The Blood Oranges
Author | : John Hawkes |
Publisher | : New Directions Publishing |
Total Pages | : 298 |
Release | : 1971 |
ISBN-10 | : 0811200612 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780811200615 |
Rating | : 4/5 (12 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: "Need I insist that the only enemy of the mature marriage is monogamy? That anything less than sexual multiplicity . . . is naive? That our sexual selves are merely idylers in a vast wood?" Thus the central theme of John Hawkes's widely acclaimed novel The Blood Oranges is boldly asserted by its narrator, Cyril, the archetypal multisexualist. Likening himself to a white bull on Love's tapestry, he pursues his romantic vision in a primitive Mediterranean landscape. There two couples--Cyril and Fiona, Hugh and Catherine--mingle their loves in an "lllyria" that brings to mind the equally timeless countryside of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.