{"title":"Inger Christensen","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"the-painted-room-paperback","title":"The Painted Room - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Painted Room\u003c\/em\u003e is a magnificent three-part short novel about the Italian Renaissance, and, specifically, the intrigue surrounding the frescoes that Mategna (1431-1506) made on the walls of a famous bridal chamber in the ducal palace of Lodovico III Gonzaga. Prince Lodovico of Mantua invites Mantegna to his palace to decorate the chamber, and the paintings are slowly completed. The painting of the duke and his family looks so peaceful--you would never guess that a murder had just taken place.The prince's secretary records its progress in his gossip-laden diary, while the story of the prince's daughter, the dwarf Nana, digs deeper into darker motivations, involving deceit, vendettas, an assassination, and the dalliances of Pope Pius II. Mantegna's young son, Bernardino, helps complete the paintings and introduces a note of high fantasy into the narrative. What results is a beautiful yet startling picture of the Renaissance, as rich and colorful as the men and women depicted on the palace walls.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50103201497311,"sku":"9780811239448","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/KHSQVTTlPv9780811239448.webp?v=1781090479"},{"product_id":"nataljas-stories-paperback","title":"Natalja's Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eKnown primarily for her poetry, Inger Christensen (1935-2009) remains one of Denmark's most distinguished and original authors. \u003cem\u003eNatalja's Stories\u003c\/em\u003e, modeled after Boccaccio's \u003cem\u003eDecameron\u003c\/em\u003e, takes an usual approach to the theme of migration by focusing on the shifting ground of meaning itself. It is a tale told to the narrator by her grandmother--about her mother, \"abducted\" by a Russian from Copenhagen: taken to Russia, she tries to flee the Revolution; she dies and her ashes are carried back to Denmark. But the story is told and retold in marvelous ways, digressing playfully (often hilariously), and involving murders and absurd characters, with wonderful repeating motifs and passages. \u003cem\u003eNatalja's Stories\u003c\/em\u003e springs surprise after surprise, and as one Danish critic put it: \"instead of a conventional heartbreaking story of loss and disaster, the book appears as a tantalizing account of a character seizing the moment, leaving the past behind, and becoming someone else--offering, in fact, a deconstruction of the usual take on migrant fate as a tragic narrative.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50103226269919,"sku":"9780811239462","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ncaRNgqLXf9780811239462.webp?v=1781090525"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/inger-christensen.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}