Monstruary (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Julián Ríos
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1990’s
- Setting: Berlin, Tubingen, Griesbach, and Bad Petersal, Germany; Paris and Enfer, France; London; Brussels; and Seville
- Principal Characters: Victor Mons, Emil Alia, Klaus Holzmann, Uwe (Double Uwe) Wach, Anne Kiefer, Edmonde, Eva Lalka, Armelle (Mélusine), Petra (Petrushka), Ute (Veronica), Madame Mayer/Rosa Mir, Frank M. Reck, Joyce Reck, Ara Mons, Carmen Verdugo Mons, Marcel Mons
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: France or French people, Twentieth century, Europe or Europeans, Art or artists, Paris, England or English people, London, Painting or painters, Pictures, 1990’s, Germany or German people, Monsters, Spain or Spanish people, Berlin, Belgium or Belgian people
- Locales: Paris, France, London, England, Germany, Seville, Spain, Brussels, Belgium
The nature of art and the artist has long fascinated novelists, especially so in the postmodern age. They wonder where artists, whether painters, composers, or writers, get their inspirations. They ask whether the resulting art is a reflection of their lives, or are their lives irrelevant, as has been the most fashionable literary theory over the past thirty years. (Julián Ríos acknowledges his awareness of such concerns with a passing reference to French structuralist critic Roland Barthes.) Monstruary is a commentary on such questions as it presents the works created by a...
[The entire page is 1707 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
