An Instance of the Fingerpost: Explore the murky world of 17th-century Oxford in this iconic historical thriller

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As the story evolved, so did the design of the app and that, in turn, influenced the story, even though I decided early on to be rather conservative. It has minimal graphics, no music and no animations. The reader does not choose outcomes or influence decisions, and there are no prizes or levels. You read the text; how you see characters depends on how much of it you read, where you start, and whether you read strand by strand, or hop from one to the other. after Arcadia which the author hyped as a complex novel needing an app and which to me seemed actually a simpler novel than his earlier 3 superb complex multi-layered novels (Instance of the Fingerpost, Dreams of Scipio, Stone's Fall), I decided to reread this one - as the one of the three I last read a while ago (some 10 years ago easily, maybe more) - to see if I maybe remember it wrong after all and Arcadia was indeed more sophisticated; Thanks to the Washington Post's Michael Dirda and fellow GoodReader, Jeffery Keeten, who resurrected this nugget) One of the pleasures of reading ''An Instance of the Fingerpost'' is the opportunity it affords to become a kind of amateur expert on daily life in Restoration England. And it is not just the physical world that is resurrected. Pears

An Instance of the Fingerpost | Literawiki | Fandom An Instance of the Fingerpost | Literawiki | Fandom

Jei kokiam istoriniam laikotarpyje yra laisva ir konvencijoms nepaklūstanti moteris, tai ji būtinai turi užsiiminėt laisvu (free-given) seksu ir dar būti LABAI graži, kad jos iškart visi nuodėmingieji užsigeistų :D Mystery fans may wish to know if the novel sets out clues leading to whodunnit - but I can't help here as I did not try to solve it. I thank author Pears for enhancing my poor education. He recounts and alludes to the English Civil War and the uprising of religious sects (counter to the Chuch of England) which undoubtedly informed American Founders with their own nation-building in the next Century. Oliver Cromwell, not really relevant to this book except for the destabilized government he left after his death. Oliver Cromwell is dead; the Levellers, Diggers and other such factions -- with their wild dreams of an egalitarian society -- have been destroyed or dispersed; peace, finally, has returned to a ravaged land . . . or has it?II. Централно място в сюжета заема загадката около убийство в Оксфорд, която е разказана от 4 различни гледни точки, но същевременно се усеща духът на епохата, както и има философски размисли. Отделните персонажи, представящи своята версия за събитията, са все интересни личности, като на моменти си противоречат един на друг, което прави „Пръстът, който те сочи“ доста вълнуващо четиво. Книгата не успя да ме заплени чак колкото страхотната „Аркадия“ на Пиърс, но определено ми направи добро впечатление! An Instance of The Fingerpost is set in the early years of the Restoration, a time in English history marked by political intrigue and social unrest. The Civil War has just ended. Oliver Cromwell, rebel and “lord protector” of England, is dead, and the monarchy of Charles II has been restored to power. Although the eleven years of Crowmwell’s Commonwealth are not described in great detail, they are evoked—in very different ways – by a number of characters (Wallis, Prestcott, Sarah Blundy and John Thurloe among them). What might we infer about Cromwellian England from the character—and memories—of his supporters and detractors? Is it safe to assume it was any easier for those citizens (like Sarah Blundy) who, during the Restoration, have been forced to the fringes of society? The victim is Dr. Robert Grove, an amateur astrologer of New College, Oxford. Like many men, then and now, he liked a glass of alcoholic liquor at the end of the day to calm his frazzled nerves and hopefully give him a gentle push off into the land of Morpheus. Unfortunately with the brandy was a tincture of arsenic that seized his heart and left him a cooling, yet still flatulent, corpse with a host of suspects. Inter praerogativas instantiarum, ponemus loco decimo quarto Instantias Crucis; translato vocabulo a Crucibus, quae erectae in biviis indicant et signant viarum separationes. ...

