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Title details for The Anatomy Lesson by Nina Siegal - Available

The Anatomy Lesson

A Novel

by Nina Siegal
Nina Siegal
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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Set in one day in 1632, The Anatomy Lesson is a stunning portrayal of Golden Age Amsterdam and a brilliantly imagined back-story to Rembrandt's first great work of art. Told from several points of view, ranging from a curio dealer who collects bodies for the city’s chief anatomist to philosopher Rene Descartes, the novel opens on the morning of the medical dissection that is to be recorded by the twenty-six-year-old artist from Leiden who has yet to attach his famous signature to a painting.  
As the story builds to its dramatic and inevitable conclusion, the events that transpire throughout the day sway Rembrandt to make fundamental changes to his initial composition. These changes will remain mysteries for centuries until a young art historian closely examines the painting in the twenty-first century, and makes surprising discoveries about the painter, his process, and his genius for capturing enduring truths about human nature in a single moment.
Cast of Narrators:
Author’s Note & Acknowledgements, read by the Author
The Body / Adriaen “Aris” Adriaenszoon, read by Bruce Mann
The Heart / Flora of Leiden, read by Emma Jayne Appleyard
The Mouth / Jan Fetchet, read by Gildart Jackson
The Eyes / Rembrandt, read by Steve West
The Mind/ René Descartes, read by Adam Alexi-Malle
The Hand / Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, read by Peter Altschuler
Conservator’s Notes / Pia de Graaf, read by Hannah Curtis

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    March 11, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780804190626
      • File size: 264153 KB
      • Duration: 09:10:19

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      At times, multiple narrators can be the best thing that can happen to an audiobook. When a story is told from multiple points of view, using a narrator for each one can both enhance the story and make it easier for a listener to follow. For this strategy to work well, though, all the narrators must be of equally high caliber; a disparity in narrator skill can be off-putting, as is the case here. Although most of the cast is quite effective in telling the story of the painting that first brought Rembrandt international acclaim, the performances as a whole are uneven, thus distracting from Siegal's otherwise fascinating story. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 3, 2014
      Siegal (A Little Trouble With the Facts) sets her splendid, gory second novel in 1623 in Amsterdam, where a thief's execution occasions a celebration, evoking "bloodlust" throughout the city on "Justice Day." Some of the narrators are famous men: Rembrandt, who painted Anatomical Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, on which the novel is based, and Descartes, who is "âsearch for the soul in the body.'" Siegal gives voice not only to artists and philosophers, but also to the condemned man Adriaen Adriaenszoon, among others. Adriaen pleads, "âhere is no evil in my breast.'" The evil, Siegal hints, might well lie in a place where Justice Day is received with such pleasure. Adriaen's pregnant lover, Flora, is the only person clamoring for possession of the man's body out of loveâto give it a "Christian burial" after she fails to convince a clerk at the town hall to issue a pardon. Alive, Adriaen's body is "beaten and branded" by his Calvinist father and by several Dutch towns. As a mere object, people want his corpse "for science" and "for art." "All of us sought his flesh," Rembrandt muses. Through masterful use of subtle details, embroidered into beautiful writing, Siegal suggests that art and violence often intertwine. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff and Associates.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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