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eBook Pilgrim: A Novel epub

by Timothy Findley

eBook Pilgrim: A Novel epub
  • ISBN: 006019197X
  • Author: Timothy Findley
  • Genre: Fiction
  • Subcategory: Contemporary
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Harper; 1st U.S. ed edition (December 22, 1999)
  • Pages: 496 pages
  • ePUB size: 1990 kb
  • FB2 size 1537 kb
  • Formats docx mobi azw docx
Timothy Findley Contemporary English

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Pilgrim is a novel by Timothy Findley, first published by HarperFlamingo in Canada in 1999.

Pilgrim is a novel by Timothy Findley, first published by HarperFlamingo in Canada in 1999. The novel is typical of Findley's interest in Jungian psychology; in fact, Carl Jung himself is a major character. The novel's protagonist is Pilgrim, an immortal who is brought to Jung's clinic in Zürich after his latest suicide attempt. Pilgrim has lived through the ages, moving from one life to another, and claims to be tired of living.

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FREE shipping on qualifying offers. On April 17, 1912 - ironically, only two days after the sinking of the Titanic - a figure known only as Pilgrim tries to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree. When he is found five hours later.

Timothy Findley's Pilgrim is the story of a man who can't die even though he tries over and over to kill himself. I love Timothy Findley. This book is one of his best. I happen to be familiar with the medical characters and processes he describes, and he handles them very well. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, in 1912 he's placed in a Zurich clinic where Carl Gustav Jung is hard as work trying to determine the perimeter of the collective unconscious. For Jung, this man becomes an embodiment of the psyche's mystery. And, :::slight spoiler alert::: he offers the very best EVER explanation for why the Mona Lisa has that tight little smile.

Canada (and the world) lost a great writer when Timothy Findley died.

On April 17, 1912-ironically, only two days after the sinking of the Titanic-a figure known only as Pilgrim tries to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree. When he is found five hours later, his heart miraculously begins to beat again. Canada (and the world) lost a great writer when Timothy Findley died Читать весь отзыв.

Also By Timothy Findley. The Last of the Crazy. Findley has consummate skill, disturbing vision and a bleak skepticism about the value of ar. espite what Pilgrim says, it’s enough to make one believe even more in the power of art. -Time. People The Butterfly Plague. Pilgrim is a marvellously complex set of Chinese boxes, each apparently smaller box opening to ever larger vista. nyone who delights in well-wrought fictions that contain complexly human characters in richly philosophic conflict will find it a complicated delight. The novel's protagonist is Pilgrim, an immortal who is brought to Jung's clinic in Zürich after his latest failed suicide attempt.

I knew canadian writer Timothy Findley from his excellent novel "Not wanted on voyage" so was naturally excited to lay my hands on "Pilgrim". Than to my biggest surprise, I realized it all sounds familiar and I had probably read it years ago (wouldn't be surprised to actually find that I have another copy somewhere) but the writing style and the story was so beautiful that I truly enjoyed and upon finishing the last page I was so moved that I could just start reading it. all over again.

Timothy Findley’s Pilgrim was published by in 1999.

The bits about Da Vinci are interesting, but as most of the backstory is told via Pilgrim’s journals, the book becomes many novels within a novel, and begins to lose steam as Findley keeps on adding memory after memory, such as being at the fall of Troy and being a gadabout who hung out with Oscar Wilde. The ending is a bit underwhelming, as well - in fact, it all feels rather unresolved. It’s a meandering, wordy and unfocused novel that offers bright glimmers of promise and works as a kind of brain food for those who like their literary diet to tickle that organ. Timothy Findley’s Pilgrim was published by in 1999.

Pilgrim (Timothy Findley novel).

by. Findley, Timothy. Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books.

"I have lived many times, Doctor Jung. Who knows, as Leda I might have been the mother of Helen--or, as Anne, the mother of Mary.... I was also crippled shepherd in thrall of Saint Teresa of Avila; an Irish stable boy and a maker of stained glass at Chartres.... I saw the first performance of Hamlet and the last performance of Moliere, the actor. I was a friend to Oscar Wilde and an enemy to Leonardo.... I am both male and female. I am ageless, and I have no access to death."

On April 15, 1912--ironically the very date on which more than a thousand people lost their lives as the Titanic sank--a figure known only as Pilgrim tries to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree. When he is found five hours later, his heart miraculously begins beating again. This isn't his first attempt to end his life, and it is decided that steps must be taken to prevent Pilgrim from doing himself further harm.

Escorted by his beloved friend, Lady Sybil Quartermaine, Pilgrim is admitted to the famous Burgholzi Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich, where he will begin a battle of psyche and soul with Carl Jung, the self-professed mystical scientist of the unconscious--who is also a slave to his own sexual appetites.

Hungry for intellectual and spiritual challenge, Jung is fascinated by this compelling and enigmatic patient who refuses to speak. Slowly, though, Jung coaxes him to reveal the astonishing story of his existence. Pilgrim claims to be ageless and sexless, having lived as both male and female for four thousand years. Asserting that he has witnessed the greatest events of human history, he recounts his involvement with numerous figures who have shaped world culture, including Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, and Henry James.

