The Dumb House by John Burnside
In Persian myth, it is said that Akbar the Great built a palace which he filled with newborns, attended only by mutes, in order to learn whether language is innate or aquired. As the children grew into their silent and difficult world, this palace became known as the Gang Mahal, or Dumb House. In his first novel, John Burnside explores the possibilities inherent in a modern-day repetition of Akbar s investigations. The unnamed narrator creates a twisted variant of the Dumb House. When the children develop a musical language of their own, excluding their jailer, he extracts an appalling revenge.
Compelling reading * Scotsman *
A wonderfully disturbing book - chillingly focused and lyrically amoral with moments of remarkable stillness and beautyA poetic novel in the best and most troubling sense -- A. L. Kennedy
Burnside's prose is exquisite and he dissects his themes with delicacy to produce a novel resonant with poetic menace * Sunday Times *
An exceptionally sinister book... It is the story of Luke, whose experiments into the nature of human language are recounted with all the beguiling reasonableness of the highly intelligent madman... The horror is tempered and fine-tuned by the exceptional beauty of Burnside's writing... In Luke, Burnside has produced one of the most chilling voices in recent fiction * Times Literary Supplement *
My favourite book of the year * Jen Campbell’s vlog *
A wonderfully disturbing book - chillingly focused and lyrically amoral with moments of remarkable stillness and beautyA poetic novel in the best and most troubling sense -- A. L. Kennedy
Burnside's prose is exquisite and he dissects his themes with delicacy to produce a novel resonant with poetic menace * Sunday Times *
An exceptionally sinister book... It is the story of Luke, whose experiments into the nature of human language are recounted with all the beguiling reasonableness of the highly intelligent madman... The horror is tempered and fine-tuned by the exceptional beauty of Burnside's writing... In Luke, Burnside has produced one of the most chilling voices in recent fiction * Times Literary Supplement *
My favourite book of the year * Jen Campbell’s vlog *
John Burnside was among the most acclaimed writers of his generation. His novels, short stories, poetry and memoirs won numerous awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial, Saltire Scottish Book of the Year and, in 2023, he received the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. In 2011 Black Cat Bone won both the Forward and the T.S. Eliot Prizes for poetry. He died in 2024.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784870119 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784870110 |
| Title | The Dumb House |
| Author | John Burnside |
| Series | Vintage Classics Ser |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2015-08-06 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |