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This title in other formats:

The Royal Physician's Visit

by Per Olov Enquist

The Royal Physician's Visit Cover

ISBN13: 9780743458030
ISBN10: 0743458036
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

An international sensation, The Royal Physician's Visit magnificently recasts the dramatic era of Danish history when Johann Friedrich Struensee — court physician to mad young King Christian — stepped through an aperture in history and became the holder of absolute power in Denmark. His is a gripping tale of power, sex, love, and the life of the mind, and it is superbly rendered here by one of Sweden's most acclaimed writers. A charismatic German doctor and brilliant intellectual, Struensee used his influence to introduce hundreds of reforms in Denmark in the 1760s. He had a tender and erotic affair with Queen Caroline Mathilde, who was unsatisfied by her unstable, childlike husband. Yet Struensee lacked the subtlety of a skilled politician and the cunning to choose enemies wisely; these flaws proved fatal, and would eventually lead to his tragic demise.

Review:

"An extraordinarily elegant and gorgeous novel." The Los Angeles Times

Review:

"The Royal Physician's Visit is a masterpiece." The Wall Street Journal

Review:

"Enquist's principal characters are realized with a vividness and subtlety that place the book in the front ranks of contemporary literary fiction." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Enquist...turns [an] actual historical incident into an enthralling fable of the temptations of power - and a surprisingly poignant love story." Time magazine

Review:

"A towering achievement." Booklist

About the Author

Per Olov Enquist is a novelist, playwright, and poet with works published in twenty-six countries. The Royal Physician's Visit won Sweden's most important literary prize - the August Prize - and France's Prix du Meilleur Livre étranger.

Tiina Nunnally is an award-winning translator whose credits include Peter Høeg's bestselling Smilla's Sense of Snow.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
adab, August 1, 2008 (view all comments by adab)
The language is poetic and the characters are very well developed. This book brings the reader to the 18th century court of Denmark and includes the French philosophes as characters. Diderot and Voltaire make an appearance in more than one way. Not only are they characters, but the ideas they spent their lives fighting against and fighting for are major themes of this novel: religion, posterity, liberty, history, human rights, and sexuality. However, Enquist does not seem to be a novelist completely taken in by the French revolution; rather, he makes an interesting and perhaps daring comparison between the main protagonist, a "wolfish" court mortician zealously set against the Enlightenment, and the protagonist, the court doctor who whole heartedly embraces Englightenment ideals and finds favor with the insane young king. This is a novel that challenges common conceptions of the Englightenment and embraces some of it's lesser known aspects; a very entertaining, thoughtful, and intriguing piece of historical fiction.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780743458030
Author:
Enquist, Per Olov
Publisher:
Washington Square Press
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Historical
Subject:
Historical - General
Subject:
Historical fiction
Subject:
Physicians
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Struensee, Johann Friedrich
Subject:
Caroline Mathilde
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
Edition Description:
B102
Series Volume:
107-595
Publication Date:
November 2002
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
320
Dimensions:
8.24x5.34x.82 in. .61 lbs.

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