Frieze

by Cecile Pineda

Book Overview

This poetic narrative discusses the creative life of a 9th century Indian stonecarver who is drafted at an early age to spend his entire life working on the thousands of statues that fill the niches of an Indonesian temple. Exploring the muse-artist relationship as few works of fiction have done, this novel is an intensely political work-a parable that pits the blind cruelty of a feudal ruler against the creative expression of a single slave.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670811793
• ISBN13: 9780670811793
• Release Date: November 1986
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

very spiritual , lyrical language...a poetic tour de force

Frieze takes us into the mind of the Buddhist from India who designed and built the famous temple at Borubudur. This means the setting is circa 700 A.D., but the book doesn't read like a historical novel. Instead, it's a poetic attempt to recreate the designer's mind and aesthetics by looking at the great monument he left behind. One feels privileged to discover the workings of a great artistic mind, and it's done in tight, elegant, and lyrical language. It's got certain qualities that make me compare it, for style, lyricism, and great feeling, with Martín Cruz Smith's Stallion Gate. It's not an easy read,and it's not for everybody, but it's one book I wish I had written.