{"title":"David Wheldon","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"course-of-instruction-book-david-wheldon-9780552991421","title":"Course of Instruction","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49644999639313,"sku":"GOR004588523","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49923441099025,"sku":"GOR004991146","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51472616423697,"sku":"GOR004611971","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0552991422.jpg?v=1751040358"},{"product_id":"viaduct-book-david-wheldon-9780370305196","title":"The Viaduct","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49653780611345,"sku":"GOR009864835","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50052096033041,"sku":"GOR008484773","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0370305191.jpg?v=1750739427"},{"product_id":"course-of-instruction-book-david-wheldon-9780370309996","title":"The Course of Instruction","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49783818158353,"sku":"GOR006904233","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0370309995.jpg?v=1750813640"},{"product_id":"vocation-book-david-wheldon-9780370307206","title":"A Vocation","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50347830870289,"sku":"GOR004257891","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0370307208.jpg?v=1751292528"},{"product_id":"viaduct-book-david-wheldon-9781960241214","title":"The Viaduct","description":"\u003cp\u003eA political prisoner, A., has just been released from a long term of imprisonment for writing a seditious book. Fearing re-arrest, he leaves town, setting off on foot along a disused railway track running over a huge viaduct that looms over the city. As his journey progresses through a surreal and nightmarish landscape, he passes through strange towns and villages and meets other travelers following the same path for reasons of their own, with his pursuers always at his heels. A. does not know what awaits him at the terminus of the railroad line, and the ultimate horrific revelation of what lies at the end of his journey will linger with the reader long after finishing the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Viaduct\u003c\/em\u003e (1983), the first novel by David Wheldon (1950-2021), was chosen by Graham Greene and William Trevor as the winner of the Triple First Award and earned praise from critics on both sides of the Atlantic, who compared it to the works of Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett. A haunting, enigmatic novel told in a stark prose style that reinforces the book's surreal, dreamlike quality, it is a story that is both compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking. This reissue of Wheldon's cult classic is the first in decades and features a new introduction by Aiden O'Reilly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A remarkable novel and I am amazed that it is a first one.\" - Graham Greene\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003cem\u003eThe Viaduct\u003c\/em\u003e is not just a promising first novel. In its own right, and by any standards, it is a fascinating and original work of art. I still remember the book vividly long after reading it; this is the real test of fiction.\" - William Trevor\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A mysterious, gripping allegory - spare, accomplished and mature . . . A remarkable achievement, this is one of those books that bypass the head and go straight to the raw edge of consciousness, evoking an irresistible and disturbing response.\" - \u003cem\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Strange, dream-like . . . this award-winning novel has a rare and skilful technique.\" - \u003cem\u003eDaily Post\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A strange prose poem about a strange and dream-like journey . . . a haunting power.\" \u003cem\u003e- The Daily Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Written authoritatively . . . a deeply thought-out statement about human life and aspiration.\" \u003cem\u003e- The Guardian\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51058351538449,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51058354553105,"sku":"NIN9781960241214","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52634185728273,"sku":"NLS9781960241214","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52880327803153,"sku":"CIN1960241214LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1960241214.jpg?v=1751125059"},{"product_id":"course-of-instruction-book-david-wheldon-9781960241238","title":"The Course of Instruction","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Alexander receives a cryptic letter inviting him to attend an unspecified course of instruction, he feels somehow compelled to go. From that moment on, his world will change, and all of his former certainties will be called into question. When he arrives at the institution in the small provincial town, no one is able - or willing - to tell him anything about the course, and life there seems slightly out of focus and eerily ambiguous. As Alexander struggles to understand the strange situation in which he has landed, he gradually finds himself in a bizarre and surreal nightmare from which there may be no escape ... \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe follow-up to David Wheldon's (1950-2021) award-winning cult classic \u003cem\u003eThe Viaduct \u003c\/em\u003e(1983), \u003cem\u003eThe Course of Instruction\u003c\/em\u003e (1984) is a haunting and compelling novel in the vein of Franz Kafka, Dino Buzzati, and Samuel Beckett. This new edition includes an introduction by Aiden O'Reilly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Like a Kafka novel, it takes place in a world which superficially resembles our own but is terrifyingly different.\" - \u003cem\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"While this, his second novel, will, like his first, recall such writers as Kafka and Rex Warner, its intelligence and rigour are all his own.\" - Deborah Philips, \u003cem\u003eCity Limits\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Wheldon's writing is precise and chilly, the authoritative hand in the small of the back pushing one further down the corridor and into the dark ... a convincing, disturbing read.\" - \u003cem\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Has the compelling interest of any story with a mystery ... memorable surrealist scenes ... strongly recommended.\" - \u003cem\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A stark, disorienting work.\" - \u003cem\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51064450547985,"sku":"NIN9781960241238","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52585681748241,"sku":"NLS9781960241238","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1960241230.jpg?v=1750836507"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-david-wheldon.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}