
Bryher
Publisher:
Paris Press
Introduction by:
Gregory, Patrick
Introduction:
Gregory, Patrick
Author:
Gregory, Patrick
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
History
Subject:
Theater
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Edition Description:
Paris Press
Publication Date:
20060831
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
208
Dimensions:
8.12x6.40x.72 in. .65 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $9.75 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Inkspell

    Cornelia Funke 9780545406314
  2. $3.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Coin of Carthage

    Winifred Bryher 9780156184076
  3. $6.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Fullmetal Alchemist #12

    Hiromu Arakawa 9781421508399

Related Aisles

The Player's Boy New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$14.50 In Stock
Product details 208 pages Paris Press - English 9781930464094 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "An English novelist and patron of artists such as H.D., Bryher (Winifred Ellerman, 1894-1983) first published this beautifully realized story of a young Elizabethan actor's apprentice in 1953. After the death of James Sands's beloved Master Awsten, one of the Queen's Players who has taught Sands the rudiments of acting, Sands travels from Southwark, London and passes through a succession of employers. At a house in the country, he meets the summering playwright Francis Beaumont, in the process of writing his play Philaster. James wins the part of Bellario, the girl page disguised as a boy for love of Philaster, who in a curious royal menage-a-trois sends Bellario to serve his beloved Arethusa; James duly falls in love, unrequitedly, with Beaumont's virginal fiancee, Ursula. History intrudes offstage in the form of Sir Walter Ralegh's execution and the ascent of the Puritans, and James, now a clerk, becomes a kind of poignant anachronism, too delicate for the coarsening new age. Theatrical and romantically lyrical, Bryher's novel is a forgotten gem, channeling the servant boy's first person flawlessly." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by ,
"Shakespeare in Love" meets "Oliver Twist" in this Elizabethan story of adventure, loyalty, and the stage.
"Synopsis" by ,
The orphaned James Sands anticipated a magnificent career as apprentice to an Elizabethan theater troupe. But when his masters die unexpectedly, Sands must fight for his art, his home, and ultimately his life as the violent reign of James I overshadows the glory of the Elizabethan era. An historical novel with profound contemporary reverberations.
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...


Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.