Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight
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Product Description
Review
Eccentric, rambling, charming . . . by turns erratic and spellbinding. Attlee is an entertaining writer, pulling off strange and daring leaps . . . thrilling. Nocturne is an inspiration. It makes you want to pull a chair out into the garden and bathe in the moonlight. No questions asked (New York Times Book Review )
Engaging, erudite, moving and impassioned . . . [Attlee is] a stylist of amazing wit and skill (Irish Times )
A poetic and passionate story of light in darkness (The Times )
Attlee is a true enthusiast, and is fascinated by, indeed loves, his subject. He writes beautifully and often thrillingly about the moon in all its - her? - aspects, and it will be a dull-minded reader who comes away from this book without a new or at least renewed regard for the extraordinary, silver satellite that is our world's constant companion (John Banville Guardian )
Richly rewarding, beautifully written and, like the moon, wonderfully reflective (Times Literary Supplement )
A wistful, fact-filled and esoteric treat (Sunday Times )
Engaging, erudite, moving and impassioned . . . [Attlee is] a stylist of amazing wit and skill (Irish Times )
A poetic and passionate story of light in darkness (The Times )
Attlee is a true enthusiast, and is fascinated by, indeed loves, his subject. He writes beautifully and often thrillingly about the moon in all its - her? - aspects, and it will be a dull-minded reader who comes away from this book without a new or at least renewed regard for the extraordinary, silver satellite that is our world's constant companion (John Banville Guardian )
Richly rewarding, beautifully written and, like the moon, wonderfully reflective (Times Literary Supplement )
A wistful, fact-filled and esoteric treat (Sunday Times )
Product Description
Look up into the night sky and gaze in wonder ...
The moon and the light it casts have been a muse for writers, artists, composers and visionaries throughout history. But today, in our increasingly urbanised world, the spread of artificial lighting seems set to rob the moon of its power.
Now James Attlee invites us to turn our faces once more toward the night sky and contemplate the moon's many moods. He takes us with him on a journey in search of moonlight and its meanings, from the kitsch to the sublime - in the modern world, the ancient world, in art, books, music, and in science. And from his front door he travels to Normandy, Naples, Arizona, Wales, Las Vegas and Japan.
Here, then, is a strangely illuminating traveller's tale about a search for the all-but-vanished light of the moon - and a passionate plea to turn off the lights and repossess the stolen night.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An extended hymn dedicated to the moonlight and its impact on painters, mystics and poets. This is a thoughtful book which avoids the obvious cliches and at it's best hits a strong seam on the mystery of moonlight. Perhaps less gripping when making easy caricatures of pseudo scientific eccentrics and speculating on the lunar motivations of Rudolph Hess. Overall tho a great idea well executed.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
From the start I think I need to make it clear that there are some excellent sections in this book. But I also need to make it clear that I found it disappointing, and at time frustrating. I concede this may be due to my own interests rather than the book, but I will try and explain.
The sub-title for the book as it stands is "A Journey through Moonlight" - and I suppose I anticipated this would be about a personal journey - an actual journey - to find and experience moonlight. While some of the book does live up to this anticipation, I felt that much of the book was taken up with detailed account of other peoples experiences of moonlight. And almost without fail those "other people" were landscape painters. Now, if the book had been called "Nocturne: A journey in Search of Moonlights History" that may have been justified - but that's not the book's title. At times there are considerable sections of the book that explain who one artist worked with and influenced another and the types of painting they produced. Now, as you may have gathered, I am not an art buff, but I was unable to visualize more than about 10% of the works referred to in this book - and we are not provided with a single illustration either.
When the book concentrates on what the author did, rather than what someone else painted, the book really does come to light. The two sections that stand out are a visit to Japan and an American "moonlight concentrator" - both are unusual and interesting. Without saying too much, the writing of the book may have been hindered by less than cooperative weather, and this could be why so much of it feels second hand.
The central idea off the book, that because of artificial light we have been cut off from the moon and the stars is a splendid idea for a book, but I don't think this book really goes far enough to find these places.
I want to give this book 3 ½ stars - but I can't. So I'm giving it 3.
If you are interested in art and landscape in that order this may be the book for you, but if you are looking for a book that concentrates largely on an individual journey to reconnect with moonlight in a brightly illuminated world, you may, like me, find this book a bit of a disappointment.
The sub-title for the book as it stands is "A Journey through Moonlight" - and I suppose I anticipated this would be about a personal journey - an actual journey - to find and experience moonlight. While some of the book does live up to this anticipation, I felt that much of the book was taken up with detailed account of other peoples experiences of moonlight. And almost without fail those "other people" were landscape painters. Now, if the book had been called "Nocturne: A journey in Search of Moonlights History" that may have been justified - but that's not the book's title. At times there are considerable sections of the book that explain who one artist worked with and influenced another and the types of painting they produced. Now, as you may have gathered, I am not an art buff, but I was unable to visualize more than about 10% of the works referred to in this book - and we are not provided with a single illustration either.
When the book concentrates on what the author did, rather than what someone else painted, the book really does come to light. The two sections that stand out are a visit to Japan and an American "moonlight concentrator" - both are unusual and interesting. Without saying too much, the writing of the book may have been hindered by less than cooperative weather, and this could be why so much of it feels second hand.
The central idea off the book, that because of artificial light we have been cut off from the moon and the stars is a splendid idea for a book, but I don't think this book really goes far enough to find these places.
I want to give this book 3 ½ stars - but I can't. So I'm giving it 3.
If you are interested in art and landscape in that order this may be the book for you, but if you are looking for a book that concentrates largely on an individual journey to reconnect with moonlight in a brightly illuminated world, you may, like me, find this book a bit of a disappointment.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
James Attlee's new book, Nocturne, is an inspiring and compelling journey into the forgotten world of moonlight. He embarked on his idiosyncratic quest in search of moonlight as a kind of poetic protest against the way our modern civilization constantly bathes us in artificial lights, obscuring the potential beauties and meanings that moonlight might have for us. Although I enjoyed Attlee's previous book, Isolarion, a philosophical walk along a street in his home city of Oxford, Nocturne is even better, giving greater scope to his eclectic intelligence, and more space to demonstrate himself as a fine prose stylist, especially through his subtle descriptions of moonlit artworks. Attlee takes us on a fascinating global tour of lunar culture, visiting Japan to pay homage at the autumn moon festival, and then to join eccentric moonlight addicts in the deserts of Arizona. We also travel with him through history, from Galileo's observations of moon craters in the seventeenth century to the strange story of Rudolph Hess's obsession with the moon. After reading Nocturne, I went straight out and bought a telescope - and have been entranced by the moon ever since. A luminous, engaging and completely original book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Moonstruck for moonlight
A bravura piece by someone whose enthusiasm, obsession and love for his subject comes through on almost every page. Read more
Published 4 days ago by SA Brain
curate's egg
A book-length essay with oblique chapter titles and no index, Nocturne demands to be read from cover to cover and discourages browsing, dipping or reference. Read more
Published 1 month ago by MJ
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