Restoration Murder - The New York Times Web Archive Restoration Murder - The New York Times Web Archive

Before 1977, fingerposts similar to those found in the United Kingdom were the main form of signage used on roads in the Republic of Ireland. They were of similar design to their UK counterparts and included the logo of Bord Fáilte (which took over responsibility for erecting signage in the Republic of Ireland from the Automobile Association), or a harp after signage was handed over to local councils. These fingerposts were bilingual, with the Gaelic name printed, in a smaller typeface, above the standard placename. A number of these signs continue to exist on Irish regional and local roads. However, as distances on them are in miles and not kilometres (as used on modern Republic of Ireland signage), they are due to be removed. [ citation needed] to an uncertain throne. It is a time of sects, witch hunts and conspiracies. It is also the dawn of the Enlightenment. A "novel" novel (please pardon the attempted humor), where unreliable narrators outnumber purported reliability by a long shot. Once again my happiness at not living in the 17th century is validated as I read of the physical squalor, the political and religious unrest and distrust in England after the restoration of Charles II, the relative worthlessness of the average person's life. Amidst that there is the glimmer of new knowledge and education at Oxford the seat of "Instance". Dead Person Impersonation: Marco da Cola died after his return from Crete; his brother Andrea took on his identity while in England.Kudos to Iain Pears for pulling off all of these unreliable narrators so masterfully, giving each one their own perspective and area of paranoia and egotism and building the reader's tension and curiosity throughout the book. This book may really deserve a five, and would probably get one from a more intelligent reader. Sadly, the book's length made things difficult for me as I didn't have the luxury of reading it in a few consecutive sittings which would have helped. By the time I started each subsequent narrative, my memories of the earlier ones had faded and it was harder to appreciate the unreliability as a result. Additionally, some of the developments felt above my head which also diminished my engagement at times. It’s England in the 1660s, Charles II has been restored to the throne following years of civil war and Oliver Cromwell’s short-lived republic. Oxford is the intellectual seat of the country, a place of great scientific, religious, and political ferment. A fellow of New College is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. Indeed, the don's murder -- and no one misses him -- is merely an overture, an adjunct to a greater crime in which, wittingly or otherwise, many of the characters collude. This involves one of the novel's few women, Sarah Blundy, the feisty Messianic Archetype: According to Wood's interpretation of the events, Sarah Blundy is a reincarnation of Jesus.

An Instance of the Fingerpost, First Edition - AbeBooks An Instance of the Fingerpost, First Edition - AbeBooks

I would like to note that none of these reviewers expect to "like" the 17th century characters that play in the novel. Judged by 2017 sensibilities, few (perhaps none) of them would be thought suitable as "polite company", so ridden are they with bias, superstition, and (ladies note) misogyny. There is plenty of characterization to be had in Fingerpost - just don't expect "good character". The action - what there is of it - in The Dream of Scipio moves between 5th-, 14th- and 20th-century Avignon. Our scholar-hero is Julien Barneuve, a 1930s French intellectual whose failure to intervene decisively in public life leads him into the service of the Vichy regime.Among Prerogative Instances I will put in the fourteenth place Instances of the Fingerpost, borrowing the term from the fingerposts which are set up where roads part, to indicate the several directions. These I also call Decisive and Judicial, and in some cases, Oracular and Commanding Instances. I explain them thus. When in the investigation of any nature the understanding is so balanced as to be uncertain to which of two or more natures the cause of the nature in question should be assigned on account of the frequent and ordinary concurrence of many natures, instances of the fingerpost show the union of one of the natures with the nature in question to be sure and indissoluble, of the other to be varied and separable; and thus the question is decided, and the former nature is admitted as the cause, while the latter is dismissed and rejected. Such instances afford very great light and are of high authority, the course of interpretation sometimes ending in them and being completed. Sometimes these instances of the fingerpost meet us accidentally among those already noticed, but for the most part they are new, and are expressly and designedly sought for and applied, and discovered only by earnest and active diligence. The Name of the Rose will now have to share that position with An Instance of the Fingerpost . This book is a master piece of storytelling. I was glued to it from the first – or rather, I had my earphones glued to my ears, as I listened to the audio version. Ebooks are now quite venerable in computing terms, but it is striking how small an impact they have had on narrative structure; for the most part, they are still just ordinary books in a cheap format. An analogy is the early days of cinema, when film-makers did little more than plonk cameras in front of a stage and film a play. It took some time before they realised that by exploiting the new possibilities the technology offered – cutting, editing, closeups, lighting and so on – they could create a new art form that did not replace theatre, but did things theatre could not. Computing power properly understood and used can perhaps eventually do something of the same; not supplant orthodox books – which are perfectly good in most cases – but come into play when they are insufficient. has steeped himself in the reading and the attitudes of the period, so that his characters, in their lives and confessions, embody its rich contradictions, its entwining of superstition with the spirit of new learning, of religion with He was playing a game with us all, and was confident of his success, and he was now underestimating his audience as I had underestimated him. He did not realize that I saw, that instant, into his soul and perceived the devilish intent that lay hidden there, coiled and waiting to unleashed when all around had been lulled into thinking him a fool.” John Wallis