Michael Frayn, Headlong

Karen Blansfield (Independent Scholar - North America)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1999

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

“I have a discovery to report. Many of the world’s great treasures are known to have been lost over the centuries. I believe I may have found one of them. What follows is the evidence for my claim” (Frayn 3).

So begins Michael Frayn’s heady and sometimes dizzying novel Headlong, which plunges readers into a romp through art, philosophy and history in a comically rueful tale that revolves around a single painting, a supposedly lost masterpiece by the 16^th century Dutch landscape painter Pieter Bruegel titled The Merrymakers. An intoxicating blend of farce, social critique and mystery, Headlong—which was nominated for Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize—…

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3666 words

Citation: Blansfield, Karen. "Headlong". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 June 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4871, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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