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The dream of Scipio / Iain Pears

By:

Pears, Iain

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: New York : Riverhead Books , 2002.Description: 398 p. : maps ; 24 cmISBN:

9781573222020

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

DDC classification:

FIC PEA

LOC classification:

PR6066.E167 D74 2002

Summary: The centuries are the fifth (the final days of the Roman Empire); the fourteenth (the years of the Black Death); and the twentieth (World War II). The setting for each is the same -Provence -and each has at its heart a love story. The narratives intertwine seamlessly, but what joins them thematically is an ancient text -"The Dream of Scipio" -a work of neo-Platonism that poses timeless philosophical questions. What is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege? What is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened, whether by acts of man or nature? Does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality? "Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is pointless," warns one of Pears's characters.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Fiction / Ficción	Biblioteca Pública de San Miguel de Allende, A.C. Sala Ingles	General	FIC PEA (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		007623

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Previous	FIC PAY The wind is not a river : a novel	FIC PEA Inzorbital	FIC PEA Arcadia ; a novel	FIC PEA The dream of Scipio	FIC PEA The pied piper	FIC PEA In a land of plenty	FIC PEA The kingdom keepers	Next

The centuries are the fifth (the final days of the Roman Empire); the fourteenth (the years of the Black Death); and the twentieth (World War II). The setting for each is the same -Provence -and each has at its heart a love story. The narratives intertwine seamlessly, but what joins them thematically is an ancient text -"The Dream of Scipio" -a work of neo-Platonism that poses timeless philosophical questions. What is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege? What is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened, whether by acts of man or nature? Does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality? "Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is pointless," warns one of Pears's characters.

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