Results by title
3 books match the query 'Emperor'
Death and the Emperor
Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus AureliusBy Penelope J. E. Davies
University of Texas Press, 2004
The role of monuments in the Roman imperial cult.
[more]
The Emperor
Makenzy Orcel
Seagull Books, 2024
A tragicomic novel that explores deep-seated tensions and social violence in Haiti.
After committing an irreparable crime, the narrator of The Emperor waits in his bedroom for the police to arrest him. His past reverberates inside of him like a drum: his youth spent in captivity as a zonbi, under the control of a charlatan Vodou leader, and many an alienating dawn delivering the daily newspaper through the cutthroat neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He now has blood on his hands because of the woman on the bus—the only woman he had ever loved.
Part crime fiction, part fable gone awry, The Emperor invites readers to follow the narrator’s life as he moves from the Haitian countryside to the sprawling city, learning about the corruptible nature of power in his quest for freedom. Along the way, Makenzy Orcel blends the marvelous with the real by introducing readers to an unforgettable cast of characters including the Very Old Sheep, a deceitful Emperor, and the narrator’s so-called Enlightened Colleague. Written with Orcel’s distinctive verve, this novel offers readers a story set in contemporary Haiti that is rich in poetry and full of narrative intrigue.
After committing an irreparable crime, the narrator of The Emperor waits in his bedroom for the police to arrest him. His past reverberates inside of him like a drum: his youth spent in captivity as a zonbi, under the control of a charlatan Vodou leader, and many an alienating dawn delivering the daily newspaper through the cutthroat neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He now has blood on his hands because of the woman on the bus—the only woman he had ever loved.
Part crime fiction, part fable gone awry, The Emperor invites readers to follow the narrator’s life as he moves from the Haitian countryside to the sprawling city, learning about the corruptible nature of power in his quest for freedom. Along the way, Makenzy Orcel blends the marvelous with the real by introducing readers to an unforgettable cast of characters including the Very Old Sheep, a deceitful Emperor, and the narrator’s so-called Enlightened Colleague. Written with Orcel’s distinctive verve, this novel offers readers a story set in contemporary Haiti that is rich in poetry and full of narrative intrigue.
[more]
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
Dan Gunn
Seagull Books, 2014
In The Emperor of Ice-Cream, we are introduced to Lucia. Now in her eighties, this daughter of Italian immigrants looks back on her youth spent in Scotland during the 1920s and 30s. She remembers her three brothers, Dario, Giulio and Emilio, and the very different ways they lived through these decades: the eldest establishes the Edinburgh Fascist club, the second sets up a luxurious ice-cream parlor, the youngest hones his verbal skills for a future as a poet. Lucia learns what it is to be an immigrant and to wonder where ‘home’ is; she encounters religious sectarianism, idealism, and disillusionment. She experiences passion, hope, and disappointment.
When she falls in love in Rome, it appears that happiness is Lucia’s for the asking, until unstoppable forces intervene—in both of her countries. With mounting tension, her tale leads through the rise of Fascism to the terrible moment in June 1940 when Mussolini declares war, and British Italians are interned. When hundreds are herded as ‘enemy aliens’ onto a ship bound for exile, among their number are two of her brothers. Determined to tell their story before it is too late, Lucia gives an account of one of the most shameful episodes in Britain’s Second World War.
Through his portrayal of Lucia’s singular vision and voice, Dan Gunn has created an unforgettable character who, while registering the buffets of history, is—just possibly—writing herself toward some overdue inner peace.
When she falls in love in Rome, it appears that happiness is Lucia’s for the asking, until unstoppable forces intervene—in both of her countries. With mounting tension, her tale leads through the rise of Fascism to the terrible moment in June 1940 when Mussolini declares war, and British Italians are interned. When hundreds are herded as ‘enemy aliens’ onto a ship bound for exile, among their number are two of her brothers. Determined to tell their story before it is too late, Lucia gives an account of one of the most shameful episodes in Britain’s Second World War.
Through his portrayal of Lucia’s singular vision and voice, Dan Gunn has created an unforgettable character who, while registering the buffets of history, is—just possibly—writing herself toward some overdue inner peace.
[more]