Word: virgilã
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...title [“Beatrice & Virgil??] is an obvious reference to Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” What aspects of the poem inspired your new novel...
...Life of Pi” featured a tiger, an orangutan, a hyena, and a zebra. Your upcoming book “Beatrice & Virgil?? features a monkey and a donkey. Let’s get real here—do you really want to write or do you just want to open up your own menagerie...
...summarize your purpose for writing “Beatrice & Virgil?? in 15 words or less...
Eerily however, the majority of the animal figures in “Beatrice and Virgil?? are dead. Martel refers often to the sound of an ancient tape recording of howler monkeys in the upper reaches of the Amazon, transforming this rather odd sound into a hauntingly beautiful melody. Moreover, the two eponymous heroes of the book, are a taxidermied donkey and howler monkey, their lively dialogues pure fantasy. Martel refers repeatedly to the image of taxidermied animals standing in a bestiary-like taxidermy shop, poised as if to move. Like the tape recording of the howler monkeys...
...title, “Beatrice and Virgil?? refers to Dante’s sublime and venal guides through Paradise and Hell in the “Divine Comedy.” Martel evidently hopes to draw a parallel between Dante’s experiences in the afterlife with the sometimes-agonizing human experience of life on Earth. Beyond that obvious reference, “Beatrice and Virgil?? is full of literary allusions. Martel borrows heavily from the mood of manic stasis in Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot...