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Der erste Band der gefeierten »Barock-Trilogie«Europa, um 1665: Daniel Waterhouse, Querdenker, Puritaner und Verachter der alten Geheimwissenschaften, strebt mit seinem Freund Isaac Newton und einigen anderen großen Geistern des barocken Europa nach Wissen und Erkenntnis, wahrend die Welt ringsum ein einziges Chaos ist. Uberall ringt die Vernunft mit dem blutigen Ehrgeiz der Machtigen, und jederzeit konnen Katastrophen – ob naturlich oder hausgemacht – die politische Landschaft uber Nacht verandern. In dieser Zeit steigt Jack Shaftoe vom Londoner Gassenjungen zum legendaren Konig der Vagabunden auf.Er riskiert Leib und Leben fur sein Gluck und seine Liebe – und verliert durch die Syphilis schleichend den Verstand. Gleichzeitig schlagt sich seine Geliebte Eliza, die er aus einem turkischen Harem befreit hat, bis zum Hof Ludwigs XIV. durch, wird Matresse, Spionin und Schachfigur in den Handen von koniglichen Staatenlenkern. Die Wege von Daniel, Jack und Eliza fuhren kreuz und quer durch das zerrissene Europa, sie beruhren! und verschlingen sich, wahrend allerorten ein neues Zeitalter seine Schatten voraus wirft.Der AutorNeal Town Stephenson, 1959 an Halloween in Fort Meade im US-Bundesstaat Maryland geboren, stammt aus einer naturwissenschaftlich gepragten Familie: der Vater war Professor fur Elektrotechnik, der eine Großvater war Physikprofessor, der andere Professor fur Biochemie. Er wuchs in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, und Ames, Iowa, auf und studierte selbst erst Physik, spater sattelte er jedoch auf Geografie um – weil das geographische Institut die besseren Computer hatte.Stephenson gilt vor allem dank seines Romans „Snow Crash“ als Mitbegrunder der sogenannten Cyberpunk-Literatur, einer Richtung der Science-Fiction in den 80er und fruhen 90er Jahren, die spater beispielsweise in „Matrix“ ihr filmisches Aquivalent fand. In "Snow Crash" wurde die Idee der „Avatare“ – virtuelle Personlichkeiten, die mittlerweile das Internet bevolkern – erstmals beschrieben. Stephenson war als Essayist fur das „Wired Magazine“ und auch schon fruh fur das „Time Magazine“ tatig. Seine Zukunftsentwurfe wirken offenbar so glaubwurdig, dass es in Silicon Valley Firmengrunder gegeben haben soll, die seinen Roman „Snow Crash“ mit den Worten „Das ist unser Geschaftsplan“ auf den Tisch knallten. Fur „Diamond Age“, einen Roman uber die ferne Zukunft der elektronischen Bucher, wurde ihm der Hugo Award 1996 verliehen, und bei der Ars Electronica 2000 erhielt er fur sein bisheriges Gesamtwerk den „Goldenen Nica“, den Oscar der Internet-Welt. Schon Anfang der 90er Jahre befand US-Kult-Papst Timothy Leary: „Neal Stephenson wird bald zu den ganz Großen in der amerikanischen Literatur zahlen“, und die euphorische Aufnahme seiner Romane „Cryptonomicon“ und „Quicksilver“ zeigt, dass er auf direktem Weg dorthin ist.
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Subjects
Scientists, Fiction, Adventure stories, Alchemists, Puritans, Adventure and adventurers, Historical Fiction, Rogues and vagabonds, History, adventure fiction, Fiction, historical, Scientists, fiction, Fiction, historical, general, Fiction, technological, Fiction, action & adventure, Seventeenth century, Eighteenth century, FICTION / Fantasy / Historical, FICTION / Historical, FICTION / Science FictionPeople
Louis XIV, William of Orange, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, Louis Anglesey, Philip Anglesey, Thomas More Anglesey, Anne I of England, Richard Apthorp, Duc d'Arcachon, Etienne d'Arachon, Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, Elias Ashmole, Jean-Antoine de Mesmes d'Avaux, Gomer Bolstrood, Gregory Bolstrood, Knott Bolstrood, Robert Boyle, Johann Christian von Boyneburg, Caroline, Lady Castlemaine, Catherine of Braganza, Charles I of England, Charles II of England, Charles Louis, Charles, Lord Bishop Chester, John Churchill, Winston Churchill Sir (1874-1965), Duchess of Cleveland, John Amos Comenius, John Comstock, Hugh Lewis, Charles Comstock, Richard Comstock, Roger Comstock, de Crepy, Oliver Cromwell, Roger Cromwell, Claude Eauze, Eleanor, Elizabeth Charlotte, Earl of Epson, Frederick V., Frederick William, de Gex, Edouard de Gex, Duke of Gunfleet, Nell Gwyn, Thomas Ham, William Ham, Henrietta Anne, Henrietta Maria, Robert Hooke, Christiaan Huygens, Anne Hyde, James I of England, James II of England, James VI of Scotland, George Jeffreys, Johann Friedrich, John Frederick, Louis de Keroualle, Jack Ketch, Lavardac, LeFebure, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Roger Lestrange, Liselotte, John Locke, Mme. de Maintenon, Mary, Mary of Modena, Maurice, Jean-Antoine de Mesmes, Minette, Duke of Monmouth, Robert Moray, Henry Oldenburg, Anne Maried de Crepy d'Oyonnax, Charlotte Adelaide de Crepy d'Ozoir, Claude Eauze d'Ozoir, Count Penistone, Hugh Peters, Philippe, Duchess of Portsmouth, Marquis of Ravenscar, Antoine Rossignol, Bonaventure Rossignol, Rupert, Michiel Adriaaszoon de Ruyter, Johann Philipp von Schonborn, Count Sheerness, Sophie, Sophie Charlotte, Elizabeth Stuart, James Stuart, Earl of Upnor, Barbara Villiers, Earl of Walbrook, Anne Waterhouse, Beatrice Waterhouse, Calvin Waterhouse, Daniel Waterhouse, Drake Waterhouse, Elizabeth Waterhouse, Emma Waterhouse, Faith Waterhouse, Godfrey William Waterhouse, Hortense Waterhouse, JaneWaterhouse, John Waterhouse, Mayflower Waterhouse, Oliver Waterhouse I, Oliver Waterhouse II, Praise-God Waterhouse, Raleigh Waterhouse, Sterling Waterhouse, Wait Still Waterhouse, Walter Weem, Jane Wheelwright, Wilhelmina Caroline, John Wilkins, Earl of Willesden, William II of Orange, Winter King, Winger Queen, Christopher Wren, Duke of York, de la ZeurTimes
Stuarts, 1603-1714, 17th century, 18th century, 1713Showing 6 featured editions. View all 18 editions?
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Quicksilver: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
2004, Perennial
Paperback
in English
- 1st Perennial ed.
0060593083 9780060593087
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Quicksilver: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
2004, Arrow Books
Paperback
in English
- printing (12)
0099410680 9780099410683
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Quicksilver: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
2004, Arrow Books
Paperback
in English
- printing (9)
0099410680 9780099410683
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Quicksilver: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
2003, William Morrow
Hardcover
in English
- 1st ed.
0380977427 9780380977420
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Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
(Not to be confused with Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1)
Quicksilver is a massive, exuberant and wildly ambitious historical novel that's also Neal Stephenson's eagerly awaited prequel to Cryptonomicon--his pyrotechnic reworking of the 20th century, from World War II codebreaking and disinformation to the latest issues of Internet data privacy.
Quicksilver, "Volume One of the Baroque Cycle", backtracks to another time of high intellectual ferment: the late 17th century, with the natural philosophers of England's newly formed Royal Society questioning the universe and dissecting everything that moves. One founding member, the Rev John Wilkins, really did write science fiction and a book on cryptography--but this isn't history as we know it, for here his code book is called not Mercury but Cryptonomicon. And although the key political schemers of Charles II's government still have initials spelling the word CABAL, their names are all different...
While towering geniuses like Newton and Leibniz decode nature itself, bizarre adventures (merely beginning with the Great Plague and Great Fire) happen to the fictional Royal Society member Daniel Waterhouse, who knows everyone but isn't quite bright enough for cutting-edge science. Two generations of Daniel's family appear in Cryptonomicon, as does a descendant of the Shaftoes who here are soldiers and vagabonds. Other links include the island realm of Qwghlm with its impossible language and the mysterious, seemingly ageless alchemist Enoch Root.
As the reign of Charles II gives way to that of James II and then William of Orange, Stephenson traces the complex lines of finance and power that form the 17th-century Internet. Gold and silver, lead and (repeatedly) mercury or quicksilver flow in glittering patterns between centres of marketing and intrigue in England, Germany, France and Holland. Paper flows as well: stocks, shares, scams and letters holding layers of concealed code messages. Binary code? Yes, even that had already been invented and described by Francis Bacon.
Quicksilver is crammed with unexpected incidents, fascinating digressions and deep-laid plots. Who'd believe that Eliza, a Qwghlmian slave girl liberated from a Turkish harem by mad Jack Shaftoe (King of the Vagabonds) could become a major player in European finance and politics? Still less believable, but all too historically authentic, are the appalling medical procedures of the time--about which we learn a lot. There are frequent passages of high comedy, like the lengthy description of a foppish earl's costume which memorably explains that someone seemed to have been painted in glue before "shaking and rolling him in a bin containing thousands of black silk doilies".
This is a huge, exhausting read, full of rewards and quirky insights that no other author could have created. Fantastic or farcical episodes sometimes clash strangely with the deep cruelty and suffering of 17th-century realism. Recommended, though not to the faint-hearted.
Book One: Quicksilver
Book Two: King of the Vagabonds
Book Three: Odalisque
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September 8, 2012 | Edited by VacuumBot | Updated format 'eBook' to 'E-book'; Removed author from Edition (author found in Work) |
April 25, 2011 | Edited by OCLC Bot | Added OCLC numbers. |
June 22, 2010 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from marc_overdrive MARC record |