For Jung, probing this patient's mind proves a challenge that is both frustrating and enlightening. Is Pilgrim delusional? Are his memories only dreams or something far more fantastic? Is it madness or a miracle? These interactions with Pilgrim have a profound and unexpected effect on the esteemed and controversial doctor's own life and sanity, for his dreams soon become entwined with those of his patient's, while the anchor of his soul, his marriage, begins to disintegrate. The puzzle called Pilgrim will seemingly lead either to Jung's salvation--or his damnation.

Beautifully written, deeply evocative, and filled with a fascinating cast of historical characters, Pilgrim is both a richly layered story of a man's search for his own destiny and an absorbing, mind-expanding novel that explores the timeless questions of humanity and consciousness.

Comments: (7)
Marinara
How must modern psychiatry, circa 1912, react when confronted with a subject whose most ardent desire in life is to die? For many patients the answer would be straightforward--identify the roots of the suicidal misery, pick them out of the subconscious, force the patient to confront and discard them, and lead him back into the hopeful world of the living.
But the peculiarly named Pilgrim presents renowned alienist Carl Jung with some unusual twists which defy a simple diagnosis. For one thing, Pilgrim has attempted suicide multiple times, seemingly succeeding, only to be involuntarily and inexplicably brought back to life. He has no history. Yet he claims to have lived through centuries. He speaks of Da Vinci, Oscar Wilde and Henry James as though they were his most intimate friends and enemies.
The doctors all agree: a clear case of delusional paranoid schizophrenia. But as Dr. Jung's professional arrogance is gradually worn away by Pilgrim's extraordinary insights into truth and beauty, the very nature of insanity comes into question.
Tim Findley's novel is a rich tapestry of historical fact and literary grace. Through the story of the time traveller Pilgrim, the reader spends intimate moments with some of history's greatest minds, and learns about the failure of genius to guide the human spirit. But through Pilgrim the reader retains a faith in the power of beauty to move mountains and achieve the impossible.
For any reader who ever questioned accepted orthodoxies about art, history, literature, and the way they have shaped our world, this book is a must.
Qusicam
Exactly what defines mental illness? Is Carl Jung treating a true time traveler or a mentally ill man? That's the crux of this novel. But what's interesting is how I found myself shifting back and forth, trying to answer this question.

This a very well written piece of literature and distinctive from anything else I've ever read.

With an interesting cast of characters and a look at how mental illness was handled among the elite in the first half of the 1900s. I predict you won't be sorry you read it. But you may not fully understand it either.
RUL
I love Timothy Findley. This book is one of his best. I happen to be familiar with the medical characters and processes he describes, and he handles them very well. And, :::slight spoiler alert::: he offers the very best EVER explanation for why the Mona Lisa has that tight little smile.

The book requires a little suspension of disbelief, but not as much, for me, as does, say, the six o'clock news.
Arthunter
Imagine a novel crafted around Carl Jung, a man who believes that he has lived forever, and Leonardo da Vinci. What could be wrong with that? Findley's novel seems to exist to answer that question. The set-up is engrossing, the reality postulated (and challenged) in the story is compelling (what is "madness", are there really immortals who live more or less forever at the behest of superhuman beings, what is psychotherapy intended to accomplish)and (at least some of) the characters are larger than life, yet the overall result is dismaying. Probably more because of the distance between the setup and the result than for any other reason. Findley writes in a smooth and fastidious style, but is maddeningly drawn to surface details. Its a little like imagining the fashion section's report of a meeting of the greatest thinkers of human history. Paragraph after paragraph about who was wearing what, nothing about what anyone said. Here we have a portrait of Jung as a total failure of a husband and father and only inklings of his power as an explorer of human consciousness. This is combined with another portrait, that of the eponymous pilgrim, a person who has lived for ages --but who has gotten out of this long life only a complex (and probably justified) resentment of Leonardo da Vinci. Ultimately this novel is a failure. It hints at issues, but doesn't address them, sketches characters and doesn't face up to the realization of their implications. It has some wonderfully evocative writing, some beautiful set pieces (the most striking of which is the funeral of a mysterious English noblewoman), but it is ultimately shallow and cowardly. It pretends to raise issues but won't really grapple with them. It pretends to advance characters but doesn't really develop them. Behind its smooth facade, it is an intellectually and narratively lazy work. If you want to grapple with Jungian ideas in a novelistic setting, read Robertson Davies's *The Manticore*. If you want to read a work of magical realism, there are many to choose from, not the least of which is Mark Halprin's "Winter's Tale". This book is all surface and no substance. I wish that I had not bought it or wasted the time it took to read it.
SkroN
The novel Pilgrim by Timothy Findley is an incredibly well-written piece of literature. While I doubt too many people have discovered this novel, I definitely recommend it as an excellent read which offers insights into Carl Jung, early 20th century history, and another take on the issue of immortality. As much as I had already studied the work of Jung, this novel gave me a new perspective on the Father of Modern Psychology. This book somehow got left behind in terms of making it to any of the best seller lists, but it's not too late to get your own copy and savor every page of it. I liked this book so well that I have read and re-read it several times. Every few years, I pull out my original copy of the novel and each reading offers me new and truly interesting insights. All I can say is: Read Pilgrim. You won't regret it!!!